Hive cameras are being discontinued and will not function in THREE years. Anything I can do?

ThumbRemote

Aylesbury_Duck said:

crazy_crow said:

Jenni_D said:

Is that literally saying that they will stop working - completely? Or is it that the local functions will still work but remote access and recording will no longer work because the cloud servers will go offline?

Yes!   They have helpfully suggested that customers take them to their local household waste recycling centre when they become obsolete.  I love Hive and have encouraged other people to get it.  It’s really annoying.  It’s still being sold by a few retailers too. 

Playing devil's advocate, why shouldn't they continue to sell them?  Three years' lifespan is not ridiculously short for a tech product (after all, how many people change their mobile or laptop devices every few years?) and now that the information is in the public domain, it's up to consumers to do their research.

I'd be annoyed if I were in your position, of course, because you bought in good faith before all this was known.

No it isn't.

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations explicitly states: "A commercial practice is a misleading omission if ... the commercial practice omits material information ,,, and as a result it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise."

It is up to the retailer to ensure potential customers know the information, not up to potential customers to search it out. 

Andy_L

ThumbRemote said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

crazy_crow said:

Jenni_D said:

Is that literally saying that they will stop working - completely? Or is it that the local functions will still work but remote access and recording will no longer work because the cloud servers will go offline?

Yes!   They have helpfully suggested that customers take them to their local household waste recycling centre when they become obsolete.  I love Hive and have encouraged other people to get it.  It’s really annoying.  It’s still being sold by a few retailers too. 

Playing devil's advocate, why shouldn't they continue to sell them?  Three years' lifespan is not ridiculously short for a tech product (after all, how many people change their mobile or laptop devices every few years?) and now that the information is in the public domain, it's up to consumers to do their research.

I'd be annoyed if I were in your position, of course, because you bought in good faith before all this was known.

No it isn't.

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations explicitly states: "A commercial practice is a misleading omission if ... the commercial practice omits material "

It is up to the retailer to ensure potential customers know the information, not up to potential customers to search it out. 

Hive themselves have stopped selling them

"Hive Product News

We’re no longer selling Hive View cameras, Hive HomeShield or Hive Leak."

https://www.hivehome.com/product-news

John Lewis

"Important to know: Hive have now discontinued this product. It will work as normal until the brand’s three-year support period ends on 01/08/2025. After this, the camera will no longer function."

Amazon

"As of 11/07/2022, this product has been discontinued by the manufacturer; You will be able to continue using this product as normal until 01/08/2025; After this date, the device will lose functionality"

eskbanker

Andy_L said:

Amazon

"As of 11/07/2022, this product has been discontinued by the manufacturer; You will be able to continue using this product as normal until 01/08/2025; After this date, the device will lose functionality"

Weasel wording from Amazon there, 'using it as normal' and then 'losing functionality' isn't clear enough IMHO to convey that it'll stop working completely....

RogerBareford

crazy_crow said:

Three years is an unreasonable amount of time for such an expensive camera especially when it form an important part of a whole smart home set up.   I wanted a smart home set up where everything works together.  All my hive devices work together and are controlled through one app.  I WAS a huge fan!   The rest of my hive devises will continue to work but they won’t be as useful when the cameras are bricked.  

I think they can carry on selling the cameras but they have to make it very clear they will be bricked any august 2025.

For future reference you can use a service such as IFTTT which will allows most smart home devices to work with others regardless of the manufacturer or app used to control them.

powerful_Rogue

RogerBareford said:

crazy_crow said:

Three years is an unreasonable amount of time for such an expensive camera especially when it form an important part of a whole smart home set up.   I wanted a smart home set up where everything works together.  All my hive devices work together and are controlled through one app.  I WAS a huge fan!   The rest of my hive devises will continue to work but they won’t be as useful when the cameras are bricked.  

I think they can carry on selling the cameras but they have to make it very clear they will be bricked any august 2025.

For future reference you can use a service such as IFTTT which will allows most smart home devices to work with others regardless of the manufacturer or app used to control them.

Which now charges monthly and the free version is often very delayed.

Look at Home Assistant instead.

RogerBareford

powerful_Rogue said:

RogerBareford said:

crazy_crow said:

Three years is an unreasonable amount of time for such an expensive camera especially when it form an important part of a whole smart home set up.   I wanted a smart home set up where everything works together.  All my hive devices work together and are controlled through one app.  I WAS a huge fan!   The rest of my hive devises will continue to work but they won’t be as useful when the cameras are bricked.  

I think they can carry on selling the cameras but they have to make it very clear they will be bricked any august 2025.

For future reference you can use a service such as IFTTT which will allows most smart home devices to work with others regardless of the manufacturer or app used to control them.

Which now charges monthly and the free version is often very delayed.

Look at Home Assistant instead.

I hadn't looked at Home Assistant before but now i have i think i will be switching to that as it's far better to have local control.