VMB5000 no longer recording locally as of last night.

[JeffRand]

I have a VMB5000r5 Ultra SmartHub running firmware 1.20 4.0_1367_36740e8. I also have two Arlo Ultra 2 (H10 4k) cameras and one Arlo Video Doorbell (1.2 wired). These have been working great for two years.

As of this morning, the VMB5000 base station is no longer recording any videos locally to the SD card. I reformatted the SD card through the app. It reports that storage is available and doesn't show any issues, yet when motion is detected on any of the cameras no recordings take place. I also cold booted the base and also restarted it several times. I can't figure out what has changed. The system status on Arlo's website says everything is good. I tried contacting support, but the chat bot says I can't connect to a live agent unless I have a subscription, which I do not (and have not for over a year). I just need the base to record videos locally and have no need for cloud storage.

Is anyone else having this issue? Any ideas as to what is wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[JamesC]

I would like to reiterate that the issues being experienced in this discussion are not expected behavior. The development team is currently testing new firmware to address these concerns, we do not recommend any troubleshooting at this time. Once the firmware fix is available I will provide more information.

We appreciate your patience while we work to resolve this issue.

JamesC

[JamesC]

The development team is currently testing a fix for this issue that we hope to be able to release soon. I will continue providing information as it becomes available.

JamesC

[JamesC]

The issue being described here is not expected behavior. The development team is actively investigating reports of this issue and working on a resolution. As soon as I have more information to share I will provide an update.

JamesC

[Swarnes]

At the top of the reply page you should see you name on this forum. There should be a bell and an envelope to the right. Click the envelope to private message.

[Swarnes]

My feelings exactly 

[Michael_Hull]

James: I might be interested in your offer of a one-month free subscription, but first I need some technical information.

I currently do not have a subscription due to the internet service contract that I have with my cable provider.  The contract gives me 60 Gig of data per month, with a charge of $5 per Gig for any data over that limit.  When I originally purchased my system (and got a trial subscription), I found that I could disconnect the Hub from the network and  the videos would still record locally.

When I needed to check a video, I would (1) reconnect the Hub to the network, (2) use the app to disarm recording, (3) eject the USB storage, (4) connect an empty USB unit to the Hub, (5) arm recording, and finally (6) disconnect the Hub from the network. I could then view the videos on my PC.

If all the videos had been sent to the cloud, some months would have cost me in excess of $300 in data overage fees.  Yup... 60 Gig of videos from multiple cameras in one month.

Thus my question is:  with a subscription, will videos record to local storage if the Hub is disconnected from the network?  I tried that with the current firmware, and the answer is NO, no local recording occurred.

Without a guarantee that local recordings will still occur when the Hub is disconnected, I am not interested.

[Henrysky]

Private message to JamesC???  No, definitely No!

It is unfair to everyone impacted by Arlo's mistake!

Arlo need to public the post to inform every user a temporary solution!

[lakerzhu]

I will also return my Arlo cameras to Costco if this can't be resolved in one week. It's ridiculous that they suggested us to subscribe to their paid service. And it proved my guess that Arlo did this intentionally to force their customers to subscribe to their paid service. 

[lakerzhu]

Totally agree. Arlo intended to force everyone to subscribe their paid service and it didn't work as they expected. So they try to find some excuse to calm down the situation. As I said, I would return it to Costco if they don't fix it within a few days as the local recording is the only reason I chose Arlo. 

[jasdip]

Arlo requires a credit card in order to redeem the code for a one month trial of Arlo Secure Plus.  Not sure I trust them to avoid billing me for a service plan I do not want after they fix local recording.

[Raven2000]

Thet don't know? Really? Are they forcing users to purchase their cloud subscription? very suspicious!

[lakerzhu]

Are you trying to force everyone to subscribe your paid service by breaking your original commitment of local recording??? That was the only reason I chose Arlo. I will probably return mine to Costco. Costco will talk to you. 

[lakerzhu]

Are you working at Arlo? If not, why are you speaking for them? You said they had local recording. That's exactly what we are complaining about. 

[TeresaFitz]

I am having the same issue with my SmartHub VMB4540.   I don't understand why the local recordings stop working.  However, I would like a free 1 month cloud recording service while we are waiting to have the problem fixed.  I did not see how to send a private message, so I am adding my request to the post.

