End Of Life Policy

[simonjf]

I have just received an email about the End Of Life policy. If this is actually what is going to happen then I need to follow up with all my friends and family, social media connections to advocate against Arlo, and search for an alternative company and service, likely starting my own online storage service for them with appropriate security cameras.

Additionally, contacts at Arlo seem to be designed to prevent actual communication - which has the stink of a company that hates its customers.

[JamesC]

New, updated information is now available regarding the EoL policy that is very relevant to much of the discussion taking place here in this community thread. These changes will allow Arlo legacy users who currently have 7-day storage service to continue receiving that service, uninterrupted.

I encourage you all to visit https://downloads.arlo.com/images/PDFs/EOL_Policy/arlo-end-of-life-policy-021023.pdf and read up on these changes.

Thank you,

JamesC

[JamesC]

Hello Arlo Community,

With the recently announced Arlo end-of-life policy, we understand many of you are seeking more clarity and a path forward after your device becomes end-of-life. In the coming days we will be reaching out to impacted users via email with special offers. Keep an eye out for those emails as they will contain more details about these offers and instructions on how to take advantage of them.

For those who may not have read this new policy or have questions about how this may impact you, I encourage you to take a look here: https://downloads.arlo.com/images/PDFs/EOL_Policy/arlo-end-of-life-policy-021023.pdf?cid=a&cid=a

If you've not received a discount offer via email, visit https://www.arlo.com/en-us/eol-offer-form.html and enter your email address, if your account is eligible you will then receive the discount offer via email.

Thank you,

JamesC

[TKlopf]

I am also disappointed in current Arlo attempt to extract user fees with a bogus EOL claim. I have the Pro system with 4 cameras which have been working great. I bought it because of the small free picture storage offered by Arlo. I had been considering adding the Arlo doorbell but requiring a subscription is a non- starter. Google offers a free 3hours of rolling storage for their Nest 2nd generation doorbell.

[RegretBuyingArl]

This was the biggest and most expensive POS that I have ever bought! 

I have lost more sleep due to the issues of this lemon. From the loss of audio (HITF does that get by the iOS devs?!), to lack of connecting, to dozens & dozens of hard resets, this thing was awful! I finally switched to a Wyze camera ($35) and never slept better! 

Because of this, I have NEVER purchased another Arlo (or Netgear) product. You got my money once but never again! 

[pie2eat]

I own 12 VMC4030 cameras and have had them from when they were first offered.  I have purchases accessories to support them from Arlo/Netgear.

It is insulting to your customers to announce a new EOL policy the first of the year -- right after your holiday sales all ended, forcing us to buy (if we will stay with Arlo products) at normal pricing.  No trade in, no special discounts, no consideration.

Furthermore, only giving us a few months to adjust to your policy is unacceptable. 
I do not buy from companies that behave in unacceptable ways.

Goodbye, Arlo  --- your support and quality over the years was always a "C-" at best. Now you have succeeded in overachieving in obtaining an "F" in respecting your customers.

[RangeWolf]

They’ve lost one more loyal customer over this EOL policy. Who would buy a security camera solution that only lasts 4 years? That’s ridiculous. Had I known my purchase had a short expiry date I would have never paid 1200.00 for all the camera, spare batteries and accessories. I’m livid. 

[bkhsms]

I'm out. I've been an Arlo customer since the Gen1 hubs and cameras. I just moved to the new plan exactly one day prior to getting the EOL notification. I was about to get the home security system, but nope not with this policy. I've already got a network setup that can handle DVR locally I just have had Arlo cameras for so long I didn't need it. Thank you Arlo for making this decision for me. PMF

[DaveWoj]

Here is "another" EOL related article

https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/2/23536194/arlo-eol-security-cameras-pro-baby-q-gen-3-lights-doorbel...

[friedolays]

This company is going down.

Every one of your past customers has been ripped off and scammed. Your overpriced cameras were based on promises of cloud storage for life.

Word will spread, its everywhere. You screwed over your base. Im sharing this everywhere, as will others.

Arlo, nope.

Netgear, nope.

Untrustworthy. These are the people who we need to trust the most. We trust them with cameras installed inside of our homes. Think about that. Im almost glad they are doing this, it shows me how Untrustworthy these individuals are!

