Arlo Ultra Base Station broke after only 1-2 weeks of working

[dve]

Hi everyone,

I just want to vent some frustration about how bad the ARLO support is. I purchased an Arlo Ultra Kit with 2 cameras in May, and my my Base Station broke after only 1-2 weeks of working. I'd be happy to provide more details for anyone interested, but for those of you who haven't purchased an Arlo Ultra system yet, beware and DON'T do it. I don't care how much better their pricing and offer is, or how much better the camera is, it doesn't help when it breaks super quickly, and you have to deal with the WORST SUPPORT EXPERIENCE EVER. I don't want to blame the individual people working for Arlo who helped me along the way, because most of them were very kind and willing to help, and I've got the distinct feeling that it's the IT system Arlo built around their support service that is the problem. I was sometimes asked to upload additional documents, and this never worked, no matter how many different ways I tried (and I'm a software developer, I got some ideas on how to solve such a problem). Then, when I was being sent some important emails about how to return my broken unit, the RMA number, the one ESSENTIAL bit of information, WAS MISSING from an email that was otherwise complete. Given how many serious frustrations like this I've had now over the many times I worked with the Arlo support, all I can imagine is that it's their system. And mind you, to get one thing fixed, I've spent well over 10 hours trying to communicate with support. That's just ridiculous. Bottom line, if I get this thing fixed in no matter how many years, I'll probably just have to sell the cameras separately soon thereafter, because the something will break again. Or at least so it feels now. Can't vent enough.

[JamesC]

dve,

What did you experience that indicated the SmartHub is broken? Do you have a support case open I can reference and escalate as needed?

JamesC

[dve]

hi james,

i've spoken at length with colleagues of yours on the phone to find a possible solution to fixing the smarthub, and it's definitely out of my hands, and will need to be replaced. if you have any option to escalate it, although i'm not sure what option there would be at this stage, my case number is 41208849 (although there are several other numbers to all the previous cases that were opened and closed for my problem). i'm about to ship back the broken unit to the US tomorrow. i live in belgium, and one of your colleagues here in Europe (he was based in the Netherlands), had initially told me that it would be possible to claim my warranty here in Europe without any problems, even though i bought the system in the US. after a lot of back and forth, i was politely told that this will not happen, and that i have to find someone in the US, where a replacement unit can be shipped to. while i understand warranty issues are usually regionally limited, i've had similar issues in the past with companies like Apple, and seeing as they always had European subsidiaries, getting help locally was never an issue. it's just really hard to accept a system breaking down after a couple of weeks, an expensive system on top of that, and then having such a hard time to get help. not only that i was first told i would be able to get help here in Europe, but just getting qualified help from someone with the authority to help me. first i spoke to someone in Europe, who sent me a replacement power adapter, to see if this was the problem. then he couldn't help me any further, because i bought the system in the US, so I was referred there, although the same dude had initially told me i was gonna be able to get help in Europe for sure, seeing as the same SmartHubs are in a warehouse in the Netherlands, and there wouldn't be any need to go via the US. Well the list of explanations why and why and why went on, followed by the Arlo system issues I experienced all along the way, and it's infuriating and exhausting, spending at least an hour at the time trying to call or chat or what-have-you.

[Whops]

I agree with you support from Arlo in non existent.   I have been trying to contact them since Oct. 8, 2019.  I have sent request through their support portal on their web site,  they respond with a case number and tell me someone will contact me in 1-2 business days.   Never happened,   then they were going to close the case,  and they never even helped me yet.  So I told them via email reply to leave it open,  then they sent an email back to tell them best time to call me.  So I gave them a date, and cell number.  Waited around all day never called.   So I submitted another query via their support page.  Nothing,  so I responded to the email, all that happened is I get another case number and someone will contact me in 1-2 business days.  Still nothing.   Now tired of trying to contact them.   I have a Ring door bell,  should have stuck with Ring.  When I send them an email about an issue they responded with in a few hours,  and then they follow up with another email to be sure I have the problem taken care of,  and give me their name location and telephone number if I have any more questions or problems.   I wish Arlo was as good.   I would Issue a strong warning to anyone thinking about buying Arlo to check out all the reviews like this community page,  not the paid reviews on You Tube and other places.   Be very careful to get honest evaluation.   Because if you purchase Arlo,  they will not support their own product.

I have two cameras,  The smarthub is 30 ft from camera 1 and it has 2 bars,  camera 2 is 45 ft from smart hub and it has 1 red dot.   When I first installed cameras,  worked very well.   But less then 30 days later were having issues.   The only time I ever talked to support,  the response was your camera 2 is too far from the smarthub.  (Yet they claim you can be 300' from smart hub,  and some reviews say they work as far as 400-450' from the smart hub.    I have a normal house,  not thick concrete walls etc.  just standard walls,  drywall, stucco exterior.   Both camera have one interior wall and one exterior wall to go through from smart hub.   If you are going to tell me I am too far away then you better be able to explain why. 

