August halts sales of View doorbell over WiFi problems
It's offering refunds to buyers willing to troubleshoot their devices.
August's View doorbell hasn't had a stellar launch. The smart home company is "pausing" shipments of the View after reports of "performance challenges" in certain households. While it didn't say what those issues were, The Ambient noted that the View frequently disconnected from WiFi, rendering its camera less than useful for keeping watch over your front door. August vowed to use the shipping freeze to gauge feedback and make "critical improvements" to the smart doorbell.
In exchange for the trouble, August is offering refunds to those customers who are willing to keep their Views and provide feedback. Those who aren't happy, meanwhile, have been asked to return their doorbells to stores.
The company is adamant that it will resume sales of the View "in the near future" and will let people know when there's a specific date. It's an important gesture and shows that the company is determined to do right by its customers. At the same time, there's no doubt that this is a blow to August's expanding smart home ambitions -- it's going to have that much tougher a time competing against heavyweights like Amazon's Ring.
