Base station Is offline message - VMB4000

[Sussexdude1]

Over the last two days my home station seems to change my time zone at midnight every day, this being a huge pain when scanning back over recordings. I have tried resetting on Arlo web site, iPad and iPhone but midnight strikes time zone changes again. HELP !

[bobbieh1]

I am on my second set and thought I was doing good. Then one of my cameras went offline. I removed it from the base and hooked it back up. The battery was getting low so I charged it. Now my picture is blurry! Very frustrating. I will remove it one more time and rebook it back up. If it doesn’t work it’s going back to Costco! I also bought a router as my WiFi didn’t reach to the opposite end of the house so I have a lot of money invested in this!

[secaz]

BTW - some mod must be deleting posts... I posted this morning, verified it posted, then came back to this thread just now and found that post had been deleted.

[fractalchic]

I think you’ll find that particular post was moved to a different thread about the “Smart” part of Arlo Smart not working properly.

Here: https://community.arlo.com/t5/Arlo-Smart/Smart-Notifications-I-Am-Receiving-Motion-Alerts-When-quot/...

[bobbieh1]

I think maybe they don’t want us to talk as we’re hard to ignore when so many people are having the same problems.

[Bartley]

Been over a month now. They act like any customer that has a problem does not exist. As for the moderators on here when they do respond they just insult the intelligence of their customers that are having these issues for over a month now. They definetley don't want to talk to or have the ability to resolve the issues we are having on this topic. For somebody having a small issue with one device the standard remove, uninstall, re-install, add device might work and be good advice, but for this and other threads it is pretty obvious that Arlo has created an issue with a mandatory firmware upgrade that they pushed out that they cannot remedy it in a responsible and timely manner. Yet Arlo still markets and sells their security camera products. This is now becoming an issue of misleading their current customer base and potential customers. Without acknowledging this and communicating with their existing and potential customers.They are willfully engaging in false advertisment. Charging a premium subscription that does not offer the value that they advertise. We should probably start a new thread on what legal recourse we have with Arlo. I've spent well over $1000 on this sytem. We aren't talking small amounts of money here.

[Noelia]

Today it happened again. The base station was offline for 40 minutes. I opened a ticket a month ago, and even so I answered and probed everything they said, nothing work.

[Mjbeuke]

@Bartley I feel the exact same way sir. I'm a business professional and entrepeneur of all sorts in life - and this is utterly and literally the absolute worst customer service and support I have ever experienced in my life. I feel completely shammed out of roughly $1k in total - the same as you.

There is absoutely no accountability within the Arlo chain of command and amidst their various tiers of "support".

I truly don't beleive they have any intention of fixing any of the issues plaguing every person using their Pro 2 systems - whether or not people even realize there are issues, they are there. Most people are just ignorant to it - and don't find lapses in security to be an issue. I am not in that camp. Its a serious issue - and like you, is terrinly misleading to their customer base who rely on the SECURITY features of these systems.

Its pathetic. This company will sink - I'm willing to bet the farm on 24 months or less.... Look at Arlo's stock since their breakaway from Netgear late 2018. They have completely plummeted. This customer service and user experience is telltale of what is happening to this company. We are watching it actively fail.

I really feel bad for people investing in Arlo Ultra - those will soon be $2,000 paperwights when the company goes bell-up.... Why? they all require network connection to Arlo's servers to function at all..... So therefore..... No Arlo - No device functionality.

Me? I've conceded to losing out on over a grand. Never again will I give this company another dime of my money. I'm going to be submitting a BBB complaint - and posting negative reviews on every major retailer of this crap.

[vizsla4084]

Not that I was not upset and frustrated before, but this morning I received an email from Arlo Support about my Case that WAS opened for the Base Station freeze. Arlo SUPPORT CLOSED the case " ... due to inactivity... " .

 WTH .... I made sure to email updates to teh case at least Daily. I often updated the case directly online as well. The "inactivity" part is on the Arlo Support side. I almost never heard an response from Arlo Support to any of my emails.

