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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
(Score: 3, Informative) by Wierd0n3 on Thursday April 06 2017, @07:26PM (3 children)
I am shopping for a door-opener, the one in my house is from the 70's, and has NO safety options at all. (as well as buzzing while on standby. Annoying as hell,) Ryobi has one that has smartphone control. also IoT. It prices evenly with standard openers, and comes with a few exra bells.
I have seen Wink has a Opener control, but i stopped using that unit when they "upgraded" my hub and bricked it. Took them 3 weeks to email me and say they were sorry. and would replace it, but by then, i had returned the unit.
A quick amazon search says that just about everyone and their uncle has a similar solution.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=smart+garage+door+controller&sprefix=smart+garage%2Caps%2C233&crid=1IN97X72SQQBA [amazon.com]
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday April 06 2017, @09:01PM (2 children)
The one from the 70's should have a safety stop if something is blocking the door. There should be a pull cord to reset the mechanism.
(Score: 2) by Wierd0n3 on Friday April 07 2017, @09:21PM (1 child)
the only thing that successfully triggered the safety stop was my trailer hitch on the truck when i first moved in. it has crushed boxes and even destroyed the door a little in its attempts to close over the years.
I know theres a little red button on the front, that may be what you mean, i always thought it to be a calibration button for the open/close positions.
The only "pull" I have is to release the door from the trolley.
(Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday April 07 2017, @10:53PM
That does sound scary then.