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

[Jhallman]

I originally bought the Arlo Pro because it did not require a monthly subscription, encouraged several friends to do the same and even bought some extra Pro2 cameras and another base off Kijiji and Netgear stock as I thought the product was great.  Once Netgear realized that selling cameras was not the way to make money- everything is moving towards fee for service, it was obvious they switched gears and it was only a matter of time before they screwed all their early adopters because they can't make any more money off of us.  The app was only recently updated once in 5 years I think, and none of the bugs with geofencing, permissions, refreshes were ever fixed so I can't say I'm surprised.   I'm involved in the tech industry, and a 4-5 year EOL policy is bordering on absurd.  They are no longer an industry leader and unfortunately squandered whatever technology edge they had, now they are adding to their misery by mistreating their customers.  I've talked to their tech support a few times and it is very obvious all they want to do is sell me subscription services, not help to keep my cameras operational.  The only recourse we have, I'm afraid, is to never buy any Arlo products again and make sure no-one else we know does.  They were more than happy to sell me their proprietary replacement batteries recently..... 😉  My prediction is they will be EOL before their cameras are.

[Scotty52]

I would absolutely be interested in a class action. This company is

out of control

[TopShock]

That EOL email was such corporate-speak garbage. Did they really think they could spin this as a positive? Just be honest and come out and say it's a money grab. I also love how they point out the date that the cameras were first on the market, to make it seem like they are now ancient and obsolete. These cameras were still for sale within the last 3-4 years. I bought an Arlo Pro in 2019. I bought an Arlo Pro 2 in 2020. And I paid premium prices because of the free 7-day cloud storage. I could have paid half as much for similar products from a competitor. Turns out I should have.

[arizala]

I agree. Other companies give you credit towards buying new products. ARLO/Netgear just unceremoniously dumped all of us.

[Scotty52]

I’m done   Goodbye Arlo. I am going to buy another system . Will not be paying yearly to Arlo. They are nothing but a headache. Updates don’t work and now end of life 7 cameras and three lights that will be useless. Theives

[StephenB]

---

@arizala wrote:

ARLO/Netgear 

---

FYI, nothing to do with Netgear.  They divested Arlo back in 2018.

[TopShock]

Good luck trying to contact Arlo. I just tried on their website, and it turns out that you need to be a paying customer of their Arlo Smart subscription service to even talk to an actual human being! They direct the rest of us peasants to this forum, an FAQ site, and a chat bot. I will say that it was somewhat therapeutic to curse out a chat bot though.

[MBasney]

Might want to remove the “Netgear” portion of your post, as I understand it per other replies, Netgear was removed from the picture years ago.

[MBasney]

Again, might want to remove “Netgear” as they separated from Arlo years back.

[MBasney]

Should remove “Netgear” as they haven’t been involved since 2018 as I understand it.

[Scotty52]

I also purchased my system and lights at Costco 

[MBasney]

I was replying to individual posts, although it didn’t show up under each, but all in a row, not trying to repeat myself…

[Jhallman]

Do you think they are even monitoring this forum for feedback to their EOL notice?  All the email did was link to the actual legal notice, no link to a contact or feedback method.  We should at least use the forum to start discussing what the best competitive options are so that anyone who wanders on here knows not to buy Arlo.  I'm going to check out Wyse per some of the comments.

[Jhallman]

I originally bought the Arlo Pro because it did not require a monthly subscription, encouraged several friends to do the same and even bought some extra Pro2 cameras and another base off Kijiji and Netgear stock as I thought the product was great.  Once Netgear realized that selling cameras was not the way to make money- everything is moving towards fee for service, it was obvious they switched gears and it was only a matter of time before they screwed all their early adopters because they can't make any more money off of us.  The app was only recently updated once in 5 years I think, and none of the bugs with geofencing, permissions, refreshes were ever fixed so I can't say I'm surprised.   I'm involved in the tech industry, and a 4-5 year EOL policy is bordering on absurd.  They are no longer an industry leader and unfortunately squandered whatever technology edge they had, now they are adding to their misery by mistreating their customers.  I've talked to their tech support a few times and it is very obvious all they want to do is sell me subscription services, not help to keep my cameras operational.  The only recourse we have, I'm afraid, is to never buy any Arlo products again and make sure no-one else we know does.  They were more than happy to sell me their proprietary replacement batteries recently..... 

