Canary Reviews 

I sent an email describing my problem, less than one day I received back from Canary a solution I used.
It worked and took care of problem.
Thank you

I signed up with Canary years ago, using an old email address. As you cannot change email addresses, the help tells you to invite the new address to the old account. This means you no longer see emails from Canary. In my December cstd statement I noticed a charge for Canary premium on my credit card. As the linked account does not use premium services In contacted them to cancel , but was told they would not refund the December payment for the upcoming year due, referring me back to their terms. After ages looking for my old email log on details , I dont even have premium on the old account Now confused as to what I have been paying for over the year.Totally frustrated with their attitude and customer service which is totally email based.Will resort to credit card to reclaim as I havent recieved the service I paid for.

Have been using Canary for over four years. But wanted to stop the streaming service this year and email them a month in advance. They took money out my account just before Xmas and now will not refund my money saying they never received my request. However, I had a reply from them. I show this to them and they still refuse! Do not use this company. It’s a rip-off.

Terrible like all the other reviews . Stole a renewal from me . Messaged same day ; ignored me for two weeks .
NO REFUND . Have told my dad to cancel his and will get him an alternative .
Company’s a joke .
Not a good review in sight

In response to the reply - the customer support email you have provided is the one I have been using to contact and I must say have been completely useless

Update response : I tried to cancel the same day but you ignored my contact for 2 week’s intentionally. I have all the proof with emails sent

With regards to update . No refund or partial
Refund has been sent .
As soon as the funds were taken I emailed . After 14days you replied to
My query - I feel this was intentional, I have all the screen shots / emails sent to hand and can publish of necessary . I have been a customer since 2016 I believe

Review now verified .
Canary intentionally didn’t respond for 2 weeks so I was outside of my refund window . Very very sneaky

No partial refund has been sent total lies

Awful company, they get you to pay £79 for a year of premium but then actively go out of their way to hide your renewal date underneath hundreds of video recordings (where no one will realistically look), and don't even send a renewal reminder that payment is almost due. Was charged full price and the customer service team refused to refund me, even after contacting them at the same hour I was charged. Avoid this company, they value their revenue and profit over customer service. Have lost £79 that I won't be getting back, so can only recommend that people stay away from this service. The product is decent, but the subscription model and frankly ridiculous policies that are anti-consumer mean that I would recommend people to stay away!

These security does not work at all. It puts your life in danger by not notifying you. Canary lies about the devices they provide. ThWOe alarm does not go off, and when it does, there is a long delay. Their system has so many bugs. If you need the videos to provide to the police, they will not be there.

WOMEN DO NOT TRUST THIS SYSTEM. CANARY WILL PUT YOUR LIFE IN DANGER. IT PUT MY LIFE IN DANGER.

Purchased 2 units, first one broke off where you plug in the AC cord, you can hear it bouncing around within the unit. The second will not stay connected to Wi-Fi, if it stays connected for 24 hours consider yourself lucky.

Long time Canary user and subscriber.

I have been a long time user and subscriber of Canary with three cameras. This year, with the new subscription plan my cost has more than tripled. There was no warning of this and when I contact support (minutes after the new subscription cost had been taken from my bank account) they said there was nothing they could do. I asked them to cancel the service and refund the annual subscription but they refused, saying it was against their terms and conditions. They then offered a 50% refund which I accepted only for that to then be changed to 50% off next years subscription. Unfortunately with the unreliability I have experienced over the last 3 or 4 years, this is just not worth the full price I am being charged.

Quite possibly one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had.

02-01-2023 UPDATE

Following Canary's response below, I reached out only to be ignored for a considerable period of time before finally getting a response. Whilst we have come to a 'compromise' with next years membership, ultimately the experience remains poor and I would be surprised if I am using their services in the coming years.

So many bad issues it’s hard to sum up for a site like this. Main issues- continually changing terms of service and removing features for non paying users. Constant tech problems. I have 3 canaries…cannot delete the broken one (because it’s broken I can’t deactivate so it’s permanently hitched to account). A few weeks ago I noticed one of the remaining two does not show on the app yet I never removed it. This is shocking considering it is impossible to remove the broken camera. Tonight im getting motion notifications, but when I log in to both iPad and iPhone app they both want me to re-register my devices (yet still receiving notifications). I tried changing my address to a fake one since I don’t want this creepy company tracking me, but neighs the iPhone or iPad app will let me change. It’s past midnight but when I wake up in the morning these cameras are going in the dump. DO. NOT. BUY. THIS. PRODUCT. DO NOT USE CANARY.

I've been a Canary customer for many years. I went to renew my subscription but accidently renewed an old location that's inactive (and has been for some time).

When I informed Carnary of my error, they said they could not transfer my subscription payment to my active account. They did offer me a 50% discount for the second payment but weren't willing to be any more helpful.

I replied, stating that as a long-time user of their service, I was a little disappointed with their rigid stance.....I haven't received a response.

I am now reviewing alternative solutions, most of which have much better TP Ratings.

If Canary are willing to let go of loyal customers so easily their business must be booming, and I congratulate them for that.

Thank you for your response Canary and in fact I would confirm that there was a mix up which has been clarified as I have two e.mail accounts - the original account is no longer about as from eighteen months ago when I left work. The new account was added to my profile but I did not realise that you would still be writing to the original account as it was the account for the purchase. It has taken some time to understand as the answers back on line are fairly robotic and all I kept getting was that I had upgraded ! This has now been sorted but I do not like the fact that money can be taken from the bank every year unless cancelled.

