Wireless Video Doorbell

[seaboard]

Hello, my wireless video doorbell was working fine until we had a power outage.  Now I cannot get it to sync.  I have called into tech support and chose the option to receive a call back.  They called back but said they were the wrong person to help me with the door bell.  She said she would transfer me.  One hour on hold later I hung up and called in again.  

Once again I chose to get a call back.  This time Mary called back.  She said she had to put me on hold to ask someone on the other line some questions.  I asked her to promise me she would check in with me every five minutes.  It has been over an hour and she never came back.  

Then someone answered the phone by the name of Brian.  He told me that this was a new call to him.  That Mary must of just transferred me to the top of the phone queue again.  Once again Brian was not trained either on the wireless video doorbell.  So he could not help me.  He said he would have someone call me back again sometime in the next 48 hours.  Incredible!  How the hell are you supposed to get tech support from Arlo.  Why aren't they training their Filipino telephone support people.  

[JamesC]

seaboard,

Have you tried recharging the battery? What is the LED behavior on the doorbell?

JamesC

[seaboard]

Yes I charged the battery.  The LED lights react as described in the manual.  One flash when battery inserted. Multiple flashes while trying to sync with wifi.  Amber flash when wifi sync fails. 

Tech support is so bad.  They are not trained on this wire-free version of the doorbell. First they told me that the doorbell has nothing to do with the base station.  Then they tell me to reboot the base station.  Which is it?   I sit on hold for hours only to land with a person who did not get trained on the wire-free doorbell.  They say they will transfer me to someone knowledgeable but all they do is transfer me to the back of the main tech support phone queue where I get another person who is not trained on this device.  We go round and round. Now they promise that I will get a call back from a subject matter expert in 48 hours.  It has been 24 hours and not a peep.  

The doorbell worked great for 2 weeks until we had a power failure.  When the power came back my other cameras came back but not the doorbell.   I just don't understand why we can't get it back.  It should be so simple.  I am not a stupid person.  I have a bachelors degree in electrical engineering.  Thankfully I am retired and can afford to sit on hold for hours.  I would cut bait and run but I have a big investment in 3 cameras, a chime and doorbell.  I also like the product when it works.  They just need to train up their phone support folks.  They should call Apple or Schwab if they want to see how phone support is done right.  I am going to send a snail mail letter to Lilly Knowles VP of Customer Care.  Maybe that will give their phone support some attention.  They have a big problem with their call center and their doorbell.

[JamesC]

seaboard,

If you have an AVD2001 Wire-free doorbell, there is no interaction with the base station or SmartHub. The doorbell syncs directly to your home network. So no troubleshooting with your Arlo cameras or base station is necessary.

Given the troubleshooting you've already done, I would recommend a factory reset and starting as if the doorbell was brand new.

First log in to your Arlo account and navigate to Settings > select your doorbell > remove device. After it has been removed, follow the factory reset instructions here: How do I reset my Arlo Essential Video Doorbell?

After this has been completed, log back in to your Arlo account and tap Add New Device, select Doorbells & Chimes and follow the onboard instructions to reonboard.

JamesC

[seaboard]

James,

Thanks for the suggestion but I already did all the steps you suggested several days ago.  I will try it again one more time.  It has now been 48 hours since Arlo said that a subject matter expert would call me back.  I have not heard a peep.  I can't believe the lack of customer care.  Shameful.

[seaboard]

Hello James,

I followed your steps and once again I end up with the amber LED lights when I try to sync the doorbell with the 2.4G network.  This is the 4th time I did this.  One of the first things I did on my own was remove the doorbell from the app.  The only thing left that I can think of is to delete the app from my phone and reload it.  But I would really like to talk to someone at Arlo about this before I take that step.  I guess I will have to call them since they have not bothered to call back as promised.

[seaboard]

So, I waited 48 hours for a call from a subject matter expert as I was told would happen by Brian on the telephone support line.  No one ever called so I proactively called in on the telephone again.

I worked with Sheila at the tech support telephone line.  Twice we went through setting up the doorbell as if it was brand new.  We did a factory reset.  Twice it did not work.  She put me on hold for 30 minutes so that she could talk to 3rd tier support.  She came back online and told me that I need to mail her photos of my Router, the setting on the router, proof that I have a 2.4G network photo, proof that my phone is set to that 2.4G network.  I sent 3 photos.  She told me she would submit this information and that either she or her replacement (she was going off shift soon) would call me before the end of the day or perhaps they would email me.  I waited all afternoon and evening.  No call.  No email.  So here I am again having to proactively call into the Arlo queue to start all over again.

[seaboard]

Hello James,

I don't know if you have read all of the other messages I have sent in but it is an ongoing nightmare.  I waited the 48 hours for the call back that never came.  I proactively called in and had to start over.  I spent over an hour on the phone with an agent who told me that she escalated and that they would either call me back or email me that same day.  No one called or emailed.  So I started again today.  I called into the hotline and eventually Nina answered.  Once again she was not trained on the wire-free door bell.  So she said she would have to transfer me.  So here I am again on hold.  It is incredible.

[seaboard]

I called into the hotline and eventually Nina answered.  Once again she was not trained on the wire-free door bell.  So she said she would have to transfer me.  So here I am again on hold.  It is incredible.

[seaboard]

1 hour + later:

I called into the hotline and eventually Nina answered.  Once again she was not trained on the wire-free door bell.  So she said she would have to transfer me.  So here I am again on hold.  It is incredible.

20 minutes later:

Nail answers the phone.  She wants to put me on hold while she reads the notes.  Nail comes back and asks me all the same questions that Brian had asked me 4 days ago.  Router model, confirm it is 2.4G, phone model, phone version etc. etc.  All of which I provided several calls ago.  Nail tells me she will send this information to the higher-level support people and that they will call me back within 24 to 48 hours. So here we go again. I am crossing my fingers and hoping they will actually call me back this time.

[mxs571]

My Power went out for 60hrs.  When it came back on the doorbell had no lights and the door chime rang randomly.  I tried resetting it and no change.  I checked the voltage and 19 V AC at doorbell.   I left it connected overnight as some had said it needs to charge an internal battery.  Still no LED lights. I contacted arlo support who had me also try resetting while holding front button.  No change.  It is 1 year and 2 months ,so Arlo said - too bad.  Sorry for you inconvenience.  Why wound the doorbell have been damaged on a low voltage circuit during a power outage.  Seem to be not reliable/robust and I would not recommend it to others.