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posted by martyb on Thursday April 06 2017, @03:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the device-went-doormant dept.

Denis Grisak, the man behind the Internet-connected garage opener Garadget, is having a very bad week. Grisak and his Colorado-based company SoftComplex launched Garadget, a device built using Wi-Fi-based cloud connectivity from Particle, on Indiegogo earlier this year, hitting 209 percent of his launch goal in February. But this week, his response to an unhappy customer has gotten Garadget a totally different sort of attention.

On April 1, a customer who purchased Garadget on Amazon using the name R. Martin reported problems with the iPhone application that controls Garadget. He left an angry comment on the Garadget community board:

Just installed and attempting to register a door when the app started doing this. Have uninstalled and reinstalled iphone app, powered phone off/on - wondering what kind of piece of shit I just purchased here...

Shortly afterward, not having gotten a response, Martin left a 1-star review of Garadget on Amazon:

Junk - DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY - iPhone app is a piece of junk, crashes constantly, start-up company that obviously has not performed proper quality assurance tests on their products.

Grisak then responded by bricking Martin's product remotely, posting on the support forum:

Martin,

The abusive language here and in your negative Amazon review, submitted minutes after experiencing a technical difficulty, only demonstrates your poor impulse control. I'm happy to provide the technical support to the customers on my Saturday night but I'm not going to tolerate any tantrums.

At this time your only option is return Garadget to Amazon for refund. Your unit ID 2f0036... will be denied server connection. [Ed's Comment: As of Apr 5, Garadget have apologised for this action and have restored connectivity]

The exchange then went viral, being picked up by the Twitter account @internetofshit and rising to the top of Hacker News.

Source: ArsTechnica


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 06 2017, @06:20PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 06 2017, @06:20PM (#489773)

    Personally - I wonder WTF anyone needs a garage door opener at all?

    Only a minority need it (e.g. handicapped, weaker etc).

    But many may find it useful in poor weather conditions. I don't have one but I can imagine when there's a huge downpour it's nice to be able to drive into your garage without having to get out to open the garage door.

    That said I've heard rumours that garages are not for cars but for other stuff ;).

  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:15PM (1 child)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:15PM (#489879) Journal

    We had a party when I managed to move stuff around and actually get both cars in our two-car garage, almost a year after we moved in.
    People across the street have given up - three cars, none in the garage.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:35PM

      by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:35PM (#489894)

      We had a party when I managed to move stuff around and actually get both cars in our two-car garage, almost a year after we moved in.

      Snap! Me too, last year.

      --
      It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.