Canary Reviews 339

I was asked to update to the premier with the offer of 100 pound amazon gift card which never arrived and my canary was never updated I have e mailed every day for weeks but no reply and I am out of pocket for 79 pounds I will not renew. david bruce

I had Canary cameras installed at 4 different locations. As other reviewers stated at first they worked well, than the company started reducing the functionality, limiting the users ability to view videos and restricting the ability to effectively filter for notifications. These significant changes occurred without any notice to customers. What customer service focused company does that without communicating. With these changes also came a significant deterioration in the performance of the equipment.

3 of our locations did not have premium service so this was a significant change and rendered these cameras useless. We’ve already replaced these cameras with another system at these locations. For the location with the premium service we are in the process of having a full security system installed with its own cameras and we intended to cancel the premium service. We noted a pending charge on our credit card evidently on the renewal date. Called immediately to cancel that day. Canary claims that we were notified a week prior of the impending charge. That notification was never received. They refuse to cancel until the next renewal date in 2023 and will not refund the annual $85 charge. If a company has to chain their customers to them like that it speaks volumes about their company ethics and customer service. We were satisfied customers, so much so that we installed them in 4 locations. Shortly the last of our 4 installations will be disconnected. Certainly don’t feel like we were a valued customer.

Additional note after Canary’s Reply: their reply is without substance. It’s not as if we didn’t contact Canary Support prior to this review. We’ve had numerous contacts with them and spent countless time via phone, chat and email trying to resolve our issues. 1) their move from an equipment to a service based business model was very poorly executed. The lack of communication to customers regarding this change was a case study in how not to do business. It never goes over well to take away benefits and reduce functionality without customer outreach. Contacting them further on this debacle serves no purpose. 2) Their refusal to refund the annual premium service fee on the day of renewal, which they have reiterated in several communications with us, is illustrative of their lack of customer focus and poor business practice. Their exceptionally poor rating just on this platform illustrates we are not an isolated case. My time has value - further contact with them is not worth the effort. I hope they enjoy my $85 over the next year while providing no service. At least the future income stream has been cancelled.

I’ve had a system for four years now, I used to love the features, the geo-fencing was on point and I took a paid subscription.

Since the recent changes in subscription I stopped paying premium. Suddenly my unit was sending upwards of 40 notifications a day, but although they claim a clip is included on the free plan, the software refuses to load it. I turned the camera to a blank wall to see if there was something going on with the unit, and still upwards of 30 notifications. I emailed customer support but nothing after 6 weeks. I decided to junk the unit and install a competitor which has SD card playback.

Sadly what was a lovely system, working seamlessly, has been rendered useless by whatever software update they have forced out. What’s so frustrating is this is just about subscription, bottom line, cash…….I may have taken out premium again but not with the lack of customer service and not even a transition period, i.e ‘in 3 months things will change, try it out for free’

Used my canary for many years without issue. Unfortunately their paid for price plan has rendered their device obsolete. I have replaced it with a similar device/ plan which costs 3.99 per 3 months

Canary is Horrible. Way better services out there. We have wasted our $$
, so hopefully you won’t!!!

One star is far too good for this product, since the changes to the “free” functionality have been removed, the system is now redundant and I have wasted my money investing in a company with no morals.

I have reached out to support@canary and am looking forward to hearing back.

26 August - I had a few emails and was indeed offered an option, this was not suitable to me therefore proposed a similar offer back to them however this was not acceptable therefore anybody want to buy some lovely bits of plastic/glass that I bought under false pretences?

Like so many of the poor reviews, my experience is that this was an excellent product, until they reneged on the deal and wanted me to pay for a plan. Customer support is appalling, they just do not reply.

IF I could give no stars I would, If I could take them to court I would. Utterly appalling service that they should not be allowed to get away with. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT.

I bought this camera because of the free features that suited my needs. Now that they have pulled the bait and switch and removed those features unless I pay, I have to find another camera solution that doesn't want to rip me off. I really don't understand how they can get away with such fraud??

I liked the camera when new, purchased a second one. The selling point I liked was you don't have to get a subscription to use. I could review any notices at first for I thought it was a few days at first then 24 hrs then 3 hrs, they slowly backed the review period off to now you must have a subscription in order to review anything. You should have to buy it back if you change the original information and functionality of the item. Then hold us hostage for a piece of now useless crap. You didn't get me to purchase a subscription. You lost a once happy customer. I just bought a different camera system, I will also tell everyone I can about your lousy company and the way you tried to manipulate your customers.

