New Arlo Smart Plans Q&A w/ Greg Falgiano, Director of Product Management Thur. 01/16 at 11

[JamesC]

Recently, Arlo released new subscription plans for Arlo Smart. Please join Greg Falgiano, director of product management for software services at 11AM PT this Thursday 01/16/20 as he shares the highlights of this update and takes your questions about the new Arlo Smart subscription plans.

Greg will be answering questions in this Arlo Community discussion thread from 11AM PT to 12PM on Thursday 01/16/20.

Greg Falgiano is the Director of Product Management for Software Services at Arlo Technologies where he is responsible for the company’s Arlo Smart services business, program management and key partnerships. Prior to Arlo he worked in the consumer electronics and IP phone industries. Throughout his career, he has held roles in Product Management, Channel Marketing, Marketing Communications and Business Development.

We look forward to having you join the conversation!

Thank you!

[fishferbrains]

Fine, I'll start:
What recourse do customers have who've had their Smart Premier plans double in price if they have 6-10 cameras?

1. Will Arlo grandfather in customers who've previously purchased the Smart Premier like I for my 7 (5 - Arlo Pro, 2 - Arlo Pro 2) cameras?
2. What other incentives will Arlo provide to help legacy customers upgrade their older cameras to make full use of the more expensive plans?  The cost of switching to other providers is now much lower and my Wyze cameras are more stable and better resolution and cheaper for their cloud continous-recording plan.

[oaklandm]

Why did Arlo remove the 12 month option for plans except to fleece more money out of customers?

I was on a 12 month plan but because of a hardware failure that was under warranty I lost my 12 month plan and am now stuck on a more expensive monthly plan.

[ArloWatcher]

My questions come from my experience with upgrading my Arlo Pro 5 camera system in the last 90 days and the perceived problems the new "Smart Plans" may have caused.

My system with the original 5 Pro cameras was great and I wanted to upgrade. Based on the following statement from your website my plan was set.

No subscription

If you have an Arlo Pro 2, Pro, Go, Wire-Free, Q, Q Plus, or Baby camera, you will continue to have all the benefits that were included with the purchase of your camera. This includes free rolling 7-day cloud recording, live streaming, 2-way audio, local storage, and activity zones on up to 5 cameras.

Arlo Ultra, Pro 3, and Video Doorbell come with a free Arlo Smart trial. When the trial expires, you have the option to purchase an Arlo Smart subscription. Without an Arlo Smart subscription, you can still add up to 5 cameras to your Arlo account, live stream, and receive motion and audio notifications.

I bought an Arlo Pro 3 camera to go with my VMB4000r3 base station and added an Arlo Video Doorbell as well. Both the doorbell and Pro 3 cameras came with free trails of the Smart Plan. Everything worked well together and all 7 cameras worked.

I was wanting even more so I decided to get a Arlo Pro Smart Hub VMB4540 from your website and add an Arlo Ultra camera as while. Since I did this life has been hell. I have experienced so many problems with my Arlo system it's hard to keep track of them all. I spend all of my time on your forums trying to fix things now. Are the new Arlo Smart Plans to blame? 

Why would you silently release the Smart Plan updates without any forewarning to your users and from what it seems like inadequate testing. It appears that Arlo's timing of code releases is ill planned and tested. Just look at the forums and you can see all the problems. I believe most of my current problems are coming from this rushed release of the new "Smart Plans" and was wondering when we could start seeing fixes?

[ArloWatcher]

Should I be able to keep my Arlo Pro 5 camera system on the no cost basic plan and add my Video Doorbell and Arlo Ultra Camera on the per camera smart plan?

If not, what will I need to do to get this to work?

[Glennman2]

As a fellow user, I feel your pain.
Have wasted so much time with Arlo.
The Ultra system is so flawed yet the company has released 3 new products recently without fixing its flagship product! I paid too much to be a beta tester in retrospect when the application is mission critical!

[Chanel55]

These plan changes create a disincentive for long-time users to upgrade their Arlo systems as I started to do prior to this unannounced dramatic price increase in the subscription plans. Was that your intent?

I have 16 cameras, 3 of which are Pro 3s (one still in the box) and a mix of Pro 2s (9) and Arlo Qs (3) as well as 2 Security Lights (a 3rd died for no obvious reason), the audio doorbell and the door chime. I have the Smart Elite Annual Plan for up to 20 cams. I did not realize - because it was not made clear - that my 3 Arlo Pro 3 Cams could not be used with my existing plan. WHY can't they be used with my existing Smart Elite Annual Plan when I am not using my full 20 cameras?

