Nest may offer compensation to owners of a smart home hub that it is remotely disabling in May, according to a statement given to The Verge.
The internet of things firm was bought by Google in 2014 and is now owned by Google’s holding company, Alphabet. In March, it announced the decision to shut down the Revolv hub, a smart home device that it had acquired in October 2014.
Users of the device were given two months warning before their devices, which can be used to control lights, doorbells and locks, become utterly inactive.
Now, Nest says it might offer compensation to customers, “on a case-by-case basis”. The company said: “We’ve been working with the small number of Revolv customers on a case-by-case basis since we sent out the first customer notification in February to determine the best resolution, including compensation.”
The company followed it up with a tweet telling Revolv owners it was “here to help”.
Revolv owners, we're here to help. Please get in touch so we can find the best solution for your needs: help@revolv.com
— Nest Support (@nestsupport) April 5, 2016
In its shutdown notice, Revolv emphasised that customers shouldn’t expect any service beyond 15 May 2016, and pointed out that the product was not still under warranty: “Our one-year warranty against defects in materials or workmanship has expired for all Revolv products.”
But when the device was still on sale, prior to the company’s sale to Nest, Revolv sold its hub with a “lifetime subscription”, telling users that their hub would be provided with updates to work seamlessly with other devices “for the lifetime of the product”.
