Weak Front Line Support!!!

[woseyjales]

What's up with Arlo's incompetent fronline support??? I see the same responses day in, day out, to all the same issues. This, in and of itself is ridiculous, as we can all view the same hoops everyone is asked to jump through. It doesn't matter if you set up a private online chat with an Arlo/Subcontracted support tech, or an Arlo/Subcontracted phone support tech, or the forum Arlo/Subcontracted support tech, we all have to jump throuh exactly the same hoops!!!

Are you sure you have fresh batteries in the camera's???

Is the green power light on???

Is the green internet light on???

Is the green camera light on???

Have you rebooted your base station???

Have you tried another browser???

Have you tried the appp???

Could you reboot your router and base station while standing on one foot with your left index finger in your nose???

I for one am tired of the games and am dissappointed with the lack of support and I'm upset that this system does not do what it claims to do on a reliable basis!!!

[JamesC]

woseyjales,

I apologize that you have had an unfavorable experience with support. The questions that you have listed are all questions that help define the conditions in which a user is experiencing an issue. These questions need to be asked in order for us to isolate the cause of an issue. Arlo is a complex system that has many dependencies and asking these kinds of questions is the only way we can narrow down where the problems are. I understand that this process can sometimes be frustrating but ultimately when issues arise working with support is how those issues are solved. Please continue to work with support on any issues you may have now and in the future.

Regards,

JamesC

[woseyjales]

OK James, I'll give you a shot. I've had every problem discussed on this forum and guess what, all of a sudden I'm back to square one. I cannot even get the base station to connect to the internet!!! Now remember, I've already jumped through all the hoops.

So how would you like to start???

[JamesC]

woseyjales,

What is indicating that your base is not connected to the internet, the internet LED or an error message? If the internet LED is green, the problem is likely with the browser being used. Try logging in from a different browser or the arlo app to isolate the issue further.

JamesC

[woseyjales]

---

JamesC wrote:

woseyjales,

What is indicating that your base is not connected to the internet, the internet LED or an error message? If the internet LED is green, the problem is likely with the browser being used. Try logging in from a different browser or the arlo app to isolate the issue further.

JamesC

---

Both the LED and the browser error message that says your base station is not connected to the internet. The I get the green indicating that the base station is online and I log into see, on my phone and then my laptop, only to see the same error message about the base station not online.

[woseyjales]

Is anybody home???

[JamesC]

woseyjales,

Due to the potential complexity of the issue you are experiencing I have escalated your case to our support team for further investigation. If you have any additional questions or concerns please ask.

Thank you!

JamesC

[woseyjales]

Thanks James,

I just had a very productive conversation with a netgear rep and if I learn anything, I'll definitely pass on any solutions to the community, that may help others with similar issues.

[Calamityjane12]

I can top this all and have to agree the phone support is horrendous. I'm actually thinking of returning the entire system (6 cameras). I had an existing case for one camera that the motion detection was lacking in. When I called back in after getting the camera down and inside, I had 37 minutes of "hmmm, please hold while I gather more information." This was after I clearly explained I had performed ALL the troubleshooting tasks they had instructed me to do. My question? What took 37 minutes to read in the manual he was apparently reading?! I finally lost patience and requested a supervisor. 52 minutes later I have level 2 support. I said for about the seventh time "the camera needs to be replaced!" Then comes the email with instructions of what I need to supply to process a return. Screenshot from camera, receipt of purchase (less than a week old) serial number, credit card? For express shipping? I think not! Your product is defective! After this experience, I'm seriously thinking of just shipping it all back to Amazon. Them? One phone call. Send it back. That's customer service!!!

[Budk]

same problem last week. A camera had obviously died, but three times they refused to give me an RMA and asked me to do all kinds of useless tests that I had already done several times (like, was I sure the batteries were good).  After two weeks of this I told them that I wasn't going to do their job anymore, that any reputable company would have issued the RMA, replaced the bad camera, and done their own diagnoses on it. After a bit of thrashing, my case was "escalated" and the cam was replaced. Now I have a misbehaving base station but I'm reluctant to deal with their customer happiness prevention team again. 

[Calamityjane12]

"Happiness Preventtion Team!" That's outstanding and an apt description! They really need to step up their game in terms of support or they'll lose customers and sales of what could be a decent product.

[JamesC]

Calamityjane12,

Please private message your case number and I will investigate further.

Budk,

What issue are you having with your base station? Let us know the details so we can better understand what is misbehaving.

JamesC

[Budk]

REPLY to JamesC:    I opened a trouble ticket today on this after working on it unsuccessfully for over an hour (26712409).   Here's what I reported:

I have two base stations, one working and one down. Ive lost all camera connectivity to my back room station; the only cam that works is my Q, which doesnt use the base station. I have read the troubleshooting guides in Support and the user forum, but nothing has worked. The power in the room was off briefly this week and I think the base station never recovered. Heres the situation:

- left three lights are green
- reset did not fix the problem 
- internet connection is working ok
- I deleted this base station using your app but now I cannot reactivate it using "cameras-add device-base station". The base station is not discovered.

Also it appears that the reset button does nothing, even if I hold the sync button at the same time. 

[TomMac]

Also it appears that the reset button does nothing, even if I hold the sync button at the same time. 

The new reset procedure is just the reset button held for about 10 secs till the front LEDs flash ( changed in dec 2015 with new sw )

[Budk]

Thanks. I was sure I did that, but I tried again this morning and it finally worked. Thanks!  This forum is much more useful and less annoying than Netgear's support. 

[TomMac]

good to hear it's working