 The I received an email for a Survey for the case. For what it is worth, I completely blasted Arlo Support for their apparent lacjk of concern and support .

In part ..............

================

 I have been in the IT field for over 25 years. I have dealt with countless vendors and Support Organizations.

 My 2 most recent experiences ( 2 different , separate cases ) with Arlo Support have to be the ABSOLUTE WORST and pathetic excuse for Technical Support that I have ever experienced .

It appears that a firmware update back in May 2019 or early caused multiple problems with the Arlo 2 Base station. The base reset and reset the timezone back to PST. More importantly, the base continues to freeze and lose connectivity. When this happens, the cameras to not record and the clips, if there are any , do not go to teh Library. SOMETIMES the base resets then and recovers, other times, more often than not, I need to power cycle the base to get it working again. This happens AT LEAST ONCE A DAy and sometimes more often a day than that. This is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. MONTHS and MONTHS later, it is STILL NOT FIXED. Check the Arlo Community boards. There are many people from all over the world with the same issues and complaints. NOBODY on the board has had a good Customer Support experience. THE ISSUE IS STILL NOT FIXED.

==================

[NickDi]

Just wanted to share an email I just got back from Arlo Customer Services.  A week ago they told me the engineering team was still working on the offline issue.  Here is what they said today.

I hope they are really working on it!

Hi

Good Day!

I'd like to inform you that the issue is still being worked on with our Engineering Team. We'll provide an update again as soon as we can.

Thank you!

Best Regards,

Hyazenth

Customer Care Advocate

[vizsla4084]

I just got off a Chat with Arlo Support .

I opened a new case for the Bases going offline, because my prefvious case was closed by Arlo Support for no good reason.

The Arlo person on this Chat,  first said it was NOT a known issue. Tried to have me do the 136 tests scenarios, but I stopped him and said I already did all of those , multiple times beofre, Check the previous case.

 He lastly aske dme to plsu one of the two bases I have directly into teh router , rather than going through a switch first. AND , only plug in one base at a time, to see if the base still goes offline. I told him, so, the cameras on teh other base will obviously be offline for the duration of this test.

 He said if both bases still go offline , when connected one at a time directly to the router , then he would authorize a RMA for both bases.

Me

Just to be clear for me , you are saying that Arlo Support
and Arlo Engineering is saying that this issue
of the bases going OFFLINE is not a known issue , and NOT
something they are currently working on fixing?

2:23:31 PM

XXXXXXXX X

No its a known issue but to a degree as hardware issue and not a firmware issue.

< SMH >

[Mjbeuke]

Well I feel like I had a decent conversation with Chat support today for about 2 hours. The guy asked the right questions - didn't try to have me do a bunch of pointless "basic" troubleshooting steps (I had told him upfront everything I've done - which is literally everything that could be done)....

I sent him community forum links along the way - to support my issues I was outlining (primarily the base station freezes/restarts - and the USB drive connection that seems to be causing it).... 

He took not of everything and proactively dialogued.... I begged and pleaded that so many of us are up a creek - and that I just bought my system in April and it was all messed up by May after the update where so many other Pro 2 base station owners got screwed....

Also noted the USB drive formatting issues - and the specific fact that my base station does not crash at all - until a USB drive is plugged in for recording..... The moment I plug in any of the literally 20+ thumb drives I own and tried - it starts crashing/rebooting.... which seems to start off the moment you attempt to log into the iPhone app...... It will start to load when you first click the app tile and logs into the account like normal.... then the microphone and motion sensor tiles show up for the cameras but are greyed out - and the wifi signal indicator, sound indicator, and USB drive indicators do not show up shortly after logging in as they usually do..... it "hangs" here for longer than normal - and that's when I walk into the other room and notice the dreaded middle light off or amber on the base..... You either have to wait for it reboot - which usually it does - or sometimes it wont and it hangs for hours....

This is the crap we are all experiencing. This is the major flaw we desperately need resolved - and the one that will force me to return this to Costco if not updaded by 7/22....

