Amazon Annoys Ring Owners Further By Making Very Basic Features Subscription Based
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
Comments on “Amazon Annoys Ring Owners Further By Making Very Basic Features Subscription Based”
The moment it lets its feature list be dictated by Wall Street instead of customer value (or common sense), you know a company has passed it’s peak.
From now on, it’s counting beans in stead of happy customers…
Re:
I admire your optimism, but Amazon stopped giving a fuck about its customers years ago.
Re: Re:
Bold of you to assume it ever gave a fuck about its customers.
Hmmm… having to subscribe for a feature that, in essence, tells the system to not do something… interesting approach. If nothing else Amazon has convinced me to not buy that Ring product I was thinking about getting.
Isn’t ring also notorious for getting hacked/authorized access from “criminals” (or people who should be classified as such, even if they are not convicted), and used for things like harassment (at the most benign)?
Oh wait, you covered that with “law enforcement”. Silly me.
Re: There was a politico story yesterday
Guy had a subpoena from a judge for footage from INSIDE the house. Cops say it wasn’t used. Sure it wasn’t.
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Karl, your BMW article includes the quote “Most of these features are available through either a 1-month, 1-year, or 3-year subscription, or can be purchased outright for a one-time fee.” which is explicitly not making heated seats subscription-only. I understand your outrage, but the point is better made with accurate statements.
Re:
Point of order to your own point of order:
A “lifetime subscription” is still a subscription. If BMW has the ability to turn something off remotely, and you cannot prevent it, you don’t own that something.
Doctorow’s First Law: “Any time someone puts a lock on something that belongs to you, and won’t give you a key, they’re not doing it for your benefit.”
Re:
“explicitly not making heated seats subscription-only”
… until it is decided that the prior deal is no longer valid due to reasons that we are not allowed to disseminate.
The rug can easily be pulled out from beneath you multiple times.
like most people, i use Amazon, on occassion. however, i find it such a money-grabbing company now, with scan concern or care for it’s customers, i avoid if possible. isn’t it strange how money changes people? for many years, Bezos could do enough for those who were making and keeping his company going but once he made the giddy heights he wanted, things changed in the opposite direction. or was it getting caught with his dick in someone else, other than his wife, then paying her off, that did it?
They knew you were the kind of person who would buy Ring products in the first place. i’d say they’re making a pretty good gamble.
"smart" home huh?
And this is why you should avoid smart home tech. The companies can start screwing around with the devices that you thought you owned and changing how you are allowed to use them.
Never like
Wired install, as its not battery operated.
Wireless Connection, so it Needs internet
connection. To send to remote site, not to the customer.
An item that can be seen over 100 foot away. And any Smart crook, knows it isnt going In that way.
So, where are the other camera’s?
Hey crook, got a Hoodie to cover your face? Ski mask? And a lock pick set from lock picking lawyer?
Good thief =
#1. Knows what is in your house
#2. He has already been inside, or looked threw the windows, gotten invited in by the kids. Any religious people want to talk to you inside?
#3 Has a 2nd person on the street with a cellphone, to watch for People coming home or the cops.
#4 Min time for a cop to find your home, as LONG as you have the Numbers OUT WHERE THEY CAN SEE THEM. 5+ minutes, and the thieves know the time better then I DO, for THAT area.
#5 Time Thief is inside, <5 min, and depends on How fast your local police are. With a friend outside watching, He might stay there along time.
#6 Unless They KNOW you are going to be gone awhile. They wont be inside long. BUT if you tell to many people, a moving truck MAY come to your door.
#7 escape. KNow the backdoor and Where to run. Swimming pools are GREAT traps.
ring
Ring doorbell pretty worthless unless you subscribe . .better to buy normal doorbell
By adding a subscription fee for basic features they almost certainly just seriously limited the pool of people who will be willing to pick up the device in the first place, so if they want to keep making more money from it they will have to start levying those same fees from current customers as well, the only question is how soon.
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