LG to offer subscriptions for appliances and televisions
www.theregister.com
Subscription fatigue is a thing and regulators are circling, but Korean giant reckons you're ready to cough up after buying hardware

LG to offer subscriptions for already purchased appliances and televisions, evolving into a provider for “Home as a Service”::Subscription fatigue is a thing and regulators are circling, but Korean giant reckons you’re ready to cough up after buying hardware

  • dustedhands@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Their gadgets built their fame because they just worked and were built like a tank. My grandparents had their stuff (from Goldstar era) and they still keep chugging.

    None of this “as a service” bs will please the lifetime customers.

  • LiveLM@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Home as a Service

    This has triggered a Fight AND Flight response in my brain. I want to smash everything with a mallet then run to the mountains.
    I hate “as a Service” so much!

  • rm_dash_r_star@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    This thing with subscriptions has become insane. You can easily spend several hundred a month getting roped into all the subscriptions companies are pushing. It’s the latest way to squeeze as much money as possible out of the consumer.

    I’ve gone into subscription boycott at this point. I had too many and said screw that. I still have Amazon Prime where I think I get my money’s worth. I shop there a lot and use their streaming so it’s worth it to me. Subscriptions for appliances? No way in hell.

    • Professorozone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, it’s bad enough that an LG TV makes you agree to have all of your data sent to them, but now they want you to pay for the privilege as well. Screw that!

      I mean, i think all smart TVs do that now. Don’t know what I’ll do when my dumb one breaks.

    • _cerpin_taxt_@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Yep. I built a fully automated piracy machine that I can stream straight to any device with no hassle. Fuck subscriptions.

    • NightOwl@lemmy.oneEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      It’s one of those things that was a shock at how prevalent it is on the Apple app store after so much talk of how much better the apps are compared to Android. There’s not even proper filter options to filter out apps that are subscription only. It was ridiculous how you could buy an app then get pop ups to get the subscription plan. It’s why I wish a foss app store like F-droid becomes available once slide loading becomes possible so I can avoid the appstore as much as possible when I need a basic app. Like a calculator.

      • rm_dash_r_star@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        Yeah phone apps are horrible, don’t know about iOS since I’ve always used Android, but they’re mostly bad. The apps geared to a company service are usually fine, but the rest are just ad support systems.

        I actually don’t use third party phone apps that much, but the times I have it’s like an assault. You get a tenth of the screen for the actual function of the app with the rest of the screen gyrating ads. It’s especially a problem for me because I’m old and can’t see the screen that well. I don’t know how people put up with it. I can’t.

        • NightOwl@lemmy.oneEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Good thing about at least paid apps on play store is that they usually don’t have subscriptions, and there are tags warning if it Contains Ads before you even install the app.

          I don’t think Apple appstore even has ad warnings. Only in-app purchase warning. So using appstore was when I found out talking video ads exist.

  • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    This little tidbit is left out:

    In order to use LG’s smart appliance features you must agree to allow the company to track your precise location 100% of the time via phone app.

    I have 2 wifi enabled LG appliances, a refrigerator and a washer. A couple of the smart features are useful such as the end of cycle notification on the washer and a high temperature / door open warning on the fridge. Unfortunately those features don’t work very well and there can be very long delays between an event (such as an end of cycle) and the app notification.

    So not only is LG’s implementation poorly done and not very functional, customers are expected to give up any semblance of privacy to even use them.

    Fuck that. I disconnected my appliances from wifi and deleted the app.

    Paying a monthly charge for the extremely limited smart features on appliances is nuts, even if you didn’t have to allow LG to constantly track your whereabouts. I hope the general public is smart enough to make LG’s subscription service a complete failure.

    • Saneless@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      My fridge drops its wifi setting constantly. Luckily it’s the dumbest thing ever so I don’t miss it. I only set it up because I was curious wtf a fridge would need to be connect to wifi for

      Turns out it loves watching The Bear. Gues it makes sense