Did
you,
like
me,
buy
a
Ring
Alarm
system
for
your
home
because
it
offered
the
most
affordable
professional
24/7
monitoring
around,
at
just
$10
a
month
or
$100
a
year?
Then
I
expect
you
—
like
me
—
just
got
an
email
stating
you’ll
now
pay
twice
as
much
starting
the
next
time
you
renew.
Here’s
the
top
of
the
email
I
received
a
few
hours
ago,
telling
me
I’ll
pay
$20
a
month
or
$200
a
year
starting
in
March,
which
matches
the
price
of
the
Ring
Protect
Pro
plan
that
Amazon
started
selling
three
years
ago.
I
was
previously
on
Ring
Protect
Plus:
Price
hike.Image:
Sean
Hollister
/
The
Verge
Price
hikes
are
always
annoying,
but
Ring
is
still
a
relatively
affordable
alarm
service,
I
suppose.
The
truly
infuriating
part:
Amazon
is
pretending
it
responsibly
warned
grandfathered
customers
that
this
was
coming.
“This
is
your
reminder
that
we
previously
notified
you,”
reads
the
first
line
of
Ring’s
email
to
me
today.
When?
I
certainly
don’t
remember
ever
getting
an
email
telling
me
about
a
100
percent
price
hike
before...
But
digging
around
on
the
company’s
website,
I
do
find
an
FAQ
with
an
answer:
“In
September
2021,
we
sent
you
email
letting
you
know
that
your
Ring
Protect
Plus
(1st
Gen)
subscription
would
be
moving
to
a
new
plan
starting
in
2025.”
So,
of
course,
I
dig
through
my
email
from
September
2021,
where
I
find
an
email
from
Ring...
which
states
nothing
is
changing
except
for
the
name
of
my
plan.
Seriously,
take
a
look
at
this
portion
of
an
email
titled
“Important:
Your
Plan
Name
Has
Changed”:
“Don’t
worry,
everything
else
is
staying
the
same.”Image:
Ring
Oh,
but
there’s
that
little
footnote
marker.
See
that
number
1
at
the
very
end
of
the
sentence?
That
leads
to
a
little
dark
grey
section
of
fine
print
at
the
bottom
of
the
email,
which
states:
“You’ll
continue
to
have
access
to
Ring
Protect
Plus
(1st
Gen)
until
your
next
subscription
renewal
after
January
1,
2025...”Image:
Ring
In
fact,
looking
back
through
my
boring
Ring
renewal
emails
each
year,
every
one
of
them
has
this
fine
print
at
the
bottom.
Basically,
Amazon
has
been
dark
patterning
its
Ring
customers
for
three
years.
If
I
hadn’t
taken
Amazon
at
its
word
that
nothing
was
changing,
maybe
I
would
have
switched
to
a
different
alarm
system.
I
guess
it’s
not
too
late...
In
fact,
Ring
may
have
dark
patterned
some
of
them
again
today.
Some
customers
say
their
email
about
the
price
hike
began
with
the
words
“New
name.
New
features.
Same
great
price,”
before
going
on
to
describe
how
either
the
features
or
the
price
were
about
to
significantly
change.
I’m
pissed
because
I’m
over
a
barrel.
Am
I
really
going
to
rip
and
replace
my
hardwired
Ring
doorbell?
Would
I
really
let
my
home
insurance
alarm
discount
lapse?
But
I
do
understand
the
price
hike
to
some
degree.
Inflation
happens,
and
grandfathered
Ring
customers
like
me
have
been
enjoying
the
low
prices
for
many
years.
Amazon’s
Ring
didn’t
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.
Original author: Sean Hollister
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