Whoop Angers Users Over Reneged Free Upgrade Promises

Wearable startup Whoop just announced its new Whoop 5.0 fitness tracker yesterday, but some existing users are already calling foul. From a report: Previously, Whoop said people who had been members for at least six months would get free upgrades to next-generation hardware. Now, the company says that members hoping to upgrade from a Whoop 4.0 to 5.0 will have to pay up.

Whoop is a bit different from other fitness trackers in that it runs entirely on a subscription membership model. Most wearable makers that have subscriptions will charge you for the hardware, and then customers have the option of subscribing to get extra data or features. A good example is the Oura Ring, where you buy the ring and then have the option of paying a monthly $6 subscription. Whoop, however, has until now said that you get the hardware for "free" while paying a heftier annual subscription. Previously, Whoop promised users that whenever new hardware was released, existing members would be able to upgrade free of charge so long as they'd been a member for at least six months.

Uh oh

[RitchCraft]

Whoops.

Re:

[sdinfoserv]

In this case it means, "Whoops, that was a company"...

Re:

[mrbester]

Whoomp, there it was.

I'm shocked, shocked...well not that shocked...

[sconeu]

I am altering the deal... pray I do not alter it any further.

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[newcastlejon]

What do you expect when you buy something you see advertised on YouTube?

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[rsilvergun]

You know that's actually a good point. One of the absolute best ways to know if something is a scam is to go on youtube, browse around for a little bit and see if you get an ad for it. If you do then you know you've got to scam on your hands.

Hell is a small cottage industry of YouTube channels that exist solely to buy those scams and go over all the ways they are scams in detail and videos.

Honestly at this point if you're buying a wearable

[rsilvergun]

You kind of have to expect to get screwed over and to have the things stop working in a year or two. I mean I read one of these stories here at least once sometimes two or three times a month.

That's the definition

[Shakes Fist]

There's an expectation of "enshittification" amongst consumers but this? This is plain "lying".

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[HiThere]

Actually, I think the legal term might be "latches", but I haven't seen the original promise.

Still, if anyone feels like suing Whoop, they've probably got a good case.