In what appears to be a first for a sports tech visitor in recent months, Whoop has lowered their subscription price for their fitness-focused wearable service. Unlike most companies, Whoop doesn’t unquestionably forfeit money to buy the device itself, but rather, the device is included in the subscription fee. And going forward, for 12-month and 24-month renewals, that price has been lowered by ~20% and 17% respectively. The existing monthly rate remains the same however at $30/month. These price drops siphon over into other markets including GBP and EUR pricing.
Concurrently, the visitor moreover spoken a new “lifetime warranty policy”, which aims to imbricate replacement of devices “no matter what happens”. But, as I dig into later in this post – it seems like their very written legal policy is scrutinizingly the inverse of that – you’re on the vaccinate for everything that happens.
Finally, the visitor has lowered the price for a ‘lost device’ to just $50, which is incredibly reasonable (it was over $100 previously). While I’ve yet to lose my Whoop permanently, I’ve had a number of tropical calls (mainly when I transiently took it off for whatever reasons and then unwittingly left it behind).
From a pricing standpoint, here’s the new USD pricing:
Further, here’s the GBP pricing:
– Monthly Membership (12-month commitment): £27, VAT included
– 12-Month Membership: £229 upfront, VAT included
– 24-Month Membership: £384 upfront, VAT included
And here’s the EUR pricing:
– Monthly Membership (12-month commitment): 30, VAT included
– 12-Month Membership: 264 upfront, VAT included
– 24-Month Membership: 444 upfront, VAT included
Notably however, for all of these monthly subscriptions, Whoop has gotten rid of the 6-month transferral option. Previously, the device powerfully required a 6-month membership; now it requires a 12-month commitment. I can’t icon out exactly when that transpiration occurred though. They still offer a 30-day return policy though.
The visitor noted in the video if you recently bought a Whoop, remember, they’ll be extending your membership “1 to 3 months”, and that you’ll see that in your app shortly.
Of course, the likely real reason we’re seeing price decreases isn’t out of the goodness of Whoop’s heart to help ya out. Instead, it’s likely that renewal rates have begun to decrease. Given the upper subscription forfeit of Whoop (far vastitude any other wearable subscription cost), it’s an easy line item target for most home budgets, expressly given the device requires constantly checking the phone app – as the device itself has no very screen/display. It’s just a wreath with a slate of sensors inside. Nothing wrong with that, Whoop has washed-up a lot with those sensors, but due to that lack of screen (which many people like), it’s easier for a consumer to ‘forget’ well-nigh the benefits of the device.
Nonetheless, no matter the reason – I think all of us stipulate that a price subtract instead of a price increase is often a good thing!
Upcoming New Features:
Only transiently hinted at in the video posted on their social media feeds, the visitor says they’re adding:
1) A stress monitor “with Dr. Andrew Huberman”
2) A weightlifting full-length to track reps and “a tuft of stuff related to your workout”
3) The weightlifting full-length will moreover show muscular strain
4) New Recovery details
5) New home screen redesign
Literally what I listed here is scrutinizingly word for word all they spoken in terms of details. So there aren’t any remoter details vastitude that. The recovery bit though is probably one of the most interesting components. Many technically wise reviewers have noted the many flaws with Whoop’s recovery algorithms (both their previous ones, as well as the most recent/current) – primarily virtually just how heavily uninfluenced it is from reality, focusing scrutinizingly entirely on sleep HRV, rather than having a increasingly heavily weighted component stuff tied to your recent strain (training load).
As other companies have come onto the scene in this arena, they’ve often washed-up a largest job of managing the wastefulness between training load and training recovery. So it’s no surprise Whoop is probably trying to write their shortcomings.
The Lifetime Warranty:
Now ironically, it was unquestionably the new warranty policy that unprotected my eye first. Mainly considering Whoop e-mailed that out, versus deciding to go with a social media-only tideway for their price-lowering policy. Frankly, I don’t entirely understand that logic – I mean, wouldn’t you want to sing from the ceilings a new lower price? Perhaps though, they didn’t want to deal with the floodgates of people asking for refunds/etc on recently renewed 12/24-month subscriptions. Either way, that aside, they did send out a short and sweet e-mail well-nigh the warranty policy, shown in full below:
And here’s the written text:
I’m excited to share some good news with the WHOOP polity today.
