Monthly fee to use lights!!!?!?!

[OutColdCRNA]

I received this email last night from bluefish stating that in order to keep using their lights after March 2023 a monthly fee would be charged. I have had my nanobox duo since 2017. I paid 450 for this beautiful, hand made and American made product! If I had known that the company that controls the Wi-Fi could just out of nowhere charge a fee I would have passed on the lights! The fee is nominal but the point is that they have just up and decided to charge for their product that I have already bought and paid for!! Can you imagine getting an email saying your microwave won’t work anymore unless you pay a monthly fee! This is garbage and makes me want to throw these lights in the trash on principal!!

 

[reefiniteasy]

That is messed up!

 

[blaxsun]

Coming soon to LED lights and reef controllers near you...

 

[Cell]

Looks like a fee for ongoing support of the controller, not the lights specifically. Can you stop using the controller and still use the lights?

 

[clowndaddy420]

find a way to run them manually with a timer maybe

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Looks like a fee for ongoing support of the controller, not the lights specifically. Can you stop using the controller and still use the lights?

I don’t believe so. All control, even just simply turning the lights on has to be done through the bluefish app. It’s a shame because these nanobox lights aren’t made anymore and the spectrum and color they provide is amazing!

 

[exnisstech]

Will they run on wifi with internet turned off? Set them and forget them, best thing for corals anyway. You've had the tank since 2017 so imaging you have them dialed in? Don't get me wrong, it's messed up I'm just throwing things out there.

 

[jsker]

My only thought would be, is Bluefish is trying to support the IT/app with Subscriptions at $36 per year. I do not see anything on the site about future charges.

Could this be a Phishing email? I get they type of emails from time to time for other companies. They tend to turn out to be scams.

Can you start a new email and ask if this is true?

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Will they run on wifi with internet turned off? Set them and forget them, best thing for corals anyway. You've had the tank since 2017 so imaging you have them dialed in? Don't get me wrong, it's messed up I'm just throwing things out there.

Potentially. They ran on a tank for three years before I moved. Just set them back up on a frag tank so will need to setup my settings. I will try and see if I remove the card from the bluefish controller that it will continue to run.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

My only thought would be, is Bluefish is trying to support the IT/app with Subscriptions at $36 per year. I do not see anything on the site about future charges.

Could this be a Phishing email? I get they type of emails from time to time for other companies. They tend to turn out to be scams.

Can you start a new email and ask if this is true?

That is an excellent thought. I plan to email blue fish directly and see if this is in fact true. The whole thing if it is true puts a bad taste in my mouth when trying to support a smaller company.

 

[TheHarold]

What a joke. They should continue access to basic standard features and just charge monthly for premium options.

Are there any legal implications of false advertising? They are stripping 100% of functionality from existing products sold in the US.

If the user cannot turn on/off the lights, as well as update the schedule, they are effectively blackmailing all customers to pay a monthly fee to continue to use the product they paid for.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

What a joke. They should continue access to basic standard features and just charge monthly for premium options.

Are there any legal implications of false advertising? They are stripping 100% of functionality from existing products sold in the US.

If the user cannot turn on/off the lights, as well as update the schedule, they are effectively blackmailing all customers to pay a monthly fee to continue to use the product they paid for.

This is exactly my frustration!!! I have emailed bluefish to see if this is in fact the case. Having used the app functionality for quite some time, it offers nothing that cannot be done with the other light apps such as AI.

 

[Cell]

If you refuse the service, but the controller is required to operate lights, you may have the option to continue as is without any future updates. I can't imagine they will render existing customer's lights useless without it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

While its garbage, We are in a world of inflation and upgrades with technology and $2.99 is not crazy but as a product owner, I feel unnecessary. Whats next- are we going to Ecotech, Kessil, Orphek follow suit as a potential money maker ?
We pay high enough for mainly lighting and this is the cost of doing business

 

[Cell]

Many people now pay a monthly service fee for their doorbell. I refuse. Love my Eufy!

 

[OutColdCRNA]

While its garbage, We are in a world of inflation and upgrades with technology and $2.99 is not crazy but as a product owner, I feel unnecessary. Whats next- are we going to Ecotech, Kessil, Orphek follow suit as a potential money maker ?
We pay high enough for mainly lighting and this is the cost of doing business

Spot on! We then live in a world with the cloud over our head of something we paid good money for to potentially cost us more money to even use. At the discretion of the seller. That’s a dangerous slope!

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

im not that techy but my understanding is that your bluefish controller settings are stored online and not in your actual physical controller. SO it seem they have you by the short hairs on this one.

 

[dschuffert]

I don't like going from a perpetual type of license to a cloud-based monthly fee. I think there should be a grandfathered exception for existing users.

 

[pooootiqe]

Nanobox Duos run on Meanwell LDD-H drivers. One could potentially swap out the bluefish with a Reef-Pi or other PWM-capable controllers to achieve the same functionality.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Nanobox Duos run on Meanwell LDD-H drivers. One could potentially swap out the bluefish with a Reef-Pi or other PWM-capable controllers to achieve the same functionality.

While that may be true. Would still require an investment over what was initially paid with the understanding that this piece of equipment would run the way it did on day one until the day that it died!