SmartConnect paid subscription required?

[Occamsrazor]

Hi,

I purchased an SMT750IC last year and use it with SmartConnect. I see that recently APC has announced that the advertised functionality will be degraded after the warranty ends, and that to obtain even core functionality like email notifications, self-test, and even remote firmware upgrades after that will require a paid annual subscription.

If this is actually true I think it is extremely poor business practice. When I purchased the unit there was no indication that a paid subscription would ever be required to continue to use the advertised functionality. Any reasonable purchaser would think the advertised functionality was a feature/capability of the unit... and so to deliberately remove it after purchase is pretty dubious and not something I expected of APC.

I sincerely hope that I am somehow wrong on this and will be happy to be corrected, as this functionality was precisely why I purchased this more expensive unit and not a different model.

Why Buy Remote UPS Monitoring?

EcoStruxure™ Ready Smart-UPS™ provides free remote UPS monitoring for all new devices. Devices with lead-acid batteries have 3 years free monitoring (SMT/SMC/SMX). Devices with lithium-ion batteries have 5 years free monitoring (SMTL/SCL/SRTL).

When your UPS Warranty expires, your device will have Basic Monitoring and limited access to the web portal. This means you will no longer receive email notifications for this device, and you can no longer perform UPS diagnostic tests or remotely upgrade your UPS firmware. To reactivate full access to the web portal, you can purchase a Standard subscription or an extended warranty. For additional web portal features, you can purchase an Advanced subscription.

NOTE: If you purchase an extended warranty or an Advanced subscription for your device, UPS monitoring is also included.

My SmartConnect dashboard tells me that an "advanced" plan (which I don't need) will cost me $55/year, but will not tell me how much a renewed "Standard" plan will cost after my current one expires, or even if that will be possible, and I don't see anywhere on the SE or APC website that even lists subscription costs.

[BillP]

@Occamsrazor 

You will be notified two to three months before the UPS warranty expires. At that time, you will be presented with the option of purchasing an advanced or standard SmartConnect plan or an extended warranty.

An extended warranty covers the standard SmartConnect plan and hardware.

The standard SmartConnect plan is priced at $20.00 per year.

[Occamsrazor]

@BillPThank you for your reply and apologies for my delayed response. I appreciate the information regarding Standard Plan pricing.

However I still feel it is very bad practice to deliberately remove stated functionality from a product when there was no indication that this would happen, and no mention at all that future paid subscriptions would be required to maintain functionality that was advertised at the time of purchase. Even today there is still no mention whatsoever of this fact on the product webpages or SmartConnect documents, and no indication of pricing anywhere on the website.

Such as....

https://www.se.com/ww/en/product/SMT750IC/apc-smartups-line-interactive-750va-tower-230v-6x-iec-c13-...
https://www.apc.com/shop/no/en/products/APC-Smart-UPS-Line-Interactive-750VA-Tower-230V-6x-IEC-C13-o...
or any of the documents such as this:
https://download.schneider-electric.com/files?p_File_Name=EcoStruxure+Ready+Smart-UPS+with+APC+Smart...

[DaveR_IT]

I agree with you here, this is clearly a bait and switch scenario.  We had planned to replace all our branch office UPS's with APC SmartConnects, we are about halfway through.    I don't want to deal with managing subscriptions for this and I am upset with APC over this change.    If they are making a change like this they should at least enable local SMTP emailing and SNMP monitoring.   We will be looking for another vendor.

[joroenevinen]

We're also in the middle of transitioning to APC, but this stopped us at our feet. Our attorney advised us to start a lawsuit for misleading advertising on the product, but I think we'll just move to competitors. 

This petty trick to get $20 is offensive. Heck, it's not about the money, it's about the attitude. No custom SMTP, no other options, you paid $1000 for a UPS, and in the end, you have one simple unit, that could realistically cost just $100-200.

Our company is deeply disappointed with APC and we're already in the process of moving to a competitor. A lot of other businesses in our area are doing the same, but nobody cares to join here and say what they think about it.

I think sooner or later, APC will feel it in the revenue, but they will already lose a lot of customers, that are potentially lifetime users.

[Mdanemann]

Just found out all of the above myself.  What I love is that you don't find this out until you have unpacked and installed the unit, then registered it and gone to the portal.  To add insult to injury, they don't answer their phone or call you back -- and -- the link to the page where you can buy a subscription is broken.  I reached out to Amazon, where I purchased the device, and they are going to try to resolve the issue.  The rep there (at Amazon) agrees this is false advertising.  Maybe they have some leverage . . .