Important Service Update for Ooma Hub Owners

[iamhives]

I have the same question. I asked about this earlier in the thread but the question seemed to be ignored.

[caseybea]

Many of my queries have been ignored too. I am not thrilled about that, at all. OOMA used to be much better at that.

Well, despite my unhappiness about the above, I'm probably going to bite the bullet and order the update offer. I am nervous; my HUB has been rock solid since day one, while at the same time I continue to see tons and tons of issues and problems with TELO units posted in the forums.

Making this more complicated is that my home setup includes the HUB in my basement- feeding the house phones from my wiring demarc point and I use a SCOUT in the kitchen to listen to voicemails. I have no interest in OOMA's handsets, my home phones work great. So, I am going to have to use two network connections now: one from my kitychen to the network demarc (telo network interface), and the other from my kitchen to the phone distribution in the basement (telo "wall" interface). This uses what was up to now a free network jack in the kitchen. I used to only need one connection, now I need both.

The only reasons I'm upgrading are because (a) I don't see ooma offering this again any time soon, and I also see them someday accidentally disabling the old hubs with some future upgrade ("oops! well, we did warn you service might be impacted.."), and (b) a long time ago I had a very unfortunate water leak in the basement and my HUB got wet. While it's fine now, I know that its lifetime will eventually be shortened some day by that sad historical event...

I will let everyone know how the wiring work goes and provide info and maybe a diagram here to help benefit other SCOUT users.

[Tom]

I have a first version Telo (Telo1) that I purchased a couple of years ago to have as a backup in case my Hub ever died. It is still sitting, in its unopened box, in my basement. Could I use that Telo1 in this offer rather than purchasing a new one? If so, how would I go about making the Hub-to-Telo1 swap? Thanks.

to do the swap call support

update: Dir. of Support tells me this is not the case. You need to purchase the telo2 through the upgrade program.

[Tom]

Question for Tom, what happens to those who don't take the offer available at this time? I have the Hub with lifetime premier. Would I be correct that my premier transfers over as it is attached to the account but a new Telo purchased afterwards would be subject to fees and taxes?

The offer runs for a limited time, so yes if you buy the telo after the offer expires then support would create a new account for you (that includes taxes/fees) and transfer your number over.

gtdurham, iamhives: your question is answered above, also added a bullet to the first post on p1

[Tom]

Caseybea, the answers regards this offer come straight from the Director of Customer Support. When you say telo's "wall" interface I assume you mean its phone port. If you purchase a Linx you can put the telo in the basement. There may be a promotion running.

[tao]

In the 2nd email received today (9-26-16), there is something which leads to more confusion regarding the Telo they want us to buy:
It says to use for offer Code: TELO-1 Upgrade

Is it the Telo-2 or Telo-1 ?

[gtdurham]

So, if I buy the upgrade, I can't continue to use my hub until it dies and then switch over to the telo that I just bought as part of the upgrade. I understand that if I wait to buy the telo after my hub dies that I'll be subject to taxes and fees, but it doesn't seem reasonable to assume that if I have the upgrade that I've paid for, that I should be able to plug it after my hub dies. If this is the case, then after the upgrade offer is over and my hub dies, then my telo is no longer a part of this upgrade offer. Please clarify.

[svgeek78]

In the 2nd email received today

That same email says it is a "special opportunity to upgrade to our latest Ooma Telo device", and Tom B said Telo2 is being provided at the beginning of this thread.

[iamhives]

Tao - its the same offer code as previously offered. I don't think we should confuse the offer code with the model of Telo we would get.

However, I do have a question regarding the 2nd email that I suspect we all just received today (or will). Since Ooma bothered to send out another email why weren't some of the basic questions asked repeatedly in this thread clarified? While I suspect that those of us in this thread are doing more analysis of this offer than the average consumer and perhaps all of the nuances mentioned it this thread would be overkill in a broad marketing email it seems that Ooma missed an opportunity to clarify some things that likely would make people think twice before upgrading. Perhaps the marketing team were on auto-pilot and couldn't be swayed by anything like input from consumers questioning the offer..