[tahoeflyer]

Solution - Open Source Option

Here is an option that is not too hard to setup and can be activated by motion, with email alerts (also available - set your email to your phone carrier address and get text messaging - search "email to text carrier"). WiFi capable through your home WiFi router system. View live video feed on phone, computer or pad. Store video clips on your router with a USB drive, or store on any other source e.g. Google, Apple, etc. cloud services (for as long as you want). Search for videos titled: " How To Make a Raspberry Pi Zero WiFi Security Camera" and/or "Raspberry Pi Remote Camera with MotionEyeOS". You have no contracts ever, since it resides on your home router system. It is also protected by password and firewall of your personal OWNED system. This is open source software that has been around for several years. Note: currently because of the chip backlog the availability of these small $15 mother boards (Pi Zero W) are not available unless paying high prices from scalpers, but the good news per Raspberry Pi is within the next month chips should be coming available (on retail sites sign up for notification when they get them). There are kits that will be available for a total cost of less than $60 (no battery option avail. but is capable with a little work on your part along with making a case water resistant - Check thingiverse (3D printing option) or use silicone caulking). Hope this helps - it's my go to option

 

[kim74]

When I purchased both the Arlo Pro and Pro2 cameras, I was specifically informed that I could have up to 5 cameras with free seven day cloud service.  You are EOL'ing my camera, not because they will no longer work with the cloud, but because you want me to pay for cloud service.  You are violating FTC policies.  You have 48 hours to offer me free cloud monitoring or I will be filing an FTC complaint.

[therelybare]

If I’d known two years ago that this would happen so soon, I wouldn’t have wasted money on Arlo. I got cameras for family for Christmas and in three months they’re going to be expensive paperweights. Last Arlo camera I’m buying.

[MichaelRo]

Their game is working.  Don’t want the thread/anger to turn to an acceptance.

Any lawyers who can chime in on next steps?

I don’t want some token coupon or discount to buy a subscription-based camera from them.  Either but the cameras at full price or &@@$-off. 

would be interesting if a competitor took the opportunity to give legacy Arlo folks feee cameras to get us to change teams. 

[ArloWontCharge]

I am a retired lawyer and judge though I’ve never done a class action. There are law firms who specialize in corporate class actions and you’ll need to find one who’s interested in taking this because no one is going to put up money for attorney’s fees. It would need to be a large law firm because these cases are lengthy and challenging, so you’ll need someone with the resources to finance the case. 

This process would take a long time and will not produce any quick results.

[alexmereness]

I agree. I don’t know that a class action is going to be the answer…time is better spent mounting a pressure campaign. As you mentioned, going through the courts will be long, costly, and quite frankly, could fail based on some small/fine print in their terms of service. 

[MichaelRo]

@cbrauckmiller

Are you joking?  As someone with “years of IT experience”, it makes sense that cameras purchased only 3 years ago would be deemed EOL?  But if the person is willing to cough up a subscription, then magically the cameras work again?  In your “years” of experience, it seems you’d be totally fine for Apple to disable the calling capability of a 3 year iPhone?  Or GM render a 3 year old car undrivable?  Don’t forget this was a key feature people paid for (ie buying a lifetime subscription) and you think it’s okay o just change their mind?  I presume companies could do that for anything then?  Invalidate warranties after the fact, turn off features, etc. 

Your logic smells of corporate spin. 

[pearcs1]

I purchased my Arlo system through Costco. I know there probably isn't anything they can do, but I will be writing them a letter to let them know about Arlo's recent EOL business practices. Unfortunately doesn't have an email address to deal with concerns like this one. so I will be writing them an actual letter. 

[Brently]

Let's be honest, Arlo was never a good product. I've never recommended it to people because it's a constant pain in the butt.

RETURNING EVERYTHING TO COSTCO

Arlo (Netgear) SUCKS! They are just publicly confirming what I've always known. People, stop buying cloud-based, fee-based security cameras. Invest in a hardwired system that you own and records on your own drive and involves no monthly fees

[MichaelRo]

How?  Unless you just bought your system (and wouldn’t be affected by this), Costco no longer has their indefinite electronic return policy. 

you now have a nice set of doorstops. 

[AshTray900]

Should have just offered more services and features and advertised them well, grab more customers by being competitive. 9 bucks a month isn’t expensive, 4 bucks a month might grab new people, longer history, etc, they have been making good changes to the app.

being crappy to customers is just going to get some paid subscribers (temporarily) until they find a better system as the aging arlo system that offered free storage ages out and then those will never buy again and cancel. The others will just rock the system with usb or replace it out of anger.

