In response to Lowe’s announcement to sell Iris

[IrisUsers]

I know it's a pain in the **edited** to have to now start thinking of what system to switch to, but it is not the end of the world at all.

When I left Iris in 2016, I made the switch of nearly 180 devices to SmartThings over the course of a weekend and within a week had recreated all of my rules.  In December I moved nearly 400 devices from SmartThings to Hubitat over a 2 week period.  

You can make the transition in the 60 days that Lowe's has given everyone, it's far from impossible.

[awraynor]

---

When I clicked the link I had about 5 to 6 items, 3 being cameras. 

I spent about 35 minutes on hold and with support. She was able to get me a custom

refund for the additional items. She was very nice and I asked, and no she won't have

a support job after the closure. Things could be worse than they've turned out for us. 

---

[Dan87]

Yes, but you had already done your research and decided what system you were going to go with.  That research phase takes longer than the actual migration by far.  You had plenty of time to make decisions.   We've not been given that luxury.  We have to migrate AND find a new system in time.   It's not that simple.  Especially since no one system is compatible with all of the various Iris devices.  

[npentell]

So, I rounded up a couple of investors and got them interested, contacted one of the head hanchos at Iris, and here is our conversation.  I omitted the names because he's probably just as unhappy about it shutting down as the rest of us and it's out of his hands.

Message 1:

Good afternoon ****, I was told you were the person to get in contact with concerning the Iris sale.  I was contacted a couple of days ago by one of my big investor friends and he asked me to dig in to more details on what the asking price is and, if within his price range, what we need to do to get the books and talk about moving forward.  Any information would be appreciated.

Message 2:

Hi Nick - Lowes is shutting down the business. There is nothing available for sale any longer.  What is your investor looking to accomplish in the smart home space?

All the best.

Message 3:

***,  I was under the impression that Lowe's was only shutting down the company because they couldn't find a buyer. I was just assuming that of they could find one then they would rather get some money from it and be able to provide their customers with continued service instead of just shutting it down and open sourcing it.  Is the option to sell it completely off the table now?  Thanks a lot.

Message 4:

Hi Nick – yes Lowe’s is shutting down the platform and open sourcing per the announcements that were made yesterday.

All the best.

Message 5:

Thanks for the info ***.  I just want to ask this one more way so that I may be sure I am telling my investor the right info.  From what I gather, Lowes announced in November that it would be seeking a buyer for the company and continue supporting the clients until it found a buyer.  Yesterday, in a surprise announcement, the clients were told that support would be ending in just a short two months.  From the research that we have been able to do so far, there is very negative response from the current client base about both the shutdown and about the time given to switch over their systems.   

My question is; at this point, even if Lowes had to give the company away in order to keep providing their clients the support they rely on, they would probably be out less money then simply closing the doors and reimbursing all those customers for their, now useless, hardware that they so heavily invested in, not to mention how pulling the plug on a much smaller company will affect the sales at Lowes Home Improvement.  

The other option is to sell Iris, just as lowes had hoped to do, recoup some of the money, and make so many Iris customers happy so they will continue being Lowes customers.  

I would think it would be a great thing for Lowes to be able to make an announcement in the near future saying "Hold the Phone! We have a buyer for Iris.  The new company is on board for keeping the support going during the transition as well as continuing support for all the Iris-only products.  For this reason you will no longer need to fill out a redemption form.", saving you lots of money and letting Lowes look like the hero that, even though they decided not to keep the company, they made sure their customers were well-taken care of.  

Is there a board to talk to or a message I could send to anyone that would make them aware that their is a potential buyer out there that is requesting some more info?  I would really appreciate anything you can do.  Thanks a lot.

Message 6:

Hi Nick – you are not the only company or individual to reach out with a similar offer. 

I can’t comment on whether I agree or disagree with your logic, but there were not a shortage of buyers for Iris.  The decision was made to shut it down.  That decision was final.

Thanks for your consideration. 

.....soooo?

[DogDaze]

This news is ultimately not so exciting

[DogDaze]

WOW!!!
This news really hurts...
I cannot imagine why they won't talk to potential buyers.. something is very odd about that!!

[Dan87]

Sounds like a decision by an executive team at Lowes that only cares about the bottom line and nothing else.    This decision and the way Lowes has handled Iris over the years reeks of it.  With that said, I'd love to know who actually was behind the major system decisions with the Iris brand and its direction.   An enthusiast or someone connected to the community would have gotten us parity with at LEAST V1 of Iris.  We went years with very little actual progress.  Instead they kept adding "features" they thought people would want, instead of actually listening to their user base and what they wanted.  

[virtu789]

---

@virtu789 wrote:

Very disappointing.  A major reason I bought into IRIS was to have Lowes as a big reputable company behind it, with better prospects of maintaining a stable system and low pricing in the long run (plus an extra bonus of being able to walk into my local Lowes store to actually touch, buy, and return things).  Now it’s all up in the air.  We all know how these acquisitions go in reality.  Sadly, either way IRIS as we know it has a bleak future.  If it’s acquired by a major competitor, it will phase it out in favor of its own offering.  If it’s acquired by a minor player in the field, they will not have enough resources to continue new product development or maintain low prices.  Very sad, as it is indeed the top offering in terms of features, pricing, and overall appeal in the current market, and Lowes is basically throwing it all away.  After investing my time to install all the sensors and create a stable and working IRIS setup, the real cost for consumers like me is beyond the actual money spent.  It’s the DIY time I have to spend again down the road to adjust to whatever major changes the new owner will throw at us, or convert to another system altogether.  You are really letting us down, Lowes!

---

well guess what, I was so wrong.  I thought IRIS future options were bleak.  Turns out it's not bleak.  It's a downright fiasco.  Never expected such a crashing swift termination and being left hanging out there with no time to adjust.  Kudos Lowe's - proved me wrong again

[DogDaze]

They called me back on my open ticket for the additional items that were not paired on 1/31..
I had 12 items, +$600 if I go by the numbers for the initial redemption..
But he could only offer me $300 MAX.
I had the option to take the $300 or escalate to a higher team.. but there was no guarantee that I'd get anything for these items.. I was reluctant, but opted to take the bird in hand and accept it for what it is.

[jrgallagher]

Who is this being sold to?