On going issue about 1 year plan disappears after purchasing a CVR plan

[Trykkluft]

Hello,

I have been back and fourth with support for 1 month now, and no one can help me. This is getting really frustrating because the cameras does not record.

I bought the Arlo Ultra cameras In the end of september (30) 2019. And have been using the cameras and the Arlo Smart Premiere plan that comes with it, without problems. I upgraded to a CVR plan for one of the cameras, then the smart premiere plan disappeared (I did not cancell it). I tried activating again from the first mail I recieved, but it says that the link has expired. All I need is a new activation link but the only support I can call says they are "tech" support, not "subricption" support, and say I have to wait untill the "subscription department" have looked at it. A month has passed today since I first called and I really just want this to work again.

[Arlo_China]

If you have a free smart plan for one year and buys a new subscription, the free smart plan for one year will be replaced.

[sdkellner]

Hello Trykkluft

I have exactly the same problem.  I'm only 10 days into my wait time, so your month scares me!  I have a separate thread started last week on this same issue.  JamesC replied saying he had elevated my case and marked the thread as resolved which meant I couldn't reply to say that, whilst I appreciated his help, it shouldn't be marked as resolved until I had my Smart Premier plan reinstated.  I have been in contact with Support multiple times and have had multiple excuses.  Ultimately, it seems that these issues have to be resolved by what they refer to as CCT (customer care team).

The CVR plan is an addition to, not a replacement for, Smart Premier, and so I don't see why attempting to add it should affect any existing subscriptions.  I previously had it activated back in December along with my Smart Premier plan and it did not cause the same issue back then; I cancelled it due to problems with the CVR and attempted to reactivate when I thought they'd had enough time to fix it; big mistake.

I cannot even add my new camera, number 7 for me, because it tells me it requires a Smart plan.

I have no idea why it's taking so long to apply what should be a simple fix - just reinstate our Smart plans!  And fix the underlying issue that causes a cancellation of a Smart plan when you subscribe to CVR.

Top tip - don't subscribe to a CVR plan, at least until Arlo can assure you that (a) it will work and (b) it won't cancel any other plans you may have.

[Trykkluft]

Hello sdkellner

Thank you for sharing your experience with exactly the same problem. 

This should be an easy fix. All they have to do is send us a new e-mail with the Arlo Smart Premiere plan or like you said, reinstate our plans. The last time they "elevated" my cause was two weeks ago and I have not recieved any updates even though it says they will be back with an answer in 24-48 hours. I`m tired of calling the support line becuase it seems like they don`t have authority to do anything besides making you reinstall the app, or log in and out. I wish there was a way to contact CCT directly. 

The CVR timeline function doesn`t even work in the app, just browser, which makes it difficult to keep track on-the-go.

[sdkellner]

Hi Trykkluft

The good news is that I received an email last night from a customer care team member asking me to provide a phone number, this morning he called me and sorted it out whilst we were on the phone.  It should be simple, but it isn't from their end.  I had to set up a new paid Smart Premier plan, and he has then promised to refund the first month and set up sufficient account credit to the cover the remaining term.  One of the challenges is that the Smart Premier plan covered up to 10 cameras when I added my Ultra; it's now been reduced to a maximum of 5, so we had to add each of my extra cameras as an addition on top of the 5.  Another challenge is that he couldn't get the refund system to work as intended so I have to take it on trust that he will resolve it over the next few days.  The guy, Rickard, was very helpful and understood the issue immediately, although he asked me to take it from the top and explain it to him to save time wading through the notes.

So there is hope.  As and when the right team contacts you, they seem to be aware of the issue and are able to fix it.  I can only suggest that you persevere.  I do think it helped having JamesC involved - thank you James.

I will cut Arlo some slack because of the current lockdown situation; they were apologetic.  However, this isn't my first experience of a long wait for a simple fix, the other times long before lockdown, so I do think their support system needs work.

[Trykkluft]

Arlo finally sent me an email today saying they will refund it. Someone stole from us on friday so I had to buy the subscription on sunday. We just could not take the risk anymore. When we finally are going to get good use of the cameras, they do not record. Other good news is that the CVR timelaps functions on the iOS app. 

I agree that their support system needs work. I have never have to go this far to get help (messeges, phone, forum). Usually phone support will take care of it. 

[sdkellner]

Glad to hear that they've made contact, and sorry to hear about the theft 😞

And yes, they do need to fix these system issues that cause the problems in the first place and also speed up the support response.  When the cameras work, they are superb, but the user experience has been suffering for a while, since before the Coronavirus issue.

[Graham_A]

After 11 days waiting for some progress from support, despite being told at least 6 times I'd be updated within 24-48 hours of my contact, regarding a failed subscription after adding a CVR to one camera, I was told by Arlo there's an "on going issue about 1 year plan disappears after purchasing a CVR plan".

So this is a problem that at least one Arlo support person is aware of.

Why is this not PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE ARLO?!

Why are buyers of the CVR not alerted buying a plan will trash their subscription?

What are you doing to FIX the issue?

[Graham_A]

Wish I’d found this thread before loosing about 30 hours over the past 11 days (most recently 1.5 hrs on chat) following Support’s worthless, time consuming and useless instructions and trying to have anyone in Support understand let alone do something to sort out the subscription after it vanished when adding a CVR subscription to one camera, 11 days ago.

Seems this is a known issue at ARLO, because during the most recent chat the agent wrote it’s “an on going issue about 1 year plan disappears after purchasing a CVR plan”. Why then is Arlo not telling people about this BEFORE customers waste their time and money and buy a system full of bugs?!

I’ve been lied to multiple times by various people who tell me I’ll hear back 24-48 hours after contact. It’s been 11 days Arlo. You missed that target a long time ago.

Allegedly, the issue has now been raised to Level 2 Support. Why wasn’t that done before or if it has, why hasn’t anything been done? Based on the ineptitude of the L1 support, it would be impossible for L2 to be worse, therefore I’ll give them 2 days and I expect be back on the phone, chat and email to find out what’s happening.

[Graham_A]

Back on the phone yesterday. 60 minutes on hold, 60 minutes with the support fellow.

This morning a resolution is underway. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed that the result will be as promised.

Arlo’s fix...cancel the Premier, which takes with it the CVR. Pay for another plan. Arlo then will allegedly, I’ll have to wait and see whether this happens, refund me for the subscriptions, multi camera and CVR and credit my account for the multi camera fir the balance of the initial; free subscription, and another 6 months as compensation.

I’m told the “engineers” are working on fixing the issue of the CVR taking out the subscription.

I’m not game to do another CVR.

[sdkellner]

Graham, just to manage your expectations, this is exactly what I was told, and I’m still having problems months later.  Even though the appropriate credit has apparently been applied to my account, each month a charge appears on my credit card.  Each month I have to send a copy of this to the customer services representative dealing with my case (and who’s been great), who then organises a refund which takes weeks.  It’s a farce, and I am resigned to the fact that I’ll have to continue doing this for the remaining months of my initial Smart Premier ‘free’ subscription.

[Graham_A]

Sdkellner, Sincere thanks for taking the time to give me your experience. Thankfully I chose to give Arlo a debit card, which means I can stop a payment before they go trying to deduct anything. Then I can cause them to waste their time dealing with an irate customer, every month until they solve a problem they’re very well aware of as they’;l keep getting several case numbers for the same issue, which causes them to have to apply more than one resource (I’ve had two of their staff call me so far today) and 1 star reviews for their support on every site I can find until they do what they committed to. Thus far I’ve dealt with about 12 people for the same issue since 6th June. You’ve probably heard that squeaky doors get the oil. This door is determined to get well lubricated 😉