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On 29 May, global peripheral giant Belkin will flick the "off" switch on its Wemo NetCam IP cameras, turning the popular security devices into paperweights.
It's not unusual for a manufacturer to call time on physical hardware. [...]
But this is a little different, because Belkin isn't merely ending support. It also plans to decommission the cloud services required for its Wemo NetCam devices to actually work.
"Although your Wemo NetCam will still connect to your Wi-Fi network, without these servers you will not be able to view the video feed or access the security features of your Wemo NetCam, such as Motion Clips and Motion Notifications," Belkin said on its official website.
"If you use your Wemo NetCam as a motion sensor for your Wemo line of products, it will no longer provide this functionality and will be removed as an option from your Wemo app," the company added.
Adding insult to injury, the ubiquitous consumer network gear maker only plans to refund customers with active warranties, which excludes anyone who bought their device more than two years ago. The window to submit requests is open from now until 30 June.
Customers will also have to provide the company with the original receipt, showing how much they paid for the unit. Though it shouldn't be too hard to fish out an Amazon invoice from an inbox, if you bought the unit from a bricks-and-mortar retailer, there's a chance you won't have that information to provide.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Booga1 on Thursday April 30 2020, @01:56PM
Well, would you look at that? Oh wait, they can't!
I am glad these IoT news stories are hitting so close together. I sure hope people who bought these bitch about it loud and clear to everyone they know so they can dissuade others from buying crap like this. If there's anything that makes it clear that you don't own anything that requires the internet to function, it's stuff like this where the company just tells you, "too bad, so sad!"
I noticed in their support page that "Canada and US customers will receive a prorated refund for each Wemo NetCam based upon the length of time left in the 2-year hardware warranty." So, you don't even get all your money back unless you live in Australia or the European Union. The page starts off talking up their "great customer experience has been a hallmark of the Wemo brand since day one" but they're twisting every cent out of you they can while they turn your hardware into trash.