I hope I did us all a solid today Arlo Community.... But I'm not holding my breath. At least I talked to someone who genuinely seemed ot listen to my observations we've all brought to light over time - and that they may be contributing to the firmware problem or at leat could point the engineers in a practical direction.

[Smikle]

Vmb3500

[Christian_K]

Hi there,

I would like to add to the discussion that it's not only the VMB4000 which is affected by the problems described in this thread. I am wondering why the thread is marked as solved, because apparently it is not...? My older base station VMB3010r2 is showing the same behaviour for some weeks now (nothing changed in my network environment):

The systems goes offline and only comes back, when power-cycling the base station, with cameras reconnecting automatically. But while the base station is down, the cameras are suffering from a dramatic drop in battery power. I have replaced the batteries in two cameras, one on Sunday, one on Monday. After the base station being down yesterday, the batteries dropped to 66% / 76%.

Hoping for a fix... 😞

Best regards,
Christian

[jsdjsdjsd]

Went offline this morning for first time, and no support from chat and phone line super busy, NO ARLO SUPPORT help!

[ChinJing]

I got an email from text support saying the issue is with the usb flash drives or usb drives. Do not use them because they cause the base to go offline. Well this has bean going on for over a month and there’s nothing being done about it. Several firmware updates have come out recently and it doesn’t appear any of them are fixes for the offline issue. Local storage is very important. I think arlo should be more proactive in reimbursing customers for their botched firmware and fix this issue ASAP. I don’t even
See any public message warning people not to use the flash drives. It’s very irresponsible not to warn people - not to reimburse them or fix the problem. And not offer any information on eta of fix either.

[Adksi11892]

It’s not just USB’s that are the issue, my two base stations don't have usb functionality as other posters on here have said, and they are effected,

[Dbuford_59]

This also a problem it arlo is charging for something they can not fix. Good customer relationship keep business. This obviously is a real problem if the customer can not fix and arlo can not fix,then your premium pays need to drop.For you offered security watch you can not keep up with. Irregardless if you are in Egypt. Get it fixed or begin to see more complaints and an investigation into a half marketable product.

[Jazxyclover]

Lately my base keeps going offline. I fix the problem and everything works fine and then a few days later it happens again. This has been going on for months.

[Addyhash]

Story of my life. Most unreliable thing I ever brought 100% do not recommend.

[Bryantbjb]

Just the worst. Finally heard back and they are agreeing to replace the base station. The wrinkle is they want me to ship back the base station at my cost, then I get a new one. That is total crap. Still under the year and I paid for a premium storage account. I had to email them twice just to get this far. The other option I have is to pay $20 bucks and they will ship me the new one first. Their customer service is just horrible. Just terrible. 

[VrtlOfc]

I've been dealing with the "offline" issue for months, usually having to do a reboot or cold start on the base station. The community as a whole has been dealing with this for months as well, and Arlo/Netgear does not seem interested in addressing the issue, or is unable to provide a solution. Unfortunately, when I'm away as I am now, I am unable to do the "fix" and my camera system is worthless. I'm done. It's time to move on ...

[ant]

Ditto for both original Arlo and 2 Pro systems. Argh.

[PapaWoof]

We have one of the basic Arlo wirefree systems with 3 cameras and the bas station will just randomly go offline. We have an model VMB2010r2 base. I have added a Wemo on it to restart remotely and it's a pain because if I don't notice for more than a couple hours, I have to reset cameras as well. It's running cuttent firmware 1.12.2.4_2772

Anyone else having issues?

[wellfleetion]

Good thing I have the Best Buy warranty plan. I’m returning this piece of junk with the worst support i’ve ever experienced!!!! I hope Arlo goes under. They deserve too

[LYU]

I used the Arlo Pro system with 2 cameras during months and it worked perfectly.

Since a few weeks I'm having trouble as the base station appears to be offline while all leds are green and my internet connection is working fine.

When I remove the device from my smartphone, reset the base station and reinstall everything on my phone everything works fine but it lasts only for a couple of days.

I did this about 10 times ... I'm really geting hopeless and wondering whether it isn't a hardware problem.