Another issue is the delay from camera to notification to my smart phone.  When first installed,  received video on my smart phone with in seconds.   Now it takes 15 to 20 minutes if it ever shows up.  I have a Netgear Nighthawk Router R7800,  I have a 215 Mbps download speed on my smart phone from that router (Measured by speed test)  My ISP provides me with a 200 Mbps connection.   So plenty of bandwidth.   Apparently smartbub must be very weak.  And smart hub is hardwired to router.  However back to the issue,  Arlo (Netgear) apparently do not care so they do not help or they are at a loss as to what the problem is.   I had planned to expand to 4 cameras,  but after my experience so far with Arlo Ultra will not do it,  will have to find another solution.   I thought Netgear is a solid product they told me it would work great with my router.  So what is the problem?   If smart hub can only be 30' from camera what kind of security system is that?   If Imove smart hub then one or the other camera will have an issue, If I move the camera then I am not seeing the area I need to monitor.   So system is no good to me. That was suggestion from Neil at Arlo support,  no wonder he never called back he does not know what to tell me.   I am close to starting my own review process on line,  I purchased this camera set at Best Buy, so I can leave a review their of my experience and warn others about Arlo.   Amazon would be a good place to leave a review also.   I doubt Arlo reads the comments on their own community pages as I do not see responses here to help anyone with problems and I see their are lots of them.   I will also leave my comments on You Tube where in my opinion Arlo is paying those guys to write good reviews,  they could not possibly be writing such glowing reviews and making the statements they do when there is so many problems unless they are being paid.  And Cnet,  they also had great write up about Arlo, so I guess I need to comment on their articles as well.  Because Arlo is certainly not responding.   My guess is they tried to fix something and screwed up more then they fixed with app and firmware updates.

I would be interested in seeing some others comments if they have these issues as well.   But I am tired of my camera having weak to good bandwidth,   and the amber light flashing on the smarthub.  What is the fix?   Arlo apparently does not have one.  

[JamesC]

Whops,

When discussing WiFi signal strength, every environment is different. How far the camera is from the SmartHub plays a part, but other environmental conditions, such as WiFi interference can impact signal strength. Are you having any trouble streaming the camera or are you seeing any error messages? The flashing amber LED and low signal strength icon are only indications that there could be an issue. If you're able to stream and not seeing error messages, this may not be cause for concern. If relocating the camera or SmartHub is not an option, you might try elevating the SmartHub as that can help improve the signal strength to your cameras. Also, limiting potential interference by moving nearby WiFi devices away from the SmartHub could help.

We've seen some users indicate that they are experiencing delays in recordings reaching their library. The development team is currently investigating these reports. I will provide an update when I have more information on this issue.
 

JamesC

[Whops]

Smart Hub is already elevated (6')   only wi-fi device near by is the router.  about 6' away.  So tell me how to determine wi-fi interferance?   Because I would say the smart hub signal is most like too weak,  and to advertise 300'   would be ideal conditions I understand,  and the reason for the disclaimer, However to not work at 45'  is really not good.    

I would say that most of the time the camera is steaming,  however it does miss motion some times.  So probably there are times that it is off line.   Example,  if I walk out the back door walk along side the house to the end of the house,  it sometimes does not detect that until I turn around and come back then it will record me.   Other times it gets it both directions. 

When I first installed camera's  it always recorded motion and amber light did not flash,  after they were installed 2-3 wks  started seeing the amber light flashing,  and then the intermittent video recording started. 

Like I said the front camera is 30' from the smart hub  and it has two bars and bandwidth says it is strong.

Back Camera is only 45' from smart hub and has red dot or 1 bar and it says bandwidth is poor to weak occasionally good.  

If I had wi-fi interference would it not affect both cameras? 

Besides none of this is excuses the fact that Arlo support team is just ignoring all my issues that I have reported,  not getting back to me except to assign case numbers which is now 3-or 4 and none of them responded too. 

[Whops]

James C

Are you an employee of Arlo?   

Below are the questions I have asked of support,  with no response.

Hello ,

Thank you for using our online portal. We have created a new case #41221797 for your request and assigned it to our support team.

An Arlo Support expert will review your query and respond within 1-2 business days.

