Got only 2 Months of a 12-Month Smart Subscription Free Trial

[ATLJC]

In early December I proceeded to sign up for a Smart Plan and was pleasantly surprised when the expiration date for the trial being offered through my account would expire in 1 year on December of 2019.   My account reflected the next payment would be in 12 months after my free trial ended on that date.

And then after only 2 months of this year-long trial, I was billed for monthly service and my next payment date was changed from December to March of 2019.  Talk about "bait & switch"

I contacted Customer support who responded:

We received feedback from our billing team that we are receiving similar reports regarding termination date inaccuracy. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience but they are already looking into it. 
For now, what we can do is to process a refund for this month's billing. But first, please cancel your existing plan for us to request for a refund and if you wish to continue the subscription, you may purchase the plan again for the regular price. 
We will be looking forward for your feedback. 

I replied back:

That's unfortunate news as that decision does not reflect positively upon the company, which did in-fact offer me a year-long trial, and now has reneged on that offer. The decision not to honor the year-long trial isn't very customer friendly and definitely dampens the desire on my part to continue with any long-term commitment. If Arlo would have committed to forgoing its error and honor what it promised, I would have most definitely continued with the subscription once it expired. As a new Arlo user, that action would not have cost the company much at all given the long-term loyalty it would have gained from me in the end. At this point, I feel cheated and will not consider subscribing to any Arlo plan going forward. As I have canceled my subscription and the entire charge of $9.99 was not refunded, I'd appreciate the full amount returned, not just the prorated amount I received. Although I am quite disappointed in this resolution, I thank you for your time and appreciate your assistance. 

And the icing on the cake (talk about customer friendly service) was Arlo's last response:

We will be not forwarding your case to the appropriate department to process the refund of the remaining balance that was charged to you for this month. We sincerely apologize for what happen on your subscription plan.

No offer of extending the trial subscription, nor a discounted rate in lieu of the offer they pulled, just a last stab in the back and a feeble attempt to apologize for their mistake.  Definitely not a very good first impression of this company and its policies.

[scgolfer]

Same thing happened to me. Haven't contacted Arlo yet, but I just saw the charge today and need to address it. I hope I have better luck!

I did take screenshots of the plan screen showing the December 2019 expiration...so maybe that will help!

[ATLJC]

Wish you luck.   I had a screenshot as well that I provided during the chat but it didn't help my case at all. Let me know if you get a better resolution than I did!

[ShayneS]

Hi @ATLJC

May I ask which Trial Smart Plan you signed up for (Premier/Elite)? Did you use any promo or coupon codes?

[ATLJC]

Hi, Shayne.  

I activated my free trial for the Smart Premier plan and did not use any promo or coupon codes.  During the activation, the subscription page indicated the trial would run until 12/5/19 which I captured a screenshot of, as I figured the offer might be too good to be true.  I thought things were legit until I was charged 60 days afterward.

[ShayneS]

@ATLJC

Thank you for that information. I have provided your notes to the customer support team.

[rdu430]

Interesting. My free subscription runs until next June but I’m being emails regularly to update my credit card details or I will loose recordings.

[rdu430]

As expected, the 12 month subscription lasting to June 2020 suddenly changed to expired today with only 5 cameras now supported. The "free" subscription on your account is a con. They've been chasing me for a credit card for days now. Given the previous messages here where people got charged after two months, I suspected they were going to do the same. This should be taken up with advertising regulator.

[ShayneS]

Hi @rdu430

Have you tried contacting customer support regarding this issue? I have attached the link here for you - Arlo Tech Support