Not receiving email alerts

[TheMayor207]

I have been using the same email address for a few years. 5pm yesterday my email alerts stopped. Push alerts are still working fine. I have verified my email address, cycled email alerts on and off, restarted my base station etc. 

nothing is working 

[JamesC]

The Email alerts feature is at end of life and will no longer be supported.

You can read more about the Arlo end of life policy here: https://kb.arlo.com/000063018/Arlo-Legacy-Cameras-End-of-Life

JamesC

[NR46]

I purchased Arlo for security and part of that security is for nominated email accounts to receive motion email alerts. It is not acceptable that this feature has been removed. ARLO WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU HAVE SOLD A SYSTEM WITH SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS TO PAYING CUSTOMERS AND THEN LATER ON YOU REMOVE A KEY SECURITY FEATURE PROBABLY BECAUSE ITS COSTING YOU TOO MUCH MONEY. YOU MUST REINSTATE THE EMAIL FEATURE OR REFUND EVERYONE WHO HAS PAID YOU FOR THIS.

[Efthos]

Exactly!!!  I haven't had this much communication from Arlo in a long time.  Do they seriously think existing customers would by more of their product?

[JCC60]

Just to let you know I don't need an email alert telling me your "New! Make your home smarter and safer from only $9.99/month."

I do, however, need an email alert telling me if "SOMEONE IS BREAKING INTO MY HOME!"

Also how am I supposed to trust you that the features your are offering now won't disappear in a year or two when you decide they are too expensive?

[ArloIsNowCanary]

Thank you Arlo for becoming the next Canary of the security cameras. Removing a basic function. I will never purchase your products and will never purchase Netgear products as well. There are so many way you can make it work for us! Add a SMTP server field so we can leverage our own email accounts, so you don't have to cover the cost of sending emails.

[LT84]

Unable to get any email notifications on my VMB3010r2 is this normal or have they sunsetted email notifications?

[StephenB]

---

@LT84 wrote:

have they sunsetted email notifications?

---

Unfortunately, they've removed the feature (even for currently sold cameras).

[BDC2023]

Almost 20,000 views as of 12-13-2023.  It's amazing how it can take years to gain customers and minutes to lose them.  I sure hope the profit machine realizes if they lose 20% of their customer base, they also lose profit.  I see their stocks are down 10% this morning.

So when will we see the email option added back to the product/software?

[TreasureB]

 by the time Arlo realizes they've lost lots of customers, and profit, by eliminating vital email notifications, we will have all trashed our existing but now-useless Arlo equipment and found something else .. hopefully

[JCC60]

"Unwrap your savings."   I found this from you  in my email inbox this morning. 

What I didn't find was an email alert that someone had tried to see if my front door was unlocked by pulling on the handle.  Which one of these do you think is more important to me?

Good thing I have a Ring doorbell, eh?

[JCC60]

Today I received another daily  email from you  "Last call for the Holiday Sale."  Clearly your email server is working fine.  

Still no alerts on the people who were testing my front door to see if it was locked... email or otherwise.

Have you considered a subscription service which, for a nominal monthly fee, customers could resume receiving email alerts.

Or don't you give a damn about the people whose money you already have?

[Hckyguy1]

I left a bad review on the App Store and received this BS response.   Interesting that they chose to respond there but not anywhere else.   Did anyone here receive an email notifying them that the emails were going to be discontinued?   I didn’t.   I think it’s just another lie.  The day the emails stopped, I contacted tech support, and their own tech support didn’t know the emails were discontinued.   Wasted two hours of my time trying to fix it and even asked for a screenshot of the email alert screen to show that I had the box checked.  Ridiculous and unacceptable.   Good riddance Arlo.  