Case Description

Here it is three days later,  still no response from Arlo Support.   Still waiting for that call back from Neil,  that was to happen over a week ago.    I purchased a Ring Door Bell Pro after reading the reviews Ring vs Arlo.    I did have a small issue with it and sent an email to Ring support,  they responded back within a couple of hours and their support corrected the problem.   Then they  followed up the following day to make sure the issue was resolved. I can only wish that Arlo had that kind of support for their cameras.   So lets review a few of the issues I am having with the Arlo Ultra cameras. First is that all reviews and your specs state you can have the camera up to 300 ft from the smart hub.   I have two cameras (I was planning on having 4, but willl not buy any more until my issues are resolved) one camera is 45'  from the smart hub  but yet only has a signal of 1 red dot.   The second camera is only 30' from the smart hub  it has 2 bars.  (I would think it should have more being that close) The smart hub has an LED on the front of it,  starting first week in October 2019,  the light started flashing amber,  then it will go back to blue for while then back to flashing amber.  Neil the support person I talked to said The problem is the camera is two far from smart hub.  If that is the case,  your product is no good and I want a refund!  I know the signal strength is contingent on many things,  but if I should be able to be 300' away for sure 45'  it should be working well.   But then when it is flashing amber, and I check my phone camera is always connected.   Live view is working ok.   So what gives with that? Now on to another issue,  when I first installed the cameras and I have made no changes to settings since then.   I am now experiencing where it is missing events.  For example  When I go into the back yard it will record me as soon as I step out the door and as walk across the yard.  But strangely when I turn around and walk back it does not record me.   It use to but has stopped. Same thing is happening with the second camera in the front,  I can walk down my driveway,  does not record,   when I come back up the driveway it is recording me. Also,  during these events that it is missing recording I am getting notifications but no video is recorded. What good is a security system that is missing events?   But the issue here is,  that it was working just fine.  So what has changed?  Updated firmware? The real problem is Arlo apparently does not care as no one is responding to my issues,  and it is not just me having these issues,  I was reading in the arlo community forum on your web site and there were many people that started having issues around the same time as me.  I sent links of this to Neil,  but of course he never responded.   Here are the links again hopefully someone will take some action. https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Ultra/Base-Station-lights-keep-blinking/td-p/1713546 https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Ultra/Weak-signal-after-latest-firmware-on-Smarthub/td-p/1730874 Another issue is when ever motion was detected,  I would get a notification on phone and the video would be there.  Now there is a delay of 25-45 minutes before it shows up.   I have a 200 Mbps internet connection,  and a Netgear Nighthawk R7800 router. Seems that another update by Arlo must have happened to screw this up. Also,  apparently Arlo made another change that when you log into My Arlo Account on the computer it logs you out on my smart phone.  I use to be able to log on to both at the same time.   And I still would prefer to be able to do that. *Now As I have been trying to get support help for several weeks now with only getting case number assigned and promises someone will contact me with 1-2 business days.  But that does not happen.    So I guess if no responses again this time,  I will be posting my review of how bad support is for your cameras,  and how they do not perform as promised.  I will post these reviews on all on line vendors I can find that are selling arlo products.   I do not want to go down this route,  but if you have no desire in helping resolve the problem, then I need to warn people before they put out $700 plus dollars,  in my case I have spent over $1000 dollars so far and am not happy.   I guess I should have went with Ring Camera. * On 10/21/2019 4:31 PM, Arlo Support wrote: > arlo <https://www.arlo.com> > > > > Hello , > > Thank you for using our online portal. We have created a new case > #41215736 for your request and assigned it to our support team. > > An Arlo Support expert will review your query and respond within 1-2 > business days. > > *Case Description* > Neil, > > What the Hell Happened?   I sent you desired date and time,  and I > waited around all that day for you to call me.   Nothing same as usual > from Arlo! > > Plus you never responded to any of my questions.   I guess you are > afraid to put into writing. > > Time for me to start leaving my Very Truthful reviews on various web > sites about the real problems with Arlo Ultra camera systems and how > Arlo will ignore pleas for help or to fix the problems. Perhaps it wll > save others from spending thousands of dollars on Arlo and then find out > warranty and support are worthless. > > > > On 10/13/2019 11:04 PM, Arlo Support Case Update wrote: > > arlo <https://www.arlo.com> > > > > > > Hello , > > > > Your case has been updated by Arlo Support. > > > > *Your Case Details* > > Case Number: 41186422 > > Subject: we're not able to access your library > > Product: VMB5000 > > > > *Update from Arlo* > > Greetings from Arlo. > > > > Hi, Mr. . I am Neil, the Arlo expert who assisted you regarding > > your concern on summary of concern, with case ID 41186422. > > > > Please give me your preferred time and date, Time Zone and preferred > > phone number to call you back. > > > > Regards, > > Neil > > Arlo Technical Support > > > > To send a follow-up response, please click on the “Update Case” button > > below. > > > > Update Case > > > <https://www.arlo.com/portal/onlinecaseupdate.aspx?val=5NC0FlXQCnCPoikJdAW5ZNlSvWnkEXKF92rnGZNvPE2xYz...> > > > > > > > > > If the above link does not work, you may reply to this email to update > > your case.*Please note: do not change the subject line of the email > > when replying.* > > > > Thanks, > > Arlo Support > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > © Arlo Technologies, Inc. 3030 Orchard Pkwy San Jose, CA 95134 > > > > Arlo and the Arlo logo are trademarks of Arlo Technologies, Inc. in > > the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned > > herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of > > their respective holder(s). Information is subject to change. > > > > > -- > > > You will receive an email notification when your case is updated. > Please refer to your case number in any correspondence with Arlo Support. > > PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS AUTOMATED EMAIL. > > Thanks, > Arlo Support > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > © Arlo Technologies, Inc. 3030 Orchard Pkwy San Jose, CA 95134 > > Arlo and the Arlo logo are trademarks of Arlo Technologies, Inc. in > the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned > herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of > their respective holder(s). Information is subject to change.

[JamesC]

Whops,

I've escalated your open support ticket and requested an update. Please let me know if an agent does not follow up within 24-48 hours.

Thank you,

JamesC