I’ve paid for years as it had nice features and even I am mad about this happy new year email from arlo…

call them EOL let’s let the open source community crack them open and free them from needing arlo access, hell you can crack your router with open source code lol.

[Mark85]

It's not all things electronics. They name specific ones that are limited to 90 days. Home surveillance video cameras aren't specified.

From Costco website directly:

• Electronics: Costco will accept returns within 90 days (from the date the member received the merchandise) for Televisions, Projectors, Major Appliances (refrigerators above 10 cu. ft., freezers, ranges, cooktops, over-the-range microwaves, range hoods, dishwashers, water heaters, washers and dryers), Computers, Touchscreen Tablets, Smart Watches, Cameras, Aerial Cameras (drones), Camcorders, MP3 players and Cellular Phones (return details will vary by carrier service contract).

[MichaelRo]

Oh wow. Guess I assumed these fell under cameras but maybe you’re right. 

anyone been successful returning these?  Don’t even have the box for one set.  Would bring such joy to purge myself of Arlo garbage. 

[jb66]

[This is a satirical post of how the EOL email could be honestly read.]

As part of Arlo’s commitment to delivering the highest performance in profitability as well as its pledge to protect shareholder value we continually review our promises to suckers customers that are no longer needed to be kept.

Based on this analysis, we determine when our products and services need to be updated or retired and moved into their End of Life (EOL) stage and consider the huge new sales and subscription opportunities this generates from existing suckers customers who will no longer receive the service we baited promised them under well designed terms and conditions (thanks, Legal!).

With that, we will remove the free cloud storage from thousands of devices as old as 12 months under the EOL excuse policy and then... make them pay for it as it will magically work under subscription (wink, wink) but not under the original empty marketing promises terms and conditions which was one of the very key decision points for the suckers customers originally choosing our product.

With that, you can be sure privacy share price will be protected and we hope to have the best suckers customers continue with us for a long time and to provide the best ongoing support revenue through customer service subscriptions.

Yours truly, Arlo Greedy Smart.

[Artienew]

For Australian Arlo users:

It is possible that the Arlo End of Life Policy means that Arlo has made False or misleading claims when they sold the product, stating that it came with "free 7 day cloud storage"  only to now try to force consumers into a paid subscription service. The fact that the Arlo security cameras can be supported via a paid subscription means that they can still be supported by a free service for the life of the product. The ELO is therefore a form of extortion to force users to pay for what was originally offered as a "free service"... a much publicised feature to sell the Arlo security systems.

See the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) - False or misleading claims  https://www.accc.gov.au/business/advertising-and-promotions/false-or-misleading-claims 

For Australian users, if Arlo won't provide free subscriptions, I suggest you report the problem to the ACCC here https://www.accc.gov.au/contact-us/contact-the-accc/report-a-consumer-issue 

[Sherifelian]

This is totally not acceptable, i regret now all the reccomendations i did for othe people to use arlo, i paid the high cost of their cameras compared to other brands because they offered free storage for 7 days, and now they say it works only if you paid subscription, is this even legal ?

[HouseTrack]

So that's ARLO's game. I guarantee you that my current Arlo Pro2's WILL BE THE LAST ONES I EVER BUY when their so called EOL are announced. That WILL be it for me. I've spent way too much money on these and accessories including useless solar panels.

[jasongabler]

Hello Arlo,

I understand that technology progresses and 8-track is no longer how we play music. But a 90-day notice with pretty vague warnings of what may or may not become unavailable is a poor way of treating those who've purchased a dozen cameras and used your premier service for over half a decade. This announcement should've come with at least 6 months of leeway, if not a full year.  There's not even a loyalty offer of discounts to replace such quickly sunsetting products.

Over all, a poorly handled move. I do not see myself purchasing replacement cameras from Arlo. On the bright side, side, it'll be nice to finally get cameras rated for outdoors that officially support PoE.

In full disclosure, I only use Pro 2 with any regularity, which I do realize have been spared in this EOL. My older, pre-Pro 2 cameras only get used for extra coverage when I go on vacation. But, who knows when the Pro 2s will also get the 90-day axe? I don't feel like getting caught with my proverbial security pants down, scrambling to find another cloud-based security camera provider and integrate it with my home automation system.  90 days is not enough time.

jyg