What's going on with Arlo?

[FrostyCan]

Hi there,

I'm a long-time Arlo user who has promoted to brand to many others.  But in the last few weeks I've become very frustrated with the Arlo system.  Mainly due to:

1. My spouse's Arlo app appears to have forced the "new Arlo experience", against our wishes.  Now she can't access our devices or arm/disarm the system on her iPhone, despite still receiving alerts.  No devices show up.  Not being able to access the Arlo system is obviously a big issue.
2. This morning I could not disarm the system because the status showed "getting information" indefinitely.
3. I tried the in-app support chat but while waiting for an agent to answer I thought I'd check the arm/disarm function again and couldn't get back to the chat.
4. So I tried calling support.  I was on hold for ten minutes before being offered the option for a call-back, which I accepted, confirming my phone number.  I've been waiting three hours now for a call back.
5. There are nagging issues with failed batteries, and recordings that cut off that we've lived with.

Is it time to dump Arlo and switch to another system?  I just want something that works, and is reliable, and is seamless to use.  Arlo used to be those things, but there are more and more friction points and lack of progress.

[FrostyCan]

Let's add another friction point that just came up:

• The Arlo support system asked me for feedback, which I typed out.  When I clicked submit the website responded with an "authentication failed.  Authentication Ticket Mismatched, failed authentication" error.

[StephenB]

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@FrostyCan wrote:

1. My spouse's Arlo app appears to have forced the "new Arlo experience", against our wishes.  Now she can't access our devices or arm/disarm the system on her iPhone, despite still receiving alerts.  No devices show up.  Not being able to access the Arlo system is obviously a big issue.

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There are two solutions.  One is for her to use your credentials for the app on her phone.  That is the simplest.

The other option is for you to migrate your account to "Feed".  There is a hack to do that.  You go into "add device" and start to add a Pro 5s camera.  That of course will fail because you don't have the camera.  But the workflow will migrate your account to "Feed" before you get stuck.

[FrostyCan]

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@StephenB wrote:

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There are two solutions.  One is for her to use your credentials for the app on her phone.  That is the simplest.

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Thanks for your reply.  I just had her use my credentials and now she can access the system again.

I just read a few long Reddit threads about Arlo's changes.  My first impulse is to discount that hostility as coming from malcontents, but there sure are a lot of annoyed current (and former) Arlo users.   And after this experience -- which essentially broke how we use our security system --  and the lack of support from Arlo, I won't be recommending them again.   It's been ten hours and I'm still waiting for support to return my call.

[SMCCLURE]

I too have also been a strong fan of Arlo for the past 5 years since the cameras and sensors worked well. I would recommend Arlo to friends.I have had a lot of trouble the last two months getting my brand new sensor hub to recognize  my brand new sensors. The customer service is terrible. Please find someone who speaks English and is really familiar with the product(s). Wish they could simply recommend a local support technician. I am thinking of going to another company. Life is  short; life goes on. Life is probably gonna  be better without Arlo.

[BrookeN]

@SMCCLURE I would be more than happy to help. Can you please dm me a callback number as well as a good time to call. You send a dm by clicking on the envelope icon on the top right of the forum page.If you don't see it, then go into your profile settings and select preferences, then "Private Messenger." Then select "Turn on private messages" if it is turned off.  

[FrostyCan]

Let's add more friction points:

• Almost TWO WEEKS LATER, and ARLO SUPPORT STILL HAS NOT RETURNED MY CALL.
• Over a week after a submitted a support ticket request online, they finally replied but did not address my questions.
• Clicking the link in their email to access the support ticket online results in an "invalid token value" error.

Arlo feels too much like a sinking ship.  I'm so frustrated with them.

[BrookeN]

@FrostyCan can you please provide more infortmation on what you are needing help with. And I will be more than happy to help. 

[FrostyCan]

Please refer to points 1 and 2 in my original post.
To say nothing of how sloppy the entire support experience has been.

[BrookeN · Accepted solution]

You both need to be on the same user interface to both have access to the cameras. You will need to pretend to add a Pro 5 camera to the account and it will kick start the update. Once the update is done, your wife will be able to access the cameras again. 

Updating the app very well may solve number 2 as well. 

Please let me know if you still see the behavior you are seeing after updating.