License to Run. $4000 IOT Treadmill now charging a subscripion to just run.

[Arika]

Summary

IOT, something you either love or hate. Though i think it would be a pretty unanimous acceptance, that this is wrong.

You have just spent $4000 on a fancy new treadmill. you're happy, you're running. One day you wake up and find that an option is missing. your phone vibrates in your pocket and you have an email from the manufacturer saying "fuck you pay me".

 

So a bit of backstory when it comes to this.

Peloton was in hot water when one of these treadmills caused the death of a 6 year old child because there is barely any safety features that would prevent a child or a pet from being dragged under the running belt.

more info can be found here: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56993894

 

So now to "fix" their mistake, they have decided to start charging their customer's a monthly fee you "unlock" "new" "features" "for safety", which comes with the fantastic idea of disabling the ability to run on the treadmill without paying.

 

Quotes

Quote

Peloton has come up with an interesting solution to its treadmill safety issues, which have been connected to a child’s death: Force owners of its $4,295 Tread+ to either return the machine for a refund or pay a $39 monthly membership fee to use it at all. Users are outraged, and some have even compared Peloton’s demand to ransomware.

 

In this case, Peloton says the change was made for safety reasons, and that forcing customers into the membership was the only way to implement the update. Peloton recalled the Tread+ in May, following the death of a child who was pulled under a treadmill; reports of injuries to several other children, pets, and adults; and a public spat with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The company stopped selling the Tread+ and urged Tread+ owners to “immediately stop” using them and offered full refunds for devices returned before November. But Peloton didn’t completely discourage people from using the machine. In fact, it even offered to send movers out to owners’ homes to relocate their Tread+ units to a space that kids and pets couldn’t access, for free.

 

Now, some Tread+ owners will face an extra monthly charge they didn’t have before. Peloton recently informed them that soon they will no longer be able to use their machines unless they also purchase an All-Access membership for $39 a month. Peloton is offering three months of All-Access free to compensate for the inconvenience.

 

Peloton told Recode the move was necessary to add a safety feature called “Tread Lock” to the machines.

“In our ongoing work to ensure that our products are even safer and as part of our voluntary recall in collaboration with CPSC, we released Tread Lock, a four-digit passcode to secure Tread+ against unauthorized access,” Peloton told Recode. “Unfortunately, due to current technical limitations, Tread Lock is not yet available without a Peloton Membership.”

 

My thoughts

They do make mention that they are planning to bring back the just run feature and implement the tread lock without the membership....but given their excuses of "we have to charge a membership otherwise we can't implement these safety features due to technical reasons" i highly doubt it. At lease they are offering returns and free refunds.

 

But as always, be careful buying any IOT device, you're not in control of them and things like this could easily happen to you

 

Sources

https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/6/23/22545534/peloton-tread-membership-now-required-recall

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/23/peloton-reportedly-disabled-free-running-on-its-treadmills.html

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

You have just spent $4000 on a fancy new treadmill. you're happy, you're running. One day you wake up and find that an option is missing. your phone vibrates in your pocket and you have an email from the manufacturer saying "fuck you pay me".

hahahahahahahaha

 

Let the lawsuits fly.

 

This yet again proving that 'as a Service' model is being used as a crutch for poor business practices, laziness and profiteering.

[Tieox]

Honestly at this point I'm awaiting public toilets that charge per gram of deposit.

[tikker]

This is ridiculous. We've arrived at the point where we are literally buying the right to subscribe.

 

I wonder if you can sue them for selling a non-functional product or something alike given that you literally cannot use the product you buy unless you get the (I guess optional) subscription as well?

[Avocado Diaboli]

I've long stopped being surprised about stuff this. Maybe I've consumed too much dystopian cyberpunk media at this point, but I will not even flinch once companies decide that they'll be charging you for a pacemaker by the hour. And once any type of electronic neural implants become viable, like those retinal sensors that are supposed to enable sight for blind people, they'll only offer that with a subscription. Or worse, they'll give you a free tier with ads. We truly live in the worst timeline.