By the way, my perspective is that the offer will continue to get better (or at least come around again) as Ooma gets closer to having retired all of the Hubs. So the feeling of the need to take the offer or miss it is in my opinion misplaced. It'll cost them less to retire the holdouts (because there will be less of them after this and previous offers) so I intend to hold out longer until Ooma is really motivated to make me upgrade(by offering a meaningful discount on hardware vs the market price) . If necessary I'll repair my hub (assuming its just power supply or capacitors that are the problem). If my hub becomes 'less reliable' (as Ooma mentioned IMO to spread FUD) then I'll be the first the hold Ooma to their 'lifetime' contract with me.

[alternety]

I just got a new offer for ditching my Hub. It is really quite offensive to even a marginally intelligent person who is able to read and comprehend sentences of more than 5 words.

One piece says I will retain "no fees" for life. The other piece goes on to designate the "life" as the new Telo "lifetime" for the original contractual agreement. Apparently they either expect me to die or will send a hit man to fix the contractual problem. Helpfully , with no definition of the life of a Telo. Defined apparently as 1 year from previous postings.

I am getting seriously tired of this continuing attempt at misdirection and screwing the original customers. I am thinking there is someone charge of marketing that needs to be relieved. I am selecting that management level out of possible respect for higher management levels.

Ooma made a firm contract with the purchasers of Hubs before they changed the conditions of the offer. After the change in contract terms; not our problem. The key here is THERE IS A CONTRACT with purchasers before the change in terms. No matter what they say now, they can not simply unilaterally dismiss that contract. I do not believe any reasonable court or arbitrator would agree with what is being attempted. And that is effectively what Ooma is trying to do by offering an update to the "limited" functionality of what we bought.

Should they do something to make the Hub incompatible with the existing or future infrastructure without providing a free hardware update and continuing the original contract terms, they are also in default of the original contract.

The original contract does not stipulate the original Hub is required for the lifetime benefits. It stipulates a service agreement. By reasonable inferrence, a replacement for a failed Hub would simply be a hardware change with no impact on the contract. There is nothing to stipulate that any replacement device I need to purchase due to Hub failure, may not be a newer device if Ooma has discontinued (or promoted/offered) a particular version. Likewise, the contract does not eliminate the possibility of Ooma being responsible for replacement hardware if the Hub can no longer provide the specified services (hardware failure or obsolescence). However, if a replacement is provided (or purchased), it must also provide every component of the contractual service obligation. Should Ooma decide to eliminate infrastructure support for the Hub (or any other replacement device), a suitable no cost replacement device would need to be provided to the original purchaser of the contract. The original contract is essentially a guarantee of lifetime service to the original purchaser. Period.

It is not the consumers fault that Ooma eventually figured out their original business model was faulty. Nor is it our problem that the people in charge really had no idea how to write a contract. Or seemed to understand the ramifications of having done business under those contract terms.

I do not believe at this point that Ooma is in such a financial position that it needs to default on the original contracts. Why they are doing this, I do not understand. It is an incredibly transparent and offensive approach. We made the business possible as a startup. Ooma owes us a good deal more than trying to abrogate their obligation.

Since this seems to be getting nowhere, I see a couple of alternatives. A class action legal approach; but it may not be big enough attract a lawyer even though the facts are quite clear. And we may or may not get a significant return after lawyer fees. And there would be a lot of individual time to get it going.

Individually file with local government courts for breach of contract. Ooma would be required to appear in the local court and/or receive a default judgment. Possibly cheaper to deal with than a class action; but who knows. State Attorney Generals could also be involved for the issue of fraud and breach of contract. And perhaps interstate commerce fraud and issues with the Federal Government regarding consumer protection. The original purchasers could become a serious annoyance to Ooma. As far as I can see after reviewing contract terms, recent behavior of Ooma, and other documentation, I really think there is a serious legal exposure here.

It would be real interesting to know how many users were covered in the original obligation.

I just want what they said I bought. I am pi***ed.