I was originally very happy with my Canary device, nicely designed tech and app. But sadly over the last couple of years (as I don’t want to subscribe to their yearly package) the functionality of the device has now been reduced to the point of being as much use as a chocolate teapot. I am now looking at the Eufy system, hoping they don’t pull the same s**t!

Satisfied with using the Canary, it has done exactly what it should do and can even measure the air quality. However i shipped them back since for us is actually not necessary have bought the Camara for outdoor and can only recommend Canary. It was very good because no one recognize it is a Camera. Very good recordings, it is only 24 hours without subscription but for longer can be downloaded. Top !

Camera has become more and more useless over time with features removed bit by bit. Over the past few days I've been requested to take up an expensive subscription and this evening the camera does not connect at all! I'd like a refund. It doesn't do ANYTHING any more!

I have/had canary cameras. After one stopped working, I bought another. They constantly lose connection so I quit using them. While I was looking at an old email account, I noticed an email from them and it said it was charging me for top service for the year! I sent an email and filed a complaint, but they did not refund my money! Not even a partial refund!!

Works exactly as described. We have NO false alarms due to sun etc. Person is reliably detected. It's cool how the system can automatically arm/disarm when you come in and out of your home.
Only the alert via push could be clearer. With iwatch on the arm you get it immediately and can see there also the reason for the alert.
100% would recommend from my side.

When we bought our Canary we were generally satisfied. Although there were sometimes connection problems, but in general it functioned well.
Until Canary removed the ability to review events. Now I have a device that I can't use unless I pay 10 Euro per month (!) to reactivate that function.
It's like buying a car that stops driving after a while unless you're going to pay an extra monthly fee.
Canary does not realize that this resembles buyer deception: the main reason for having a Canary, namely being able to see what is going on in the house, is taken away without reason.
A huge disappointment and my initial sympathy for this company has completely disappeared.

The Canary company, sadly, does not even merit 1 star. I bought their surveillance camera in 2016, when it came with a wide array of functionalities and nowhere did a disclaimer state that I would have access to those features for a limited time only. Now they have removed nearly all features for their initial clients. In order to claim these functionalities, the client is expected to pay a subscription. I wrote to them about their unlawful practice and they had the audacity to claim that they had been offering their services for free for years and now have simply changed their mind. Please note that the Canary services were not at all free. I paid full price for their camera, which included these services. Now the camera, without the features, is just a pretty piece of plastic and glass and is hardly worth the 100 euros I paid. It has been two weeks since my last email to the company, asking for a solution to this deeply abusive business practice and they have yet to reply in any way. Canary.is is an untrustworthy company that does not respect its clients.

Awful. I bought four of these and now I have the four most expensive paperwaits ever! The picture quality is poor and the units constantly lose their connection but I persevered; I have no issues with any other devices on my wifi. When I first bought these units, I didn't want monitoring as I deemed it unnecessary. With the Canary app I was able to see live video and get alerts for any incidents that occurred and see a video clip of the incedent. Now they have stopped this and I must pay for monitoring to simply see video clips of any incidents.
I am very unhappy with the capabilities, performance and now the change in the operation of the units.

I switched to Simplisafe, with no monitoring and now I have a superb system. The quality of the system component parts is excellent as is their performance and the picture quality. Installation is easy and even I, as technically challenged as I am, manage it with no issue.

I cannot recommend Canary; a complete waste of money and I regret buying this system (£1200) now. Look elsewhere.

Like many others bought my Canary when you you a full suite of features for the price of the camera. I even understand when they moved some features to subscription like keeping videos for longer than 30days. However it has now crossed a point where company greed has taken over. What’s the point in having a camera if you can’t see the video in the motion alerts anymore. The basic functionality being behind a subscription when it was sold under the usp of pay once is criminal. AVOID

I have owned several cameras covering 2 homes for years (since 2016). However I have been watching the services once offered slowly disappear. I am at the point where the "free" offerings are completely worthless... Corporate greed... moving to Wyze where at least the free offerings give you a video clip for 5 seconds.

Wouldn’t even put one star.
Moving to a subscription model when they took our money in good faith and their USP was a full suite of features with no monthly should be criminal. Wouldn’t give these scum bags a penny I’ll be using the cameras as paperweights as don’t trust they won’t be harvesting my network for audio data to sell. The worst of the worst.