[Tieox]

Just now, Avocado Diaboli said:

I've long stopped being surprised about stuff this. Maybe I've consumed too much dystopian cyberpunk media at this point, but I will not even flinch once companies decide that they'll be charging you for a pacemaker by the hour. And once any type of electronic neural implants become viable, like those retinal sensors that are supposed to enable sight for blind people, they'll only offer that with a subscription. Or worse, they'll give you a free tier with ads. 

And while people make excuses for it the issue will only get worse.  At this point it will be ugly when people finally snap. 

[Sauron]

IoT is a solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist. Or more cynically, it's an answer to the question "how do I turn literally everything into a subscription service".

 

My advice to you, person reading this:

1) If at all possible, do not buy IoT furniture or appliances unless they are completely open source.

2) If you have no alternatives, go for the one that can function without an internet connection and never connect it to the internet.

[WereCat]

Help! My IoT chair just deployed spikes and I can't sit on it unless I pay. 

[CarlBar]

4 minutes ago, Avocado Diaboli said:

I've long stopped being surprised about stuff this. Maybe I've consumed too much dystopian cyberpunk media at this point, but I will not even flinch once companies decide that they'll be charging you for a pacemaker by the hour. And once any type of electronic neural implants become viable, like those retinal sensors that are supposed to enable sight for blind people, they'll only offer that with a subscription. Or worse, they'll give you a free tier with ads. We truly live in the worst timeline.

 

Big assumption there/ namely that many governments would actually stand for companies doing that with medical stuff. The US might do it, the rest of the 1st world at least, snowballs chance in hell.

[Spotty]

9 minutes ago, tikker said:

I wonder if you can sue them for selling a non-functional product or something alike given that you literally cannot use the product you buy unless you get the (I guess optional) subscription as well?

They're providing full refunds to anyone who bought the treadmill. Not really sure what grounds you would have to sue. Refund it and buy a different treadmill that doesn't require a subscription or spend the monthly subscription on a gym membership that gives you access to not only treadmills but a bunch of other equipment and facilities.

 

Anyone who has this should refund it, both for the unnecessary subscription and its fatal design flaws.

[tikker]

6 minutes ago, Spotty said:

They're providing full refunds to anyone who bought the treadmill. Not really sure what grounds you would have to sue. Refund it and buy a different treadmill that doesn't require a subscription or spend the monthly subscription on a gym membership that gives you access to not only treadmills but a bunch of other equipment and facilities.

 

Anyone who has this should refund it, both for the unnecessary subscription and its fatal design flaws.

Fair point. Still a bit of a silly easy way to get out of it though in my opinion. I can see how the refund would be sufficient for existing sales and that they can hide behind their "for now" claim, but it does feel like selling an unusable product if were to buy one now and cannot use it afterwards without first buying another subscription on top of it. That feels like buying a car and then having to rent the keys for another $40 a month.

[DuckDodgers]

IoT is morphing into DRM-as-a-service for any appliance out there, enabled by ubiquitous wireless data service and cheap mass-produced IC controllers.

 

From planned obsolescence to programmed dependence. 

[RejZoR]

This is why I'm actually perfectly fine with my "old" car that only has USB playback via USB drive. So I don't have fancy TV on my dash, but it's just that. A functional car with physical buttons that you can boop with absolute ease even while driving and I can still listen all my music. Using Sandisk's NanoUSB drive for some 15 years, it's like I don't even have anything plugged in as it's sticking out just some 5mm.

 

I've seen several new cars with so called "infotainment" system and they are most worthles piles of electronics ever. Sure, you have big map there, but music playback is FAR worse than in my old one. I can navigate through folders and apply repeat or shuffle for that folder. Or if I apply it in root folder, it shuffles through all. All new ones I've seen, as soon as you press Shuffle, the dumb thing just shuffles through entire USB drive whether you like it or not. So stupid.

 

My point here being, so many companies these days just stick bunch of gimmick electronic shit into devices that will break down faster or they'll get brilliant ideas like this crap (or BMW's DLC features). Meanwhile more "basic" treadmills will run for years or even decades without any issues.

[Taf the Ghost]

24 minutes ago, DuckDodgers said:

IoT is morphing into DRM-as-a-service for any appliance out there, enabled by ubiquitous wireless data service and cheap mass-produced IC controllers.