Peter has been helpful and I have removed the complaint below

CANARY IS THE WORST!!!! estimated wait time says 3 minutes. I was on hold for over 30 minutes when I gave up. Terrible customer service and even worse business practices. How a company like this hasn't been brought to litigation is beyond me.

The cameras are fine. You have to have a paid subscription in order to review your recordings which I was OK with however if you run into any issue with your paid service, you might as well just throw your camera away because Customer Service is absolutely impossible to contact and once you get someone they are useless. They obviously don’t care because you’ve now purchased their camera and are stuck with it even after you cancel your paid subscription. The worst customer service I have experienced in 45 years!!

not happy, simply wanted to cancel my yearly premium service before auto renewal online but the website although features a cancel service simply tries to offer me a discounted option and forces me to call their helpdesk to cancel, to which I was unable to get through. this is todays digital world is appalling. Canary why do you not allow or trust people to cancel their own service or remove thier own payment details?.

Canary was good at first3 -4 yrs ago.til I got a credit cad statement charging 60% more without any notice.asked to cancel but customer service (sucks)said all they cand do is give a credit 1 yr later.i signed up for 99$ plan not the 160 they put on my cars.and said sorry we can't cancel till 1 year is up because of policy..responded with guess what I also have a policy that states I do not except companies like canary to take money from me thT is not agreed upon.aka ripping off people.the price was the same long time 99$ And just cause they raise to 159$ I have to except. No sorry that against my policy.called credit card and they removed.outragous for a com that say can't cancel. Not a binding contract when raise price 60 % without notice.willing to pay for 3 week I had but no its against there policy..that when I said it against my policy to be ripped off.i can send u a copy unlike they didnt.everybody fight back write down ur own policy. Just as legal as there's

I bought the camera 2 years ago and now is useless because this company change the features and now they request a monthly payment for the basic options that was included when I bought it

READ MINE & OTHETS reviews BEFORE purchasing.

So my membership got renewed and Canary said they 'did' sent me reminder. Regardless, I contacted on the day of renewal and I was offered half price which I accepted but it was for following year, then I asked what about this year so they said 'Will apply the same'.
I contacted them again and they said, no our 'esclation' team.did not agree.

Then I demanded to CANCEL on 14 days POLICY, to which I was told that it only applies to new memberships.

I have no choice but very unlikely to renew with Canary instead look for alternatives.

With all these reviews, not sure how long can Canary survive.

Update:
Ich wurde NICHT informiert ... und ganz sicher möchte ich von diesem betrügerischen Unternehmen auch keine neue Kamera kaufen. Meine bisherigen funktionieren ja noch ... nur die App wurde unverschämterweise deaktiviert.
Ich hoffe mal, dass diese Firma mit der Aktion ganz schnell am Ende ist ... solche Praktiken sind einfach das Letzte!!!

Smartfrog hat zum 16.9.2022 die App deaktiviert, die zwingend zum Nutzen der Kameras benötigt wird.
Die alten (völlig funktionsfähigen) Kameras soll man entsorgen.
Das ist 1. absolut unnötiger Elektroschrott!!! und 2. Betrug an denen, die die Kamera nicht im Abosystem nutzen, sondern selbst gekauft haben. Diese Kunden haben nun ersatzlos die Nutzungsmöglichkeit der Kamera verloren ... außerdem alle gespeicherten Videos, da sie eben nicht über den Wechsel informiert wurden.

Ich kann nur jeden warnen, sich auf Smartfrog (neuerdings Canary) einzulassen ... hier wird man schlichtweg über der Tisch gezogen!!!

Canary wurde von Smartfrog übernommen, viel Glück damit! Habt Spaß!!!
Meine Erfahrung mit Smartfrog: zuerst überteuerte Kameras verkaufen, null Service, Kundendienst nicht erreichbar, vermutlich zu wenige Benutzer, die ein überteuertes Abonnement abschlossen, dann stellt man halt den Service ein. App abgeschaltet, Kameras nicht erreichbar. Als Kunde habe ich hunderte Euro für Elektroschrott bezahlt. Als Gipfel der Frechheit wird mir eine Canary zum "Sonderpreis" angeboten. Was wird wohl passieren, wenn mal genug Canarys verkauft wurden? Alles in allem wohl ein lukratives Geschäftsmodel, leider nicht für die Kunden. Also viel Glück damit! Habt Spaß!!!

Have used Canary for a few years. The hardware is very average. Premium service OK. Have been auto renewed again this year despite receiving no renewal notice (email or otherwise). Canary swear blind they've made contact - we're checked all or systems (fully backed up) but no record of any contact. I asked for cancellation and a refund. Canary have declined to do this, will only communicate through PayPal and in response to all communications simply refer to Terms & Conditions. There are other options out there folks - look elsewhere first.

UPDATE FOLLOWING REPLY FROM CANARY BELOW
Here you go folks...more quotes from the small print. This is all you get from Canary Customer Service. As another reviewer put it - Canary is all about the profit, not the Customer. Even Microsoft changed their policy on auto-renewals after regulatory intervention as this approach was deemed unfair on consumers and 'sharp practice'. Dinosaurs like this don't deserve to survive in today's consumer-led market. The TrustPilot score of 1 is well deserved - there are better providers out there.