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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: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:19PM (1 child)
So, WTF does anyone need an electronic helper to open their 8 ft x 8 ft garage door? They need to drag their couch potato asses out of the car, and open the damned door to get some exercise!
Do you own a car? WTF do you need a motor vehicle for to get you to work and back? You need to drag your lazy couch potato ass onto a bicycle and ride that to work, rain or shine.
Do you own a washing machine? WTF do you need that for to clean your clothes? You need to drag your lazy couch potato ass outside to a wash basin and wash them all by hand.
Do you own an electric or gas stove? WTF do you need that for? You need to drag your lazy couch potato ass to your backyard, build a fire pit, and burn sticks to cook your food (rain or shine).
Do you have heating in your house? WTF do you need that for? You need to drag your lazy couch potato ass under a blanket and just put up with the cold in the winter, even if it's below zero (F) outside.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday April 07 2017, @01:18AM
"You need to drag your lazy couch potato ass onto a bicycle and ride that to work, rain or shine."
Honda built my bicycle, and I can and do ride it, rain and shine. I won't ride it when the water turns solid, but otherwise, I'm good.
There's some difference between using electronics to do everything in your house, and using mechanical contrivances to do things that would otherwise be impossible. I CANNOT commute 50 miles each way on foot, or on bicycle.