MARTIN Lewis has shared a way to avoid Ring doorbell’s upcoming subscription price hikes.
The Amazon-owned firm has faced fury from customers after it announced that the cost of the Protect Basic plan will jump by 43 per cent next month.
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From March 11, subscribers paying monthly will now have to pay £4.99 instead of £3.49 – up by £1.50.
And those who opt to pay for a year upfront face a £15 rise, from £34.99 to £49.99 for the 12 months.
The charge is per device so if you have more than one Ring product your bill
Protect Basic backs up video recordings from your doorbell stored in the cloud, as well as unlocking several bonus features such as rich notifications and smart alerts.
Read more about Ring doorbell
Customers didn’t take the announcement well last week, calling it “utterly scandalous” and “insane”.
“Well done in destroying your subscriber base! #ring #PriceHikeDisaster,” one user wrote.
“There cannot be any acceptable justification for this rip off other than greed & contempt of your customers,” another said.
“That’ll be a goodbye from me then. Totally disgusting.”
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Beat the price hike
But the Money Saving Expert, 51, has revealed a trick to avoid the price jump for a year.
Martin Lewis says EVERYONE with phone contract ‘is being ripped off’- cut costs now
“I know many are annoyed, so there’s a possible work around,” he tweeted.
Martin Lewis says users can cancel today and they’ll receive a pro-rata refund for the rest of their subscription – it’s penalty free too.
You can then take out an annual subscription for the current price of £34.99 before March 11 when it’ll go up to £49.99.
However, he does warn that this move could result in saved videos being lost, so be sure to check first and consider your options.
Another more obvious solution that could save you even more money is doing away with the subscription altogether.
You will still be able to answer the Ring doorbell in real-time to whoever’s at the front door but you won’t be able to save videos.
How to cancel my Ring subscription
To cancel your Ring subscription, follow these instructions:
- Go to Ring.com and log into your account
- Along the top look for Protect Plan and click it
- Look for your subscription plan and click Cancel Plan
- Click Continue
- Choose between cancelling immediately or at the end of the billing cycle – you’ll need to click the first one to benefit from the trick above
- Click Cancel Ring Protect to confirm
Home Security Alternatives to Ring
There are a handful of good alternatives to Ring that share similar features – but they’re not always cheaper.
Arlo Secure
- Basic Plan costs £2.79 a month for a single camera or £8.99 for unlimited cameras for 30-days video storage, enhanced motion detection and a pledge to replace your camera if it’s stolen.
- The Secure Plus plan costs £12.99 a month for unlimited cameras and increases storage to 60 days.
Eufy Cloud Storage
- Eufy’s Basic Plan gives 30 days of storage for £2.46 a month for a single device.
- The Premier Plan covers up to 10 devices for £7.49 a month.
Google Nest Aware
- The basic Nest Aware tier gives you 30 days of video storage for £6 a month or £60 a year following last month’s price hike.
- Nest Aware Plus increase that to 60 days of event video storage and also gives you 10 days of constant 24/7 video recording for £12 a month or £120 a year.
Ezviz Cloudplay
- You only get seven days of video history with the Standard Plan covering a single camera/doorbell for £2.49 a month, or four devices for £7.49 a month.
- The Elite plan gives 30-day video history for a single camera at £9.99 a month or £14.99 a month for four cameras.
