Owl intuition con

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chris_n
chris_n Posts: 615 Forumite
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in Energy
Owl have been selling online monitors for a number of years and have suddenly decided a subscription is needed. They say it has always been in the Ts&Cs but surely it is not ethical and is certainly outside of government guidelines. Until today there was no mention of subscription (other than buried in Ts&Cs) anywhere on the website. Their helpdesk also stated no subscription. Basically I have a heating control that I bought a year ago that is a brick unless I subscribe!
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  • silverwhistle
    silverwhistle Posts: 3,791 Forumite
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    I'll have to go and have a look. Not seen anything coming up on mine (4 years old). Perhaps they changed the T&C?
  • Derham
    Derham Posts: 4 Newbie
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    Yes, just received the same email yesterday asking for £20 for 2 years subscription.
    The terms and conditions at the moment say that they will give 3 months notice of any change but say that if you don't subscribe then it will be turned off on the 1st January 2018 - that's 1.5 months in my book.
    The principle of it is what grates now after 4 years of excellent service. They could change this at any time and I feel that it's just like being held hostage. At the moment I don't know if that means my heating and hot water is going to stop working in the New Year (middle of winter) or it will carry on 'as is' but not be able to change things.
    I'll start looking for a replacement straight away. :doh:
  • Mel_Frank
    Mel_Frank Posts: 6 Forumite
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    Not only are they charging a subscription but the company is broke, this from a company check:
    OWL INTUITION LIMITED
    12 DEVONSHIRE DRIVE, CAMBERLEY, GU15 3UB
    ACTIVE 07885068
    Cash: £0 Net Worth:]£-66,040 Assets: £22.3k Liabilities: £26.8k

    Looks like even if you subscribe they could go under and the units will be useless.
  • Derham
    Derham Posts: 4 Newbie
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    Well spotted Mel. Which is a shame because the system has worked fine for me and I think is one of the best around. I've disconnected my gateway now to see how it works without an internet connection. It works ok when pressing the 'more heat' button but I don't know if it will turn on at the scheduled time. I should know this evening. Has any else tried this?
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
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    edited 14 November 2017 at 3:43PM
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    Just seen the email

    I knew it was one of the risk at the time but liked the hot water control and realy like it fort he time I have had it
    (subscriptions kick in or they go bust)

    I also knew I should have reverse engineered the network protocol just in case.

    Lets hope someone has and able to share if they do go bust or the company comes clean and publishes it so people can continue to use their hardware.

    here is the companies house link
    https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07885068

    EDIT: seems there is a OWL protocol spec last update 2014
    https://theowl.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/201284603-Multicast-UDP-API-Information
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
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    The heating controls said there could be a subscription.
    IIRC it might have been on the boxes, I still have them somewhere.
  • Mel_Frank
    Mel_Frank Posts: 6 Forumite
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    What we need is a wizkid who can produce a simple GUI for windows to allow changes to the schedules and simple monitoring.
  • Derham
    Derham Posts: 4 Newbie
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    Well, my heating came on at the correct time after disconnecting from the internet. That means that the timer functions are stored in the devices somewhere (probably the gateway but I could be wrong). Not having the internet connected means that the ability to change settings and view daily/weekly data will be lost but it should carry on working (unless they nobble it that is).
  • Mel_Frank
    Mel_Frank Posts: 6 Forumite
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    The question will be do the sensor do the DST, if not, come March schedules will be out by an hour. I'm looking round for a replacement, Yet to find one with the same functionality at a decent price. Most don't do hot water temperature control. Will probably go back to a manual clock on hot water and grab a second hand Hive stat of ebay.
  • Mel_Frank
    Mel_Frank Posts: 6 Forumite
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    A friend of mine just got this statement from OWL
    "The room thermostat and tank sensor will hold their schedules indefinitely. DST will not be controlled however. "
    So no DST, units useless after DST needed, unless you pay their demand we are screwed
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