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In the UK this is protected by consumer law under the terms of the The Consumer Rights Act 2015. Anyone who bought their devices direct from British Gas should

In the UK this is protected by consumer law under the terms of the The Consumer Rights Act 2015. Anyone who bought their devices direct from British Gas should write to them saying that they want repair, replacement with equivalent devices that will work, or a full refund. There is no time limit, only "reasonable", which for something that is fixed into your house, 20 years seems reasonable to me. You could settle for prorating the 20 year life, so if you've had it 5 years then they will refund 75% or something. British Gas is easily big enough to absorb the losses, and has a lot of bad press at the moment because of the profit it has been making. It would set a good example for future cases. https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act-aKJYx8n5KiSl https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-...

mattlondon 3y ago
Ah but to play devil's advocate, consumer rights only kicks in when you "take ownership" of something. I am sure that in the hive contract somewhere it says that you do not own it and just have a limited-use license so you are not technically a "consumer" of their service but some sort of licensed "service installation" or some other legal bullshit or sleight of hand that means they have zero obligations.
- bloak 3y ago
  > "take ownership" Where's that quoted from? Legislation? How do you think that consumer rights apply to electricity supply and phone contracts, for example? I have no knowledge of whether consumer rights apply to Hive but I don't understand this "take ownership" principle that you're proposing here.
  - mattlondon 3y ago
    From the linked article: > KEY INFORMATION > > Taking ownership > The clock starts ticking from the date you take ownership of the goods
- megapolitics 3y ago
  >consumer rights only kicks in when you "take ownership" of something No they don’t. Consumer rights law in the UK applies to services too.
bombcar 3y ago
Best Buy gave up on a bunch of their IoT switches, etc, and sent me Best Buy gift cards for the full purchase price. Amusingly, because they’re HomeKit compatible, they continue to work because Apple required HomeKit to work without some weird manufacturer cloud system.

mattlondon 3y ago

Ah but to play devil's advocate, consumer rights only kicks in when you "take ownership" of something. I am sure that in the hive contract somewhere it says that you do not own it and just have a limited-use license so you are not technically a "consumer" of their service but some sort of licensed "service installation" or some other legal bullshit or sleight of hand that means they have zero obligations.

bloak 3y ago
> "take ownership" Where's that quoted from? Legislation? How do you think that consumer rights apply to electricity supply and phone contracts, for example? I have no knowledge of whether consumer rights apply to Hive but I don't understand this "take ownership" principle that you're proposing here.
- mattlondon 3y ago
  From the linked article: > KEY INFORMATION > > Taking ownership > The clock starts ticking from the date you take ownership of the goods
megapolitics 3y ago
>consumer rights only kicks in when you "take ownership" of something No they don’t. Consumer rights law in the UK applies to services too.

bombcar 3y ago

Best Buy gave up on a bunch of their IoT switches, etc, and sent me Best Buy gift cards for the full purchase price. Amusingly, because they’re HomeKit compatible, they continue to work because Apple required HomeKit to work without some weird manufacturer cloud system.