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Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

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Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#121

Post by jrsj »

jrsj wrote: post #120
monkeybutton wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit scores are already privatized so why not? Citizen and Palantir could get in on it with Equifax. They'd just need to incentivize others to do the reporting of good/bad social actions.

Plus social media & potentially even ISPs looking to sell user data, I wouldn’t be surprised if every aspect of your online life is fed into a system like this. And simply hiding your traffic won’t be good enough because not using these things would be considered abnormal — not having active (and well behaved) social media presence could be a big detriment to a score like this. Something that employers are likely to…

Somewhat related I also wouldn’t be surprised if within the next couple of decades all driving related data is being monitored and aggregated, so that could also be used to build sort of a social / behavioral profile on someone and not just feed into self driving AIs and insurance data

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#122

Post by xeromal »

pb77 wrote: post #70
mimixco wrote: post #3

Since Peloton has sold subscriptions from day 1, this probably shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The worst part of this story is that the device killed a child and they're using that as the reason to collect monthly ransom. It sounds like a Sopranos episode: Make your monthly payments or we might hurt your kid.

Am i missing something, if a treadmill has a subscription, the kid can still run on it right?, is it some kind of fingerprint or face authentication that would stop a kid from running.

The subscriptiion allows you to set a pin

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#123

Post by prepend »

jerf wrote: post #23

'The company has cited "safety and well-being" as a reason for introducing the membership fee.' I've noticed the "fake because" lately seems to be getting more and more brazen from corporations. This is about the third or fourth "for your safety and convenience we're helping ourselves to more of your money" I've seen in the last couple months, and unfortunately all the other ones I've seen are for products or service…

It’s funny how much people believe corporate BS and will defend the company citing their stated reasoning. I used to think it’s astroturf, but it’s too pervasive.

For example, LLBean and REI recently revoked their lifetime warranty referencing “customer abuse” and on web forums people defend the companies. Like somehow after many decades, customer abuse skyrocketed. And there’s no data, of course. And the change went from lifetime to 1-2 years. And it makes them tons more money.

It seems people are less skeptical of corporate blargh.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#124

Post by xeromal »

rchaud wrote: post #111
tw04 wrote: post #82

I want to clarify because a lot of people seem to be confused about what's happening here. "Just run" is tracking your metrics. You can STILL use the treadmill without it, you just won't be getting information on the run like your pace, calories burned, power output, etc. The treadmill isn't bricked, it's just not providing metrics. If you have a garmin watch or insert fitness tracker you can still get info from that…

In other words, bricked by the vendor themselves.

Bricked implies its as useful as a brick, but it still functions as a treadmill

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#125

Post by monkeybutton »

jrsj wrote: post #121
jrsj wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus social media & potentially even ISPs looking to sell user data, I wouldn’t be surprised if every aspect of your online life is fed into a system like this. And simply hiding your traffic won’t be good enough because not using these things would be considered abnormal — not having active (and well behaved) social media presence could be a big detriment to a score like this. Something that employers are likely to…

Somewhat related I also wouldn’t be surprised if within the next couple of decades all driving related data is being monitored and aggregated, so that could also be used to build sort of a social / behavioral profile on someone and not just feed into self driving AIs and insurance data

Already happening but is at least opt-in for now:

https://www.intact.ca/en/personal-insurance/home/group/mydri...

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#126

Post by alborzb »

NowhereMan wrote: post #92
bathtub365 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they charge $12.99 a month for this feature? I can’t find it

I believe by "darken" they mean the ability to turn off the screen while watching a video, or more likely, listening to music.

I'm not OP, but for me, on YouTube I literally mean 'darken'. Similar to a dark mode on desktop. Whereby the comments area and backgrounds get dark, but without the video going to fullscreen.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#127

Post by jrsj »

monkeybutton wrote: post #125
jrsj wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhat related I also wouldn’t be surprised if within the next couple of decades all driving related data is being monitored and aggregated, so that could also be used to build sort of a social / behavioral profile on someone and not just feed into self driving AIs and insurance data

Already happening but is at least opt-in for now: https://www.intact.ca/en/personal-insurance/home/group/mydri...

Well right now it’s relatively crude and opt-in via your insurance but at some point I expect much more detailed telemetry from (internet connected) vehicles by default

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#128

Post by tw04 »

Auracle wrote: post #75
tomp wrote: post #52

> As a reminder, under the terms of our voluntary recall, Tread+ owners can return their Tread+ for a full refund by contacting Member support I really don’t see the problem. You don’t have to like it, you can just return it (presumably getting the purchase money back). Vote with your wallet!

That would depend on how easy their return process is. I can’t imagine it’s easy to ship back.

Their return process is you say you want to return it, then you schedule a return date, and they send two guys out to box it up and remove it from your home.

I'm not sure it could be any easier.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#129

Post by tw04 »

pentae wrote: post #116
tw04 wrote: post #82

I want to clarify because a lot of people seem to be confused about what's happening here. "Just run" is tracking your metrics. You can STILL use the treadmill without it, you just won't be getting information on the run like your pace, calories burned, power output, etc. The treadmill isn't bricked, it's just not providing metrics. If you have a garmin watch or insert fitness tracker you can still get info from that…

Yeah, seems totally reasonable to not have metrics after spending $2k-$3k on hardware. /s

I guess it's a good thing I didn't say it was totally reasonable to remove metrics from the treadmill. Quite literally stated I understand why people are frustrated and I hope they add them back. Didn't even need a /s because I was trying to actually contribute something useful to the comments section.

Re: Peloton's $3k treadmill now comes with surprise 'subscription fee'

#130

Post by s1artibartfast »

pavon wrote: post #102
s1artibartfast wrote: post #45

Before people go on a reddit like hate trail, it should be noted is in parallel with a full recall and reimbursement of all the treadmills

Yeah, since they were pressured by the government into issuing a recall, they figured it would be a good time to shed customers that don't provide them recurring income which will offset the cost of the recall.

How does shedding non-paying customers offset any costs?

What does it mean to shed a customer that payed for a device and you have no ongoing relation with?

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