[Henrysky]

@JamesC 

JamesC, Please do not that. Private message is not fair to everyone impacted by Arlo's mistake, it only comes an other issue-- Business Ethics, I am seriously!

[jeffOHIO]

VMB5000 Ultra system with 5 cameras and local SD card recording.  All was working perfectly fine until a few days ago.  When in armed mode, the primary camera does not record when triggered by motion.  However, if I setup secondary cameras to record, they do so just fine and I'm able to access the secondary camera recordings (local SD card) just fine from the mobile app.  All 5 cameras are behaving the same way.  I can see a live view just fine from any camera.  No errors within the app and all seems to be setup correctly.  I've tried resetting, restarting, reinstalling the app, removing from account and adding again, setting up custom modes - all have not solved the problem).  Any ideas would be appreciated!  Oh and of course, my 1 year warranty just expired so no help there.

[gcgrl92]

I see no private message button

[Richww]

What a joke.  I have the exact same thing happening.  My original Arlo cameras that are grandfathered in are fine and record both to cloud and locally.  But the Ultra2 do not record.   
Clearly they have done this on purpose.  Not a coincidence that im getting bombarded with 60% off sub promos every time i open the app!   Arlo when i click NO THANKS, you STOP asking!!!!

There is no phone number or email to report this.  You try to send a message to the rep who says they will give you a free sub until it is resolved.... SURPRISE, you cant message him without a SUB.    LMAO!   If I had a sub, it would be working!   

I expect an email from support after this message.   My cameras are worthless without recordings and this is putting ARLO at a tremendous civil penalty.    I hope to have this resolved immediately or I will need to start legal (possibly CLASS ACTION) recourse.

[Damo63]

Post on Twitter..

[Richww]

@JamesC  There is no "send a private message" option.

I too am requesting a free subscription until this problem is resolved.
Without recording Arlo is useless.

[louminaughty]

Well I finally found this thread after messing around with my system for longer than I'd care to admit.  At this point I have now removed and re-installed my app several times, and removed all of my devices from my profile in multiple attempts to fix a problem YOU WERE ALREADY AWARE OF.  If you knew you had an issue, why not proactively communicate to those affected??

I am so fed up with Arlo's attempts to push their subscription model for storage.  This is not the first time an app update has broken things, and last time this happened it was a result of their relentless efforts to push people into their subscription model.  I can't help but think this is another sneaky attempt to hook people on that model and bring in more revenue.

After removing and re-adding my cameras, I was automatically signed up (once again) for the "free trial" subscription storage model which I have zero interest in.

I went with Arlo specifically because it allowed me to record locally without a subscription.  If these shenanigans continue I'll be jumping ship to something else.  Consider me one very unhappy customer.

[Barnardj]

Hi James,

I checked your profile and there doesn't appear to be a button to send a private message.

There is some text that says "Contact me", but that's it. I'm not sure if it's gone, or I'm looking in the wrong place, but it doesn't show up anywhere on the page for me.  I was hoping to get the cloud storage code in case this issue isn't resolved soon.

Thanks,

Josh

[ddufftwa]

i haven't updated any software, but have the same problem.  Nothing stored after 12/13/22.

[ddufftwa]

Please email me the solution when available.

[Richww]

@Barnardj   this is a complete joke.   James messaged me.
This is a NOT a free month until they fix the issue.   This is their way of you signing up for a subscription with a 1-month free trial.  LMAO.

So... Arlo kills recording to try and get people to sub.  Then when that doesnt work, they get you to sub in hopes you forget to cancel before the month is over.

Can someone spell C L A S S A C T I O N lawsuit!!!!!!!!!

Someone from ARLO please contact me for how I go about returning for FULL REFUND my 4 camera Ultra2 Kit.

[Wyseguy]

Totally misses the point. I don’t want an Arlo subscription account.  I want local storage as I had until it stopped working on Dec. 14, ‘22.

What can be done to reactivate my local (USB memory stick) ?

[rmueller0520]

Yes! I have a VMB4540 that hasn't recorded anything locally since December 12th. I still get motion alerts, but no recordings. I've reformatted the SD Card, reset the system, unplugged the system, still won't record... it's now December 16th, still nothing. 

[Barnardj]

Yeah, I just got the response. There's no reason we should have to sign up to a subscription, giving over credit card details, for a service that those affected don't want to begin with. They should be covering the downtime with free cloud storage by default until the issue is resolved.