Can’t tell you how many devices this applies to, but Amazon wants my buddy’s Cloud Cam back.
About two weeks ago, he had told me the WiFi camera died. He attempted a factory reset, but no love. He hadn’t found time or energy to follow-up with Amazon when, out of the blue, he received a voicemail and an email “message from Amazon’s Engineering Team” (device-recovery@amazon.com) this week stating:
I was calling to talk about one of your Cloud Cam devices. I’d like to get you a replacement Cloud Cam device as soon as possible at no additional cost to you. Additionally, I would like to schedule a pick-up to have the original device delivered to our lab for analysis.
I need to confirm with you the best time to schedule the pick-up within the next 24 hours. UPS offers a time frame on weekdays between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm. Furthermore, as UPS drivers don’t work with specific hours, a range of at least two hours either in the morning or in the afternoon must be included. For example, Wednesday between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Please reply to this email with the best time. Thus, I can schedule the pickup. In case you are not available in that time frame let me know and I’ll send you a drop off label.
Note: If you are able to schedule the pick-up or drop-off the device in the next 48 hours from the date of this email, a $30.00 promotional certificate will be applied to your amazon account.
He had been a little reluctant to bring connected cameras, including my (former) Arlo Q and this Amazon, into his home and is now concerned his privacy has been violated or that he’s been hacked, wondering if he needs to change his local network passwords or take other action. While I have no way of knowing, I suspect this is simply a device malfunction – hardware, software, or perhaps one triggering the other. We’ll probably never know, unless AFTVNews can get to the bottom of this, and I doubt my buddy will plug in the replacement… but we shall see.
While Amazon’s sort of proactive outreach is impressive and they mean well, I think that further spooked my pal.
Does Amazon sell tin foil hats? They can pick that up insteas.
I don’t think his perspective is uncommon. Another buddy saw Arlo Pro 2 4-pack on sale last night at Best Buy but hesitated a bit since the video leaves the house and he asked me how I felt. I told him anyone who inappropriately sees me without clothes gets what they deserve. He ended up picking it up, but I don’t think he’s going to use any of the cameras inside the house given his discomfort.
I’m trying to find out more. I’ll let you know.
Buddy ended up on the phone with Amazon. He asked if it was malicious and they indicated otherwise, something about power. So was it a failure triggered by a software update of some sort, a bad batch of cameras with a faulty component, something else? Only Elias can tell us.
“Anyone who inappropriately sees me without clothes gets what they deserve”. Hilarious!