Wink Smart Home Hub Going Paid Only and Why This Decision is Anti-Consumer and Unsustainable

Linus Tech Tips, a media company that creates tech-related content on Youtube, recently brought to my attention that the device Wink. Wink is a smart home device that allows you to use all your smart home accessories from one platform, is starting to charge $5 a month to use its HARDWARE that was previously free to use once you had BOUGHT it. The video I'm talking about, linked here, highlights this outrageous decision made by Wink.

Up until now, once you purchase a wink product, you could access all of its features for free. When most consumers bought this product, they believe they were paying $120 for the full accessibility of the product and its software. They weren't aware that in the future, they would all of a sudden have to start paying $5/mo to use the product. To make matters even worse, beginning on May 13th, consumers who had not signed up for the subscription were now completely locked out of their device, rendering it useless. 

Now, if this isn't a bait and switch, I don't know what it is. How can a company charge $120 for a product with no indication that you will have to pay $5 a month to access the product down the road? If this were a free SOFTWARE that was making the switch to a subscription, then that would be okay, but I believe it would be extremely anti-consumer to do this to HARDWARE that consumers have already purchased.

This leads many Wink consumers to give up on the product and either sell it for pennies on the dollar or outright throwing it away in protest. E-waste is already a massive problem, and it doesn't help to have companies that brick their products to their consumers after purchase. If I owned one of these products, I would be livid, and I believe a class-action lawsuit should be proposed against this company because what they're doing isn't legal.