from the you-don’t-own-what-you-buy dept
The relentless push to make every last feature in every tech device you own part of a subscription service shows no sign of slowing down. Fitness companies like Fitbit have increasingly shoveled basic health monitoring features into their subscription plan. Companies like BMW have increasingly tried to make basic concepts like heated seats a subscription-only feature.
The push, a natural response to Wall Street’s insatiable demand for improved quarterly returns at any cost, understandably isn’t popular with consumers. Especially if the tech powering the feature is already embedded in the tech you’ve purchased — and in the retail price you paid for it.
Amazon’s Ring is finding this out the hard way. Recently, Ring (Amazon) announced on its website that new owners of the company’s Ring Alarm security system will soon have to pay a subscription fee to do basic things like… receiving notifications:
Amazon-owned Ring is making several free features part of its paid subscription program starting on March 29th. As of that date, if you have a Ring video doorbell or camera, you will no longer have access to Home and Away Modes in the app without a paid subscription, starting at $3.99 a month ($39.99 a year). Modes is a simple way to tell all your cameras to stop detecting motion when you’re home and start when you leave.
Even basic features, like being able to arm or disarm the alarm or connecting it to your Alexa voice assistant will now require a subscription plan to function as of March 29th. While the change won’t impact existing Ring owners yet, customers on Reddit feel like it’s only a matter of time:
As one Reddit user pointed out, there are no guarantees Ring will continue to allow legacy users to have features they paid for. “Based on this type of behavior, I assume they will be boiling us frogs at some point. This is the misdirection stage,” he wrote.
Given recent tech industry history, they’re correct to worry. And these changes come, of course, fresh on the heels of customer annoyance at a slew of significant price hikes last year. Ring doorbell and security owners now pay either $4 a month for the Ring Protect Basic plan (used to be $3 a month) or $20 a month for a Ring Protect Pro plan (used to be $10 a month).
Granted that creates a competitive opportunity for companies that don’t want to aggressively nickel-and-dime loyal customers. In the health smartwatch space, Garmin has made inroads on companies like Fitbit by not making every stupid, basic function a subscription service (for now). In the home security and camera space, both Abode and SimpliSafe have done things like introduce free tiers or avoided charging extra for home monitoring in a bid to counter Ring’s dominance.
Still, given how creepily cozy Amazon and Ring are with law enforcement, it’s increasingly tempting to just cobble together your own home security systems and cameras in a bid to claw back some control.
Filed Under: ring, rip off, security, smart doorbell, smart home, subscription services
Companies: amazon
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