 

[frankpgh]

I filed a BBB complaint and Arlo called the next day.  Same thing - all excuses.  Saying they explained this in an email and that is BS.  If they did, they buried it in some sales email or something.  They did not send out anything.  Then, they tried to tell me that their solution is to use desktop notifications.  They claim they added this feature because of the email removal.  Again, BS - that is no different than getting a push, requires you to be at the device to see the notification, no history, etc.

I'd urge everyone to file the BBB complaint.  You can ask for what type of compensation you'd like.  Perhaps when they start adding that up they'll re-evaluate.

I really hope the reviews and complaints impact their holiday sales.  How stupid of them to make this change during the busy shopping season.  That should tell you how misguided this company is in their decision making.

[lywaz]

I had an EOL email on June 1 but I didn't see a specific mention of email, just that my older devices wouldn't receive any updates after July 1  2024. Also said I'd continue to get 7 days of free cloud storage until then. 

Can anyone confirm if I turn off arlo secure subscription does that mean no more cloud storage? I think the message saying I would still get cloud storage until next year is a lie.

[SantaFe]

A BBB complaint is a good idea. Regarding desktop notifications, I have been using them the last few days to replace emails. A very poor replacement: they require you to sign in each time you click on the notification, then you have to navigate several pages of the website to see what Arlo recorded. It is MUCH MORE time consuming. The emails automatically sent you a video that you could click to see what Arlo recorded. Most alerts are false alarms, so these extra steps are highly inconvenient.

[lywaz]

I'll respond to my own message ... I contacted Arlo support to say I was canceling my Arlo Secure subscription and was confirming I would still get 7 days of free video storage per the email they sent me on 1 June 2023. My devices are all old enough they're all considered legacy so that's why I'm grandfathered I guess with the video storage. The agent confirmed this. We will see if they live up to that when my subscription ends in early January. I also asked the agent to pass along I was canceling specifically because of the removal of the email notifications. He gave me a support link about the email and I just said, yeah, I know what you're saying, I'm just saying it is unacceptable and that's why I'm leaving, and Arlo management ought to take a look at what's going on in this community. 🙂

[Mbambi28]

Yes please file a BBB complaint AND submit a review.

Don't 'accept' their 'solution' when they send you a generic 'you're a valued customer' bull**bleep**. Keep denying their empty solutions until it's reallly resolved.  The complaint won't be published until you've accepted their solution. That's why the essay complaint I submitted isn't visible. 

I summitted my complaint for the lies about video verification, email , and geo fencing, and the overall horrible experience of being an Arlo customer. 

If anyone has a large following on social accounts please broadcast the issues. Create hashtags, ask friends that have a large following to post something. .....I've never in my life gone online to post negative reviews about any service/company. But with allllll the problems I've been having FOR A YEAR, I've had enough and now MAKE TIME to post anywhere I can to stay away from anything Arlo. 

If you want to see the garbage I've been dealing with please go to my post https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Home-Security-System/Emergency-response-agents-won-t-look-at-my-c...   I also ask that you test the 'video verification' when emergency response agents contacts you. 

[Efthos]

And yet I still get an email notification when the battery in my Arlo doorbell camera is running low!  Obviously the technology is still there.  I know I never received any notification about the discontinuance of email notifications.  I, like everyone else, just realized it a day or two after Arlo stopped sending them.

[JCC60]

The reason you never got an email is that there never was an email sent out.  They are lying.

In other news, today I got an email from Arlo telling me about that "This gift is too good to not unwrap."  I am glad to see your email capabilities are still functional for your sales department.  They seem to be able to send at least one email to me every day.

But do you know what gift would really be too good to unwrap?  

The ability to reliably tell if someone is trying to break into my house.  You know... that basic reason for having a home security camera?  Now that would be a Christmas gift worth unwrapping.

[lywaz]

They remind me of a former friend who when confronted with his many lies said he was only being "evasive". Technically they did notify people... sorta...I have an email from January saying what was being EOL'd, and when I reread the EOL statement online it says some email may be reduced or eliminated. Pretty slimy of them though not to send out any reminders or confirming the time frame. How is anyone supposed to remember an 11 month old email? I only saved it because it had a discount offer on new devices (which thankfully I never bothered using).

