Consumer Advice Needed for 24 month old useless CCTV camera

I bought a CCTV camera from Amazon nearly two years ago. It sends an alert to my phone then I can view a short clip of whatever triggered the video. About 2 weeks ago they changed their app so I can no longer see my video clips. A pop-up advert obscures the video with a link to buy a subscription. Like this (it is looking at the cat flap):




I always got the message "Get Premium Cloud to watch full video..." every few days and the link allowed me to dismiss it and carry on. Now I cannot dismiss the message.

The main reason I bought this camera was because it was free to view, all recordings are on an internal SD card so there is no need for me to buy cloud storage or anything else. I have contacted the manufacturer who give this feeble excuse:

"Thank you for contacting Kami Vision and YI Support.

I hope this email finds you well and I apologize for the inconvenience this had caused you.

Recently, the MANUFACTURER of your camera brand decided to opt out of our YI IoT app service contract. This decision made by your camera manufacturer caused our app to be unable to fully support all the app features for your camera, such as

• the ability to playback the 6-second clip alerts
• Update the camera to maintain app compatibility

We will try our best to keep the camera working on our app and maintain as much function as possible. You have been a long-time user, and as a courtesy, we would like to offer you a couple of options to resolve this:

1. 30% special discount on any premium cloud plan

Or
2. Free camera to replace your current one with the purchase of an annual cloud plan (For limited regions only)"

I have been going round in circles with their support and cannot get anywhere.

What are my rights for returning this item to Amazon? I think I may have up to 6 years for something that is not fit for purpose?

 

There is a lot of controversy about 'Smart' products not being able to get updates and then becoming unsafe but this seems to be something different.

I don't know the situation but it would also whether you bought 'from' Amazon or 'through' Amazon. If it was from amazon then they are the retailer and may have some responsibility under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. If it was through Amazon then the retailer has that responsibility.

The manufacturer is not responsible for what the retailer has advertised it as. If it was advertised as being able to be seen through your phone then I would imagine the retailer is in contravention of the Act - but I'm not really conversant with smart technology.

I would be inclined to contact the retailer and state that as it is not fit for purpose they are in contravention of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and ask them what they intend doing about it. You would normally be covered for six years.

 

The cloud service ranges from £25.99 to £129.99 per year, depending on number of cameras (I have one) and length of video playback. It may be a fair price but for what I use it for I don't need anything other than the 6 second free clip. I wouldn't have bought it if I knew they were going to hold me to ransom.

I bought a cacagoo security camera, it doesn't seem to be listed on Amazon now.

You may be right, thing is how does that square to another product like a tv that relies on software and hardware, can Toshiba remotely disable your TV and hold you to ransom ?

 

Thanks for that good idea @ricky101, so I looked at a couple of apps, iSpy for example but it doesn't seem the right thing. The other cheap cameras that look similar to mine seem to use this same YI app that forces you to buy a cloud subscription.

Good point @shiney , I didn't realise there were two ways to buy on Amazon - just thought everything comes from one big Amazon warehouse. I looked at my invoice and it says the seller is "CompAcy" which appears to be a Chinese company. Their shopfront has disappeared off Amazon and all links seem to be dead ends.

I'll message Amazon in the first place to see where I stand, quoting the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I'm not losing any sleep over this, it was only £30. The camera is still working, I just have have to pop out the SD card to view any recordings.

 

@ricky101 can you elaborate please, I think I need some advice on a better solution. There is so much choice out there. Is a PVR a box you have plugged in and running all the time? Does it ping you notifications on your phone if it detects movement? Assume they don't need a cloud subscription but are they expensive in the first place?

 

Nothing to stop you trying, though