Snooper series speed camera detectors (4Zero, 4Zero Elite, 4Zero Elite BT)

[Deleted User]

That device is over 4 years old (I can find launch reviews from April 2016) OP will be onto a hiding to nothing given 1 / 2 clearly don't apply and device could well have been made 4 years ago.
Halfords is a red herring, they obviously haven't updated their stock system yet

Gaberdeen

Wee update before I sign off on this:
I emailed Road Angel / IPI about blocking and deleting my complaint on their FB page and also asking for an explanation as to why they reached their decision, I got a super-rude email telling me to suck it up and claim my money back from Halfords if I wasn't happy - ignoring the fact that it was IPI I bought the units from (4ZeoElite BT was released in Dec 2018, so under 2 years old, technically)
I responded that I wouldn't be paying them a straw penny in future and advising anyone I knew not to either. Swiftly made a Trust-Pilot review covering my experience and (lol) Road Angel Group tried to get the review taken off the Trustpilot site!

Needless to say, it met all the criteria for Trustpilot to give the review the OK and thats about as much as I can do. If you're a snooper customer reading this and want to complain direct to IPI - don't bother is my advice. Just find my review on Trustpilot and like it or write your own. https://trstp.lt/lqAhe0jJa

Thanks for the helpful commentary. 

Reduke

Like yourself having purchased the same device from Halfords less than 18 months ago I was extremely upset by the approach taken. Sadly Halfords reaction was identical to your experience. I went for this product over others as in my opinion the upfront premium was worth the cost of not paying annual subscriptions. This was also the advice of their salesperson in store.

I agree with your thoughts, buy the competition and close them down. The device only works effectively with the most up to date databases and this was the major selling point of the BT model, it can be done from your smartphone.
I feel there must be something that can be done. 

Homer_home

I thought these road angel devices were absolete anyway!

Given they detect too late for you to slow down and all camera locations are on Google maps for free!

Seems a waste of money to buy them now.......

[Deleted User]

Reduke said:

Like yourself having purchased the same device from Halfords less than 18 months ago I was extremely upset by the approach taken. Sadly Halfords reaction was identical to your experience. I went for this product over others as in my opinion the upfront premium was worth the cost of not paying annual subscriptions. This was also the advice of their salesperson in store.

I agree with your thoughts, buy the competition and close them down. The device only works effectively with the most up to date databases and this was the major selling point of the BT model, it can be done from your smartphone.
I feel there must be something that can be done. 

Again, companies can end of life a device per the terms of their contract. The device is 4 years old and the updates now won't fit on the hardware, so a discount on a new one is a good deal

Reduke

The BT version first started to ship in April 2018. I understand firmware updates stopping but the database updating wouldn’t be affected by device memory size. Satnavs have had this issue due to map sizes growing over the years but the file size containing site locations for cameras isn’t anywhere near the devices storage.

The USP of this over other devices was sold to me as cost of lifetime. The extra £100 retail would pay back after 4 years compared to subscription based services.

I haven’t seen this saving and I wouldn’t  consider a product offering lifetime subscriptions to reach end of life in 2.5 years from lunch.

As mentioned it’s their customer care which appears to be failing. Why not transfer the lifetime subscription to the upgraded product offer?

DM8192

Had similar problems with Road Angel. I had one of the original black ones and bought a lifetime subscription as it was good value. Device developed a problem, sent it back, and they said it was "beyond economic repair" and offered to sell me the newer version. Asked if they could transfer my lifetime subscription to that; "Ooh, I'm afraid we couldn't do that, sir". I've had nothing to do with RA since, and now, sadly, it looks like Snooper has gone the same way.

Jumblebumble

Deleted_User said:

Lifetime means lifetime of the device, not your lifetime. Nobody with common sense would interpret that offer as meaning you'd have it for the next 20,30,40 etc years. Manufacturers end of life devices all the time, it's perfectly normal in industry, Cisco have a lifecycle of devices which is typically 7 years from launch date to last date of support, Apple do it for 7 as well . Sometimes it's a marketing ploy, others it's simply down to lack of parts, obsolete tech etc. My old Garmin satnav technically has lifetime updates of Euro maps, Garmin even moved the cover when they replaced the device due to a faulty power button when it was a few years old. The updates now unfortunately are too big for the device storage so it's limited to just the UK now (I don't use it any more but do occasionally update it just in case).

I will counter this with the view of both Netgear and HP  who are giant companies that  offer switch warranties where lifetime means "as long as the original buyer  owns the product" so  I suggest that lifetime means product life is not standard in industry at all and this means that 40 years is perfectly possible 

https://kb.netgear.com/000062504/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-the-ProSAFE-Limited-Lifetime-Warranty
https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c02593765

[Deleted User]

Jumblebumble said:

Deleted_User said:

Lifetime means lifetime of the device, not your lifetime. Nobody with common sense would interpret that offer as meaning you'd have it for the next 20,30,40 etc years. Manufacturers end of life devices all the time, it's perfectly normal in industry, Cisco have a lifecycle of devices which is typically 7 years from launch date to last date of support, Apple do it for 7 as well . Sometimes it's a marketing ploy, others it's simply down to lack of parts, obsolete tech etc. My old Garmin satnav technically has lifetime updates of Euro maps, Garmin even moved the cover when they replaced the device due to a faulty power button when it was a few years old. The updates now unfortunately are too big for the device storage so it's limited to just the UK now (I don't use it any more but do occasionally update it just in case).

I will counter this with the view of both Netgear and HP  who are giant companies that  offer switch warranties where lifetime means "as long as the original buyer  owns the product" so  I suggest that lifetime means product life is not standard in industry at all and this means that 40 years is perfectly possible 

https://kb.netgear.com/000062504/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-the-ProSAFE-Limited-Lifetime-Warranty
https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c02593765

You've obviously hunted long and hard for rare examples but these are simply the exception that proves the rule. Expensive networking kit will be supported as long as they have parts - once they stop making them, that warranty is pointless (Netgear as they say, will either offer a new unit, refurb old one or some sort of pro-rata refund (the second or third options are the most likely)).

They also know that the technology cycles are such that in 10 years, perhaps even 5, you'll have need to replace the kit anyway, so expecting say a 10/100mb 8 port poe switch like the Aruba 2615 to last 40 years is nonsensical, nobody would keep the switch long enough to claim on the warranty. Ethernet is 48 years old, it started at 2.94 Mbps, reached 10mb in 1980, 100mb in 1995, 1gb in 1999 and 10gb in 2002 with 100gb following in 2014-18, offices simply wouldn't cope with the modern kit trying to keep an old thing running just for off chance of claiming on the warranty.

Regardless, the point stands that "lifetime" is normally understood to be the life of the product, not some indefinite perpetual warranty on outdated kit

Weird old post to reply to as well

[Deleted User]

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