Arlo Smart Plan Issue

[Sasajs]

Purchased the Arlo Smart addon on July 19, 2018 for two of our cameras for $59.99. We were paid up through July 19, 2019. 

I noticed this morning that only one of our cameras had the Smart options enabled. 

I called the support number to see why the second camera had the smart options disabled. I spoke with support for over an hour. During the phone call, he had us cancel our membership, and resubscribe multiple times when he made changes on the back end to try to enable both devices to have the Smart options enabled.

After over $94 in additional charges to my bank account, and the smart options now being unavailable on ALL cameras, I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told that they were all in meetings. He then placed me on hold for an additional 20 minutes and straight up never returned. I called back and asked again to speak to a supervisor directly, was asked for a case number that was never provided. I was placed on hold for another 15 minutes, and then told again that no supervisors were available. I have been finally provided a case number, but the call back from the supervisor that I was assured would be returned, has never happened. 

I now have three seperate invoices to my email, and six seperate charges to my bank account from Arlo today. None of my cameras have Arlo Smart enabled. 

[Sasajs]

Called support back as I never received a phone call from a supervisor. Spent an additional two hours and 15 minutes on the phone with support. Emailed documentation of all three invoices I was charged by Arlo today, and still could not resolve issues. Could not even get support employees to understand the fact that I was charged incorrectly today. Never mind getting access back to the Smart Arlo options.

This morning I had an active and already paid for smart arlo subscription for two of my cameras! They were paid through July 19, 2019..... After spending a total of six hours on the phone today with support, I am out an additional $94 today, and none of my cameras even have access to the Smart Arlo options anymore! I am about to dispute these charges with my bank and will 100% NEVER recommend Arlo cameras ever again. And I own five of them currently. It’s ridiculous we pay a premium for these cameras and you CANNOT resolve minor issues with support. Such a small issue of one camera with a paid for subscription, needing the Smart Arlo options re-enabled, has now turned into a huge expensive headache.

[JessicaP]

Hi @Sasajs,

Thanks for reaching out to me via private message. I have responded back to you to gather more information. Hope to hear from you!

[Sasajs]

Hi @JessicaP I have sent you a PM response. THANKS!

[Parousiamusic]

Were these issues ever resolved. I may purchase different cameras if customer service is that bad. I did not realize you had to buy a subscription after 1 year of use.

[Sasajs]

I personally kept searching the forums until I found an active Arlo employee who was resolving issues on the forums, I reached out to them in direct messages because I was getting absolutely nowhere with the phone support.

After working with the Arlo employee, two of my charges were eventually refunded. So I now have a brand new Smart Arlo subscription through January 2020 for my two cameras that I didn’t ask for. I was already paid up through July 2019, but at least two of my charges were refunded.

My issues to actually get the Smart Arlo re enabled on the two cameras that have brand new paid subscriptions were never resolved however. Smart Arlo options are still greyed out on my dashboard for both cameras and further attempts to have support understand my issue and fix this have come to nothing. So I have paid for a service now through January 2020 that I didn’t ask for, and I still have no access to. I’m in worse shape than I was before I called, at least one of my cameras had the paid subscription enabled before I called support, now neither do. So no, this was never resolved, and spending more than eight highly frustrating hours trying to resolve this, I eventually gave up.

I have worked in IT support for 15 years, I started as a help desk employee, and understand that patience is needed for issues that arise. But my experience with Arlo phone support was so highly unprofessional and unproductive that I can’t in good faith encourage anyone to purchase these cameras. The cameras were a great experience when they were working as intended, until you need the slightest assistance, then you are on your own.

I would NOT recommend Arlo cameras.

[Sasajs]

Also you don't have to buy a subscription. The only reason we did was because we had 2 cameras that were wireless and to get the smart features such as zones and person detection we needed to subscribe. If they are plugged into electrical you don't necessarily need the features. The two cameras were picking up lots of background reflection from cars passing on our windows and leaves/bushes moving so we decided to sub them for the year to limit all those notificaitons and recordings. Unfortunately we are totally hosed still because Arlo tech support has been outsourced to people who can't seem to grip anything that is not written down on one of their help desk scripts. JessicaP of the forums here has been the most help and we hope she is still working - but phone support forget about it. Not worth it.