[Hckyguy1]

Does anyone else have floodlight cameras?   I cancelled my subscription plan, and now the floodlights don’t come on plus they don’t record any video.   It’s unbelievable how bad Arlo is.   

[TreasureB]

and the sad unbelievable  fact with how bad Arlo is that they know the chaos their e-mail decision  caused and they do not care . All these comments about the problem,  and they simply ignore it and don’t care

[JCC60]

I very much doubt they even look at this board.   They just leave it here for their customers to blow off steam in the hopes it will all blow over.

Welp... off to Best Buy, Amazon, Yelp, Costco, Youtube and the BBB to post a few more reviews.

Potential customers have to be warned that the features they want and are paying for may be cancelled in the not too distant future.  You can ignore us here Arlo, but I am not going anywhere.

[Joseph17]

I've kind of adjusted to not having the emails anymore although I was vocal about it from day one. I miss the functionality and security of the email alerts. For my situation with just the one Arlo Pro5S out front, in the suburbs, I'm trying to adjust and move on. I get that others situations are different or more urgent.

 Wanting to make a change I did pick up one Ring Spotlight Cam Pro to check it out, to do a comparison, and see if it's a viable option. I soon found out that they too don't have email alerts, just push notifications.  Thought about returning it but decided to keep it. Maybe thats why Arlo decided to eliminate the emails, knowing the games biggest player isn't offering them either and Ring isn't going anywhere but up in term of sales. Too bad Arlo didn't keep the emails and promote it as a unique feature that they only offer. Dumb **bleep**s.

 Anyhow I put the Ring out back where I have enough pets, deer, other activity to give it some testing. Been using it for two weeks or so and I like it so far.

A few random thoughts - the Ring cam looks well built.  While not 2K it's picture is as good as Arlos or sure seems close. Nice app is full featured and adjustable. Login is a PITA with 2 step authentication that can't be side stepped. Camera body can hold one or two batteries, each of which has more capacity than the Arlo battery. Battery life appears to be very good, much better than my Arlo. The Ring plan costs less than the Arlo plan.  A single cam Ring is $40 per year vs Arlo at $50 per year, for comparison. The ring push notification works well and quick fwiw. But Ring has it's share of unhappy folks out there also.

So I'm going to keep the two different cams, two plans, and the hassle of the two separate apps for now. If Arlo does something else stupid, goes out of business, or whatever then I'll replace the one Arlo cam I have. 

Lastly most new customers to any brand of cams won't miss something they never had, fully understood, or expected such as the email alerts. I sense that those of us here griping are a vocal minority.

[frankpgh]

Good morning, all - 

Just received a 6 month credit for Arlo secure.  It will at least give me time to decide what I want to do  - and if I plan to replace Arlo with another product, gives me time to finish that.

I'd rather have the email notifications back, but this is a start.

I started with a BBB case, which prompted Arlo to call and it moved on from there.

[TomMcBride]

Eliminating the email option for alerts is disgusting and it's hard to understand why Arlo would do that. My simple application is totally dependent on these emails. I have a camera in my backyard and  a computer that receives and analyzes each email and takes appropriate actions -- namely, if it's an animal, it activates the sprinklers there for 5 seconds; if it's a person and it's after dark, it also activates the sprinklers.

I found a solution which works for now using IFTTT. Arlo still supports a trigger that you can set to activate when a camera detects a person, animal or vehicle. I only needed person and animal so I created two applets, one for each, that send me an email. The structure of the email is quite different so I had to change my program that analyzes the notes but my application is now working again -- at least until Arlo decides to stop supporting this IFTTT trigger.  Luckily, I don't use IFTTT for anything else and their service allows two applets for free. If I had more cameras, I'd have to pay a subscription fee to IFTTT.