NOS/Leen KraniotisA smart thermostat
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 08:37
Lamps, doorbells, heating, electric bicycles or solar panels. It is now the most normal thing in the world that you also need an app on your smartphone for this.
But in recent months, several companies behind such a device have gone bankrupt, such as Van Moof and Thermosmart. The result is that consumers can no longer access the app to operate their smart device. In some cases they can no longer use them at all.
The Consumers’ Association therefore advocates clearer rules to protect buyers. “Smart devices have had our attention for years,” says spokesperson Gerard Spierenburg. “In fact, this is still unexplored territory, where much is not yet completely clear.”
Thermostat on summer position
Nearly 5 million Dutch households have at least one smart home product at home, the latest shows Numbers from market research agency Multiscope. Last year, for example, Thermosmart went bankrupt. The company built an app for controlling the heating thermostat. This allowed users to turn the heating up or down at any time in any location.
Since the bankruptcy, customers can no longer use their thermostat via the app. “We can still operate the thermostat manually, but twice a day it automatically switches back to the schedule I once set in the summer,” says user Maarten de Vries from Nijmegen. “The heating then turns off very quickly in the morning.”
When De Vries bought the device three years ago, he expected it to last a lot longer. The company that took over Thermosmart, Plugwise, sent users an email with an offer to purchase a new device from them at a discount. “I deleted that email quite quickly, it just felt like disguised marketing,” says De Vries.
Plugwise says that about 5,000 people have this problem. The company confirms that such an offer has been made to Thermosmart customers who have signed up. Director Reinder Sanders says that everything is already being done to help customers and that money is now being provided for this purpose.
The company is still working on two possible solutions. Attempts are being made to get the bankrupt company’s software working again, but they are also looking into whether the thermostats can be made ‘dumb’ again. The latter would mean that the thermostat can again be used without an app. According to Plugwise, the company has no choice but to ask for money for this.
Does the refrigerator do what it promises?
For two years now, a seller has been legally obliged to keep digital devices and services working and secure. This law must protect consumers when purchasing smart TVs and watches, printers, cameras and baby monitors.
If the software no longer works, according to Gerard Spierenburg it is wise to first contact the seller: “For consumers, the seller is always the first point of contact. That is where you bought the product and legally there is also the counter where you can go. .”
However, in practice it is not always clear whether the customer should contact the store, the manufacturer or the app builder if the app no longer works. The manufacturer can argue that the device still does what it promises. “Consider, for example, a refrigerator whose smart function no longer works, but which still cools,” says Spierenburg. “Does it still do what was promised? The seller will probably say it does.”
But what if you, as a consumer, have specifically chosen that refrigerator because you want to be able to see what is left in the supermarket? The seller must therefore arrange a replacement product, but according to Spierenburg it is difficult to achieve this in practice. “When I look at how sellers, for example, deal with the right to a warranty and the discussion that consumers sometimes have in that area, I expect that it can still be complicated for consumers to get what they are entitled to.”
2024-01-08 07:37:25
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