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12th February 2024
11:51am GMT
Martin Lewis has issued advice to customers over the recent price rises for Ring doorbell users.
In recent years, Ring doorbells have become absolutely everywhere. It seems like nearly every other home has the gadgets, but customers are furious after recent price hikes.
For those who don't know, the doorbells allow homeowners to see exactly who is at their door even if they aren't home.
The gadgets connect to WiFi and communicate with an app to allow people to see what's going on, and even lets users go so far as to talk through their doorbell.
However, the extra security does come with a catch.
Unlike regular old doorbells, Ring charges users a subscription fee in order to access the benefits of being able to see the footage.
In the UK, their Protect Basic Plan charges users £34.99 per year, working out as £3.49 a month.
However, new price hikes mean that the company is upping the cost to £49.99 per year, and even more if users pay monthly.
For those who are on the yearly plan, they will pay £15 more over the course of a year, and monthly subscribers will pay £18 more.
Sky News reports that this means the price has gone up by a whopping 100 percent since March 2022.
Even if you cancel your subscription, all of the footage the device gathered will be permanently deleted.
Rather unsurprisingly, the announcement of the price hikes hasn't gone down too well with customers.
"@Ring just had an email to say that the annual subscription is going up from £34.99 to £49.99 in March. That is a 43% increase. How on earth can you justify that when the service won’t change? #notrenewing #RingDoorbell," one person wrote online.
A second wrote: "@Ring your price increase is unjustifiable during a cost of living crisis!!! Thing is you know people will pay it! What will it be next year? £10 a month - was only £2 when I joined 3 or 4 years ago!!!! #ripoffbritain #RingDoorbell."
However, the UK's money saving guru Martin Lewis has issued some pretty ingenious advice to customers on how they can beat the price rises.
"Beat the Ring doorbell 43% March price hike. I know many are annoyed, so there's a possible work around (still double-checking but thought I'd get it out)," he wrote on Twitter, now X.
"Cancel now get a pro-rata refund (you may lose saved files tho)," he said, and then added: "Sign up again at the current price which then locks it in for the next year."
Thank you to Martin Lewis for once again saving the day!
