The IT Nerd

News outlets all over the planet are reporting on a massive price hike by Ring. Take this one from the BBC:

Users of Ring video doorbells have reacted angrily to a huge price hike being introduced in March.

After buying the devices, customers pay a subscription to be able to receive alerts when the bells are rung, and review the footage they gather.

That subscription is going up 43%, from £34.99 to £49.99 per device, per year, for basic plan customers.

Or this one from The Daily Mail:

Ring has announced that its Basic Plan in the UK is increasing in price by a whopping 42 per cent next month. 

That means customers who were previously paying £34.99/year will now be charged £49.99/year. 

Several furious customers have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to discuss the price increase, with one calling it ‘outrageous’. 

Let’s pick something in North America. How about 9to5Mac:

Back in 2022, the Protect Basic subscription cost $24.99 per year. It was subsequently increased to $39.99 (or $3.99 per month), and is now increasing to $49.99 (or $4.99 per month).

Wow. Given that factoid, this latest price hike has the smell of a cash grab all over it. And that really rubs people the wrong way when it’s done in such a brazen manner. The reality is that Ring, which is owned by Amazon, is taking advantage of consumers who don’t know that there are better ways and better products to allow you to set up a video doorbell and have it store video as well as generate alerts to your phone. And the fact that you need a subscription for even basic functionality with a Ring product is just salt in the wound. My advice is that Ring doorbells now represent a very poor value, and consumers should avoid this product and anything from this company at all costs.

This entry was posted on February 9, 2024 at 8:51 am and is filed under Commentary with tags RiNG. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.