 

From planned obsolescence to programmed dependence. 

It's not morphing. It always was. That and the security issues have made it a very bad idea for any non-business entity. It's all Risk for very little Reward.

[PocketNerd]

You manufacturers don't be giving me no HaaS-sle now.

 

But seriously, fuck this whole "you don't own what you buy" shit.

[Heliian]

Peleton is for idiots anyway, let them pay for their fancy rubbish.

 

If you're dumb enough to pay over $4000 for a home treadmill then a monthly subscription is just your way of making sure you're in the club.

 

 

[Fasterthannothing]

Why this surprises anyone is a mystery to me. There is a company literally charging for an airbag to deploy, video games are just an installer for DLCs, cars now require subscriptions to use the infotainment system and heated seats, and Microsoft is basically pushing towards subscriptions only for games now. Subscription services are now the next step in planned adolescence. First it was un repairable product's when people figured that out they are moving on to non functioning products that requires them to get paid every month for the privilege of having it function how it was intended. Companies quickly realized with the rise of loot boxes that people would fork over big money if they thought they got something else for free like the base game with 1 mission and then $100 worth of DLCs.

[Guest]

Just run outside 

[TetraSky]

I would hi-jack the motor's controls to bypass this crap so fast...

[YellowJersey]

Screw IOT.

 Seriously, you should either get the hardware for free or on loan and pay to use it or pay for the hardware and get to use it without a subscription. Bollocks to this nonsense.

[ravenshrike]

9 hours ago, Arika S said:

 

So now to "fix" their mistake, they have decided to start charging their customer's a monthly fee you "unlock" "new" "features" "for safety", which comes with the fantastic idea of disabling the ability to run on the treadmill without paying.

No, to fix their mistake they are giving out free subs till they can code for multi-level subscription services, with the base subscription being free but only including treadlock+ and run mode. However that takes time since they never planned for anything more than a single subscription type when they wrote the original code. So in order to avoid any possible injury/death lawsuits due to negligence and not simply a faulty product on their part given that Peleton has constant access to the machines(which WOULD be portrayed as a major indication of gross negligence on their part in any such lawsuit that was based on an incident that happened after they put out the recall) they are disabling the use of the product. You can certainly argue that this is a reason to not buy anything that's always connected to the internet, but to say they are doing it for nefarious reasons is silly. Their mistake was stating that it was for three months. I would guess that this was laziness on their part since rather than set up a custom subscription they just went with the three month offer they already had and just said it would be free while they got to fixing the problem which they estimated internally would take them less than 3 months. 

[Arika]

4 hours ago, ravenshrike said:

-snip-

Wait, so you actually believe them when they say:

 

14 hours ago, Arika S said:

the change was made for safety reasons, and that forcing customers into the membership was the only way to implement the update.

------

“Unfortunately, due to current technical limitations, Tread Lock is not yet available without a Peloton Membership.”

? If so, would you like to buy some magic beans?

 

If a company is able to push updates over the air to one of their products, why all of a sudden does it become impossible without implementing a subscription?

Why did it take a month to create and push through, but 3 months to figure out how to make it free?

 

the ONLY saving grace to the entire situation is that they are offering full refunds, which EVERY single person should be taking. They have shown that you don't own you $4000 treadmill, they do, and has even made them admit they:

Quote

have the ability to brick its machines entirely,

All I see this as is a convenient excuse to remind their customers that they have a subscription service and hope that enough people decide to renew it (or forget to cancel, depending how it's going to be set up) even if the "safety" features and just running becomes free again.

[BachChain]

I'm imagining a new ltt series where they take various bricked IOT devices and "fix" them using an Arduino or something.

[Bombastinator]

Hmmm what would I do?  Report it stolen and launch it through the front windshield of The owner of the company?  It’s probably best if I buy no IOT stuff.

[WolframaticAlpha]

16 hours ago, Tieox said:

Honestly at this point I'm awaiting public toilets that charge per gram of deposit.

And if you don't buy, then it will lock the doors and let you enjoy the public toilet 'aroma'