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1) I highly doubt that the app disables emergency calling. 2) Some (rental, probably also lease) vehicles actually do have disablers. They prevent the vehicle

1) I highly doubt that the app disables emergency calling. 2) Some (rental, probably also lease) vehicles actually do have disablers. They prevent the vehicle from being started, not stop them in the middle of the road. 3) The police don't repo a thing. That's a civil matter and generally outsourced to the lowest bidder with a tow truck. By the way, if someone dies because of it, the only person whose conscience it is on is the person who bought a phone they couldn't afford and then didn't pay for it. Just like if someone died because the car got repo'd and they couldn't drive to a hospital.

matheusmoreira 5y ago
> I highly doubt that the app disables emergency calling. Well, I highly doubt that it doesn't. Given how little attention the company paid to these important details, who's to say they didn't simply brick the user's phone? > They prevent the vehicle from being started, not stop them in the middle of the road. Like I said, nobody will randomly disable somebody's car engine. These people at least have enough foresight to wait until it's safe. > The police don't repo a thing. They do where I live. Bank loans money with car as collateral, consumer defaults, bank seeks justice, judge authorizes police to repossess the car so the bank can sell it and minimize losses. Police can enter private property and even use force if necessary. What is even the point of police if they aren't gonna do things like this? Outsourced to tow trucks? Really? When some random citizen reposseses property, it's robbery. > if someone dies because of it, the only person whose conscience it is on is the person who bought a phone they couldn't afford and then didn't pay for it No. The fact that person didn't pay for the phone doesn't matter matter at all. The company can always negotiate new terms or seek justice later. What matters is the fact that in an emergency the only thing standing between the consumer and a call for help was the phone company. Worse, they got in the way on purpose, as if it was their job to punish the consumer. There is no defending this. > Just like if someone died because the car got repo'd and they couldn't drive to a hospital. Not really. If you don't have a car, you can still call emergency services. At least you would have been able to if some stupid company had not locked your phone.
jpmoral 5y ago
1) You don't know that. And there may be emergency situations where you're on the phone with someone other than from the emergency number. 2) How rental cars do it doesn't seem to have anything to do with this. >By the way, if someone dies because of it, the only person whose conscience it is on is the person who bought a phone they couldn't afford and then didn't pay for it. Just like if someone died because the car got repo'd and they couldn't drive to a hospital. This is some fucked up reasoning. People run into financial difficulty for various reasons, sometimes out of their control. But even for the serial deadbeats who don't care about financial responsibility saying "yeah, it's fine that somebody or their loved one died because it's their fault"? I can't imagine thinking like that.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  > Would you randomly disable somebody's car's engine because they didn't pay? No. Perhaps you meant to reply to the person I was replying to, rather than me, with your "how rental cars do it doesn't seem to have anything to do with it"? Because the person I was replying to said that repossessors wouldn't disable a car, which is not true. > This is some fucked up reasoning. People run into financial difficulty for various reasons, sometimes out of their control. But even for the serial deadbeats who don't care about financial responsibility saying "yeah, it's fine that somebody or their loved one died because it's their fault"? I can't imagine thinking like that. Saying "yeah, someone else SHOULD pay for their non-necessity"? I can't imagine thinking like that. Just because someone runs into financial difficulty doesn't mean they can just stop paying for things. Nor does it mean that anyone else has an obligation to provide them with something for free. Particularly when that something is a luxury. Heck, if they're so short on money they could've sold their expensive Samsung phone and replaced it with a cheap one. And again, I highly doubt that any of this is even a possibility. And you can say I "don't know" that it doesn't disable emergency calling (never said I did), but the fact of the matter is, it's virtually impossible to disable emergency calling on any phone, thanks to both regulation and technical standards.
  - jpmoral 5y ago
    >Saying "yeah, someone else SHOULD pay for their non-necessity"? I can't imagine thinking like that. >Just because someone runs into financial difficulty doesn't mean they can just stop paying for things. Nor does it mean that anyone else has an obligation to provide them with something for free. Particularly when that something is a luxury. Heck, if they're so short on money they could've sold their expensive Samsung phone and replaced it with a cheap one. That wasn't remotely what I was saying. I wasn't advocating for anyone to get non-necessities for free nor that difficulties automatically absolves people of responsibility. I was saying that to dismiss any consideration of life and death situations because any deaths would be on the people not paying is fucked up.
felipelemos 5y ago
> By the way, if someone dies because of it, the only person whose conscience it is on is the person who bought a phone they couldn't afford and then didn't pay for it. Just like if someone died because the car got repo'd and they couldn't drive to a hospital. Sure. What they were thinking trying to buy something without having money, right? And even worse, what they were thinking being poor. They should have bought a very shit phone, closer to what they can afford. And if they lost their job and then couldn't pay for the phone, it's their own fault. /s
- FDSGSG 5y ago
  If everyone saw things like you, there would probably not be nearly as many poor people with phones. It is these very consequences (repo, deactivation) that make it possible for these phones to be offered at affordable prices. Sadly we don't live in a utopia, especially the poor people of this world don't. I'm sure they'd rather have the phone that stops working and possibly indirectly kills their family when unpaid than no phone at all.
  - felipelemos 5y ago
    Curious, as I am from a poor country where: 1. Lots of poor people have phones, sometimes very expensive ones (as these are sought as a symbol status) 2. There is no such thing as repossession. And living abroad makes me believe that it is an phenomenon in United States only. It is illegal in many parts of the world. *edit: word
    - jfrunyon 5y ago
      > There is no such thing as repossession sure there isn't. Guess there's no financing, either, then, huh?
      - felipelemos 5y ago
        Not only there is no repossession but almost everything is sold in installments. You can pay in installments even in supermarkets. In that case what makes the system works is the credit system. When almost everything you buy you must use installments then losing your credit is a terrible situation and the only solution is to pay (or try to). In the beginning of my career I worked in a small local ISP and usually the middle/high class were a bigger part of the people with overdue payments, while people living in worse neighbourhoods were almost always paying in time. They can't afford to not pay. Sometimes we live in a bubble that makes we think the way we live and the way things are are the only way things should be. We must be careful to not extend our vision of things to everyone and everything, the world is much bigger than our backyard. *edit: a paragraph

