Whoop Faces Criticism over Upgrade Policy

Whoop has partially retreated from its contentious upgrade policy for the Whoop 5.0 fitness tracker. Initially, when the company unveiled the Whoop 5.0 this week, it told members they could receive the new device by either extending their subscriptions by 12 months or paying a one-time upgrade fee of $49—or $79 for the version with EKG sensors

Conflict with Whoop’s Core Value Proposition and Upgrade Promise

This appeared to conflict with Whoop’s core value proposition, which justifies its higher subscription fees ($199 to $359 annually) by offering free hardware upgrades. More notably, it seemed to contradict a statement on the company’s website that promised free device upgrades to members who’ve subscribed for at least six months.

After receiving customer complaints, the company replied with a Reddit post that announced a broader upgrade policy and aimed to explain its overall strategy more clearly.

Eligibility for Free Whoop 5.0 Upgrade or Refund

Anyone with over 12 months left on their subscription now qualifies for a free upgrade to Whoop 5.0—or a refund if they’ve already paid. Those with less than 12 months remaining can extend their subscription to receive the upgrade at no extra charge.

Although the company claimed it was implementing these changes in response to customer feedback, it also implied that its seemingly restrictive approach was due to its shift from offering monthly or six-month plans to exclusively 12- and 24-month subscriptions.

The company stated, “We also want to address a previous blog post that mistakenly claimed anyone with just six months of membership would receive a free upgrade. This was never our policy and should not have been published.”

“The reaction on the Whoop subreddit has been mixed. One moderator calls it a ‘win for the community,’ while others criticize it. One commenter points out, ‘You don’t accidentally publish a policy and leave it up for years. Removing it after backlash doesn’t change the fact that it was real.'”

Many users also voiced complaints, stating they had 11 months remaining on their subscriptions, just missing the cutoff for the free upgrade.

Read the original article on: Techcrunch

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