The 3 month trial for the Pro 3s - at least 2 of them is almost up. I saw the DRAMATIC price increase for plans with fewer benefits AFTER I purchased the Arlo Pro 3s. Two were purchased directly from Arlo after Arlo promoted the new Arlo 3s. The new plan is cost prohibitive for me. Why can't I keep my existing Legacy Camera Plan and add a new plan for the Arlo 3s? Why penalize me for buying new equipment?

Why would you do away with annual plans? I assume but cannot find much information on your website that my annual Smart Elite Plan will automatically renew since my credit card info is on file (that is what your Q&A states). Is this correct, i.e. will it automatically renew for a 1 year period with a 1x annual payment? As an aside, why not allow annual plans? Monthly plans are a PIA since they require monthly payments – very inconvenient (I never allow automatic withdrawals from my bank so that is never an option for me.)  How long is my Smart Elite plan grandfathered - one year, two years or?

Absent some changes in these new plans I will not pay an exorbitant plan amount just to add the Arlo Pro 3 cams. Does Arlo understand this major disincentive to further expand existing systems? I am currently looking for alternatives and most likely will need to move on at some point to another system. My home security company is currently on a path to improve their cams so I will be watching its progress. I believe others feel this way too.

Is there any chance you will re-think these plan changes to accommodate all of us who have invested a LOT OF MONEY into the Arlo system - at a minimum let us keep our Arlo plan and either add the new cams to our existing plan or at least to have 2 plans - the legacy plan and a plan for the new cams?

Some of us will be working tomorrow and unable to participate in your Q & A. Please confirm that there will be written responses to all of our questions.

Thank you.

[fishferbrains]

I once thought that the premium that Arlo cameras commanded was an "investment" to a service that would improve over time.  I swallowed hard when I found myself paying hundreds of dollars for mounts, batteries, chargers etc.  

Then came the "upgrades" to base stations, cameras that all promised dramatic improvements and I realized that I was chasing the market replacing hardware for the next best thing.  Meanwhile services and support degraded.  Offline cameras, footage missing at critical times, an insecure Flash web client still with "a few other releases ahead of this initiative" (a quote from Facebook). 

The "Smart Plan Surprise" is a slap-in-the-face to customers who've weathered the growing pains of Arlo.  Customers with large numbers of legacy/mixed cameras are forced into plans that provide little or no incremental value with a dramatically higher cost.  The cost of this poorly communicated and rolled-out change is ultimately customer goodwill.  

Greg - You can fix this.  Roll-back the camera limits to 10 for the Smart Plans.  Allow annual subscriptions.  Roll-in CVR to plans to justify the increases.  Finally create an upgrade program for legacy cameras to keep them from hitting the resale market.  It makes sense all around.

[ChrisInUK]

Firstly I like many others are very unhappy with these so-called 'Simplified' Smart Plans!

They seem like they cost a lot more for a lot less which is rip off, to say the least!

What I want to know though is how these Smart Plans work if you have multiple Base Stations and Smart Hubs running Ultra, Pro 3, Pro 2 and Pro cameras.

I wish to have the Smart Plan to cover my Ultra and Pro 3 cameras which are connected to the Ultra Smart Hubs but I also own Pro and Pro 2 cameras which are connected to the Base Stations which come with FREE 7-day cloud storage and I would like to continue receiving that on those cameras without the Smart features.

Do I have to remove the Base Stations from my account and have them separate to have this function or can I have all of them on my main account and pay for the Ultra and Pro 3 cameras to have the Smart Features but the Pro and Pro 2 cameras just carry on recording to the cloud with the VMB4000 Base Stations?

If I have to separate everything that is a huge mess and hassle which isn't acceptable! The VMB4000 was sold as FREE 7-day cloud storage which is why anyone purchased it.

[ChrisInUK]

I say Hallelujah to that!!!

10 should be the minimum for a Smart Plan

[RoadRun92]

Here we go again. Arlo started out with promising one thing, then keeps changing their system and services to grab more and more money from its users. This company is going downhill fast and Matthew McRae needs to resign or be forced out. I wish Netgear would take back control. Arlo initially was known for their wire-free and free storage. Now they are following the steps of every other company and no longer standing out as a competitor. They release buggy products (that Arlo Ultra is a joke) and software is too inconsistent.