matheusmoreira 5y ago

> I highly doubt that the app disables emergency calling. Well, I highly doubt that it doesn't. Given how little attention the company paid to these important details, who's to say they didn't simply brick the user's phone? > They prevent the vehicle from being started, not stop them in the middle of the road. Like I said, nobody will randomly disable somebody's car engine. These people at least have enough foresight to wait until it's safe. > The police don't repo a thing. They do where I live. Bank loans money with car as collateral, consumer defaults, bank seeks justice, judge authorizes police to repossess the car so the bank can sell it and minimize losses. Police can enter private property and even use force if necessary. What is even the point of police if they aren't gonna do things like this? Outsourced to tow trucks? Really? When some random citizen reposseses property, it's robbery. > if someone dies because of it, the only person whose conscience it is on is the person who bought a phone they couldn't afford and then didn't pay for it No. The fact that person didn't pay for the phone doesn't matter matter at all. The company can always negotiate new terms or seek justice later. What matters is the fact that in an emergency the only thing standing between the consumer and a call for help was the phone company. Worse, they got in the way on purpose, as if it was their job to punish the consumer. There is no defending this. > Just like if someone died because the car got repo'd and they couldn't drive to a hospital. Not really. If you don't have a car, you can still call emergency services. At least you would have been able to if some stupid company had not locked your phone.

jpmoral 5y ago

1) You don't know that. And there may be emergency situations where you're on the phone with someone other than from the emergency number. 2) How rental cars do it doesn't seem to have anything to do with this. >By the way, if someone dies because of it, the only person whose conscience it is on is the person who bought a phone they couldn't afford and then didn't pay for it. Just like if someone died because the car got repo'd and they couldn't drive to a hospital. This is some fucked up reasoning. People run into financial difficulty for various reasons, sometimes out of their control. But even for the serial deadbeats who don't care about financial responsibility saying "yeah, it's fine that somebody or their loved one died because it's their fault"? I can't imagine thinking like that.

