First class action lawsuit filed against Wink

Nope, I agree. I love the stuff I've built, but of everyone I know, the only people who've taken the plunge more than just an Alexa are people who like to tinker with technology. It needs to be made a lot simpler to get VALUABLE automation for people (read: More than going "look friend, it's super cool, I can turn on a light from my phone" and them going "ohhhh"). My family and friends like what I've done at my house, but when I tell them how much I've spent and how much time I put in, one commented "couldn't I hire a butler for less?" and yeah, probably I could have :slight_smile:

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Thanks! Didn't know that Automatic was offering rebates. I haven't used mine for awhile, but if I can get some money back, would be good!!

Same thing happened with the China tariffs last year. Lots of companies said it was due to these additional fees, but I don't see how they couldn't have passed that onto the customers. It was a bunch of hooey. The business was in trouble in the first place, not the crisis du jour.

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Rushing to find my old wink hubs to get in on this class action :rofl:

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I would be interested in flashing it to another platform. Maybe a unix or BSD then using it as another hub.

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Hub 1 can be rooted. The underlying OS is Linux. Hub 2 hasn't been rooted yet (AFAIK).

Well in fairness, passing it on to the consumer is exactly what Wink is doing, and look... customers leaving in droves and a class action lawsuit...

Right?

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I supposed that depends on whether the owners got rich. Depending on corporate structures and stuff, if they extracted money from the company and were then found to have defrauded customers....there could be money available.

That money would all be funneled into an LLC or other financial blockade by now. Long gone.

Heck I have multiple LLCs for my personal finances for similar, completely legal, reasons.

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The sad state of corporate America.

"You cannot defraud your customers"

"Unless you hire a lawyer, form a few shell companies, put one if you spouses name, and write some crazy EULA that no one reads to protect you"

That has ALWAYS been how America finances and corporations work. Always since day 1. Nothing substantially new there in 200+ years - other than some technicalities on how it is done, as people don't like to hide their gold bars in safes any more.

Even an LLC doesn't provide unlimited protection, but it certainly complicates the finances when it comes to lawsuits.

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Yeah I think the owners can be still be sued, not the employees - haven't looked at that in a while. The tax benefits can be nice though if you have a competent accountant or good understanding of the tax code.

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That's usually where that goes. If the company is out of money, they look to see if the owners squirrelled away money in other LLC or accounts.

Then they either try to go the criminal route (fraud, embezzlement, etc) to claw back that money or directly sue the owners/people that moved the money.

The later rarely yields anything substantial (without the first part), other than making lawyers rich. Can't often claw money out of other independent entities without criminal proof that the money is there illegitimately.

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Suggestion:
Return your Winks return receipt requested.
Include:
Wink Action

Wink’s recent decision to impose monthly subscription fees on devices it sold to consumers. Specifically, Wink announced on May 6, 2020, that owners of Wink devices would be required to pay $5 per month to keep using the devices they purchased, and if those consumers failed to pay the newly imposed $5 monthly fee, Wink would deactivate those devices. Given this bait-and-switch pricing scheme, GDR alleges that Wink violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, violated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, made both negligent and fraudulent misrepresentations, trespassed on consumers’ chattels, and breached express and implied warranties to consumers.

Due to breach of on box contract I demand a refund (of $???) for each Wink enclosed.

Document process

No Action---- Small Claims court

Their actual contract specifically says that's what is written on the box is not a contract, the only contract is the EULA. It might make people feel better to write this, but it has no legal basis. Again, I feel for people's frustrations, but this will just end up with you wasting the fee to file a small claim only to have it dismissed as the court does not have jurisdiction over the matter. Your call, but no one is going to see a dime out of a strategy like that.

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But could it be that the current threat of serious legal action is one of the reasons they have seemingly now backed away from their initial strategy, at least while they get their arguments straight?

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