  My prediction is they will be EOL before their cameras are.

[dissapointed1]

I have several of these cameras working perfectly.  I have several band new cameras in reserve in the event my current cameras have issues or I want to extend my monitoring.  I'm very disappointed these cameras are reaching EOL.  The cameras have years of life left.  If this EOL is followed through with I will be replacing my entire system and it will NOT be with any Arlo cameras that is for sure.  After this bait and switch practice I will never use this product again.  I have invested in this product and expected to use the promised free cloud storage and email notifications until I decided to upgrade.  I did NOT expect to be forced out of using these cameras, especially in this short timeframe.  There are plenty of good cameras out there that do NOT require a paid service to use after purchase.  I'm hoping Arlo will come to their senses and reverse the EOL policy but if not I will be moving on to other cameras. VERY DISAPPOINTED

[MBasney]

Who marked this “solved,” it is NOT solved.

[TeeJay2022]

EOL for Arlo may indeed happen, as tech site have picked up on the story. This may get momentum. Sonos tried the same thing and customer backlash was fierce enough for them to reconsider their plan to EOL first gen devices. They came back to allow early devices to remain on the original app, while allowing new devices with more features on a separate app. And importantly, they gave users discounts based on the devices they had purchased. Arlo could have grandfathered in storage for 7 days for old devices, while providing 30 day storage for new ones, and providing deep discounts to customers wanting to upgrade. But nope... Arlo wants every nickel and dime. Goodbye Arlo. I hardly got to know you in these past 3 or 4 years.

[TeeeTw0]

Arlo! This has to be an early April Fools joke?! You're issuing EOL notices for perfectly working hardware and crippling the entire system?

You have to be kidding! This reminds me of what Sonos tried to pull a few years back...

If this doesn't get reversed then I'll never buy any Arlo hardware and will make sure to spread the word.

[Fedupwitharlo22]

I have 9 Arlo Pro cameras! I pay for the annual subscription already. Now I receive the end of life email. WTH? That’s a heck of a loss that I am taking. This should be litigated and restitution be paid to all of us! So here is my question. My annual subscription is up for renewal 3 weeks from now. If i cancel do I lose my rights to future settlement? If I pay do I get my money back?  This is nothing short of breach of contract. Come on Arlo moderator where is ur comment and remedies?  Afraid to comment?

[DaveWoj]

Somehow these EOL posts are being combined and I am having a real difficult time replying to individual comments.

That tells me that Arlo is monitoring these posts but will not get involved in any response

[Scotty52]

You bet it’s not solved. I am contacting my friends with nest and ring etc. looked at a friends nest system today which is set hop thru Alexa. Seamless operation . No lag like Arlo and the voice system is amazing. Makes Arlo look like the cheapest version of security. 

[antkho]

With this EOL, I have done some research, do you have any experience with the following devices?

Wyze

eufy

Ring

Blink

Foscam

Optjoy

Hikam

Some of them have free cloud storage.

[gmac66]

100% Agreement on Arlo ending the free 7-day storage service.

This has nothing to do with EOL policy or technology.
It is a direct breach of the written promise that persuaded us to purchase this product.
Please include me in on pending class action.  

[MichaelRo]

Costco has Wyze on sale right now.  4 pack for 99 bucks.  Wow.  Seems like you’ll need to pay a subscription per camera (which can add up) if you want cloud storage/etc but just beginning to read about what they offer.  Curious what others know. 

Just shows how much Arlo was charging extra for the lifetime cloud storage - guess they floundered that money we PREPAID. 

[redsoxfan44]

Not free storage, but local storage options something to consider too:

https://www.androidcentral.com/best-security-cameras-store-locally-not-cloud

My former boss had several Arlo's inside and out.   I told him about this and he said his outdoor ones he had changed to Blink.    Inside ones probably next!