jfrunyon 5y ago
> Would you randomly disable somebody's car's engine because they didn't pay? No. Perhaps you meant to reply to the person I was replying to, rather than me, with your "how rental cars do it doesn't seem to have anything to do with it"? Because the person I was replying to said that repossessors wouldn't disable a car, which is not true. > This is some fucked up reasoning. People run into financial difficulty for various reasons, sometimes out of their control. But even for the serial deadbeats who don't care about financial responsibility saying "yeah, it's fine that somebody or their loved one died because it's their fault"? I can't imagine thinking like that. Saying "yeah, someone else SHOULD pay for their non-necessity"? I can't imagine thinking like that. Just because someone runs into financial difficulty doesn't mean they can just stop paying for things. Nor does it mean that anyone else has an obligation to provide them with something for free. Particularly when that something is a luxury. Heck, if they're so short on money they could've sold their expensive Samsung phone and replaced it with a cheap one. And again, I highly doubt that any of this is even a possibility. And you can say I "don't know" that it doesn't disable emergency calling (never said I did), but the fact of the matter is, it's virtually impossible to disable emergency calling on any phone, thanks to both regulation and technical standards.
- jpmoral 5y ago
  >Saying "yeah, someone else SHOULD pay for their non-necessity"? I can't imagine thinking like that. >Just because someone runs into financial difficulty doesn't mean they can just stop paying for things. Nor does it mean that anyone else has an obligation to provide them with something for free. Particularly when that something is a luxury. Heck, if they're so short on money they could've sold their expensive Samsung phone and replaced it with a cheap one. That wasn't remotely what I was saying. I wasn't advocating for anyone to get non-necessities for free nor that difficulties automatically absolves people of responsibility. I was saying that to dismiss any consideration of life and death situations because any deaths would be on the people not paying is fucked up.

felipelemos 5y ago

> By the way, if someone dies because of it, the only person whose conscience it is on is the person who bought a phone they couldn't afford and then didn't pay for it. Just like if someone died because the car got repo'd and they couldn't drive to a hospital. Sure. What they were thinking trying to buy something without having money, right? And even worse, what they were thinking being poor. They should have bought a very shit phone, closer to what they can afford. And if they lost their job and then couldn't pay for the phone, it's their own fault. /s

FDSGSG 5y ago
If everyone saw things like you, there would probably not be nearly as many poor people with phones. It is these very consequences (repo, deactivation) that make it possible for these phones to be offered at affordable prices. Sadly we don't live in a utopia, especially the poor people of this world don't. I'm sure they'd rather have the phone that stops working and possibly indirectly kills their family when unpaid than no phone at all.
- felipelemos 5y ago
  Curious, as I am from a poor country where: 1. Lots of poor people have phones, sometimes very expensive ones (as these are sought as a symbol status) 2. There is no such thing as repossession. And living abroad makes me believe that it is an phenomenon in United States only. It is illegal in many parts of the world. *edit: word
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    > There is no such thing as repossession sure there isn't. Guess there's no financing, either, then, huh?
    - felipelemos 5y ago
      Not only there is no repossession but almost everything is sold in installments. You can pay in installments even in supermarkets. In that case what makes the system works is the credit system. When almost everything you buy you must use installments then losing your credit is a terrible situation and the only solution is to pay (or try to). In the beginning of my career I worked in a small local ISP and usually the middle/high class were a bigger part of the people with overdue payments, while people living in worse neighbourhoods were almost always paying in time. They can't afford to not pay. Sometimes we live in a bubble that makes we think the way we live and the way things are are the only way things should be. We must be careful to not extend our vision of things to everyone and everything, the world is much bigger than our backyard. *edit: a paragraph