[oaklandm]

I would just like to add something to my original post. How do you justify the changes to these “improved” smart plans without informing customers first? I have to say I love the Arlo camera’s etc but the way Arlo handles its existing customers is some of the worst I’ve seen.

[Unfortunately]

How do I get Arlo products to stop pushing me into subscriptions? I'm uninterested and it's impeding my use of the app. If Arlo won't stop the hard sell on the subscription, I'll consider hardware from another company.

[arloUser24]

When is the web app going to move off of Flash? It's literally being disabled early this year. Adobe is deprecating it Dec 31, 2020. Google is disabling it in all their browsers in "early 2020". A security company using a very vulnerable technology that's soon to be completely deprecated is very concerning. Sure, there's the mobile app, but we need web-based as well. People don't use the web app right now because it's flash. 

Is moving to HTML5 anywhere in this quarter's roadmap? Or even this year's?

[ArloUser_Maybe]

Having been a very happy customer, I'm not a fan of the subscription changes.  I have 7 cameras and was looking to expand to the full 10, with your new Video Doorbell.  Now I'm jaded about the changes, confused as to why they're necessary and thinking about switching to a different solution.  

I can only assume that the changes were made to support the "new" smart functionality to detect people, animals, packages, etc.  I have found 0 value in these identifiers, and they are very typically inaccurate categorizations anyways.

[777rms]

I will not be buying the doorbell after reading these posts. I think they've lost me as a customer.

[Cfera1166]

Well, looks like you've got enough complaints to deal with.  I don't need to re-iterate.

Suffice to say there are plenty of new entrants in the market and unless things improve, when the opportunity arises, I'll be jumping ship.

[Ring]

I added 2 Arlo Pro 3 camera's to my existing 5 Pro 2 camera's before this new smart plan was announced with the expectation of subscribing to the 10 camera plan. The new plan is nothing more than a huge price increase and not worth it. You'll need to bring back the 10 camera plan and annual subscription before I will subscribe.

[Arlo-Greg]

Hi everyone,

It's Greg, we are about to start the Q&A soon. Thanks for submitting your questions!

[Cfera1166]

Can't count the number of times my indoor or back porch camera has detected a "person" in the middle of the night.. turns out to be a cat or a bunny.

[dan_LI]

Its a shame that since arlo became stand alone company and with the constant problems of android app and camera delays we are talking about plans. First of people got these security cameras to break away from companies charging monthly fees!! Secondly Arlo needs to fix problems which have been going on since Aug 2019!! If you want to have plans make them reasonable without trying to rip consumer off!! Alot of camera out there offer some of the features as Arlo wants to charge for. Example would be Blink...which has better 2 way communication!! Arlo has let down alot of customers.

[Arlo-Greg]

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@oaklandm wrote:
Why did Arlo remove the 12 month option for plans except to fleece more money out of customers?

I was on a 12 month plan but because of a hardware failure that was under warranty I lost my 12 month plan and am now stuck on a more expensive monthly plan.

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@oaklandm Thanks for your feedback on our annual plans. If customers are currently on an annual plan, they can continue with that plan and its discount. Going forward, we will offer the annual plan on a promotional basis. We communicate these promos via email.

[Chanel55]

Not sure what you are saying.  How long will the legacy plans be grandfathered in?  And what do you mean by a promotional basis.  You really need to be clear in your responses.

[Arlo-Greg]

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@ArloWatcher wrote:

Should I be able to keep my Arlo Pro 5 camera system on the no cost basic plan and add my Video Doorbell and Arlo Ultra Camera on the per camera smart plan?

If not, what will I need to do to get this to work?

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Hi @ArloWatcher 

Yes, you can keep your Pro 2 or earlier cameras (ones that came with free cloud) on the 7-day cloud plan and just purchase a smart plan for your video doorbell and ultra cameras if you like.

[Nancy_L]

I have been an Arlo customer since the beginning.  I have weathered the firmware upgrade storms with my 5 Wire-free cameras.  I have been using the free 7 day service that came with the base station.  I wanted to add more cameras so I bought 3 more Arlo Wire-free cameras and figured I could get the the basic paid plan that was up to 10 cameras for $9.99.  Now you want $17.44 for 10 cameras on the Premier Plan (with the 50% discount. How long will that last?).  When you look at the compatible products that this plan supports it does not even include my 1st generation Arlo Wire-free cameras.  I also wanted an Arlo video doorbell but I guess I will go with another option.