We’re announcing a new lifetime warranty policy that will help you prioritize your health, no matter what happens. As long as you’re a WHOOP member, you’ll get self-ruling replacements on needing devices or batteries — whether that’s tomorrow or 10 years from now. Lost your WHOOP? Great news. Replacing your lost WHOOP device will now forfeit 54 – nearly 50% less than before.
Thanks for stuff a member of the WHOOP community. Here’s to many increasingly days in the green.
Best, Will
Will Ahmed
Founder & CEO, WHOOP
Now, on the surface, this is a pretty solid deal – expressly including the line items “no matter what happens” followed by “whether that’s tomorrow or 10 years from now”. There’s no caveats or remoter text on the e-mail (except for the Unsubscribe sawed-off and social media icons). How on earth they managed to get this e-mail past their lawyers is vastitude me (in a good way). But hey, I’m here for it!
It does of undertow link to their lifetime warranty policy. Actually, it links to an in-between page first, which in turn has the full warranty policy linked further. This in-between page though doubles lanugo then on the ‘no worries’ aspect, saying:
“WHOOP is designed to be worn 24/7 — and designed to last. We when our WHOOP devices with a lifetime warranty — meaning any issues or problems, and our team will replace your WHOOP device as long as you purchased directly through WHOOP and have an zippy membership. Terms and conditions apply. For our full warranty policy, see our Terms of Use.”
Cool, still on team ‘this sounds interesting’. Except, then you click onto the Terms of Use, scroll past a million shit of lawyer dribble, and finally victorious at the very warranty exemptions section:
Ahh yes, and we find the real caveats. As you can see, it doesn’t imbricate a tuft of things. Some of those things make sense (like trying to modify the unit). I’ve got no problem with excluding that. But it’s these two line chunks I’ve got issues with exclusions for (I’ve snipped it to the parts I’m focused on):
– Damage or failure through misuse or malfunction, normal wear and tear…
– Damage or failure due to accident, acts of God, …. unusual atmospheric conditions;
I mean, these two line items are kinda like the unshortened point of a warranty? What other possible scenarios could an item fall under besides “malfunction” or “misuse”? Seriously, every possible reason a unit could die falls under it either malfunctioning normally, or somehow stuff misused. Further, the cadre of Whoop CEO’s very short e-mail says “no matter what happens”. This doesn’t seem to be a “no matter what happens” type of thing. This is literally the word-for-word opposite of that. It’s “everything that happens isn’t covered”.
But arguably the most important: What in gopher’s name are ‘unusual atmospheric conditions’? I asked Google, and it was like ‘shrug?’. So, then I unquestionably asked ChatGPT (mainly to see if for once it could requite me a truly well-judged wordplay related to something sports tech, most of the time it just spews out really pretty bullshit that’s riddled with inaccuracies.)
So basically, ChatGPT is telling me that if I get snow or a bit of wind on my Whoop, it exempts it from the warranty policy? Obviously, it’s trying to be helpful here, and it unquestionably is mostly. I’m a bit sad neither Whoop nor ChatGPT included “balloons falling from the atmosphere” in the list of exemptions. Seems like a missed opportunity.
By the way, funny whispered while researching this – flipside wearable company, albeit for horses, called HorsePal and their horse heart rate monitor strap has a near-identical legal warranty, including the acts of atmospheric conditions. In fact, their warranty bullet points are in the word-for-word same order and wording as Whoop’s. I don’t know which legal team came first: The Horse or the Human, but I found it funny to see this plagiarism occur within the heart rate sensor industry (someone is copying someone).
In any case, virtually this time, I shot off a note to Whoop’s PR team, asking what the deal-e-o was with their warranty details. No, not asking well-nigh the horse part, nor the atmospheric conditions part, or plane the odd $50 restocking fee listed in there. But rather, just the unstipulated ‘malfunction’ aspect. As of the moment, I haven’t heard when quite yet. However, once I do, I’ll insert their response here. Update, I’ve heard back! Here’s what they had to say:
“The very terms of what pinpoint a warranted loss or failure have not changed. And we understand life happens, and as stated in our comms, we are here for our members when it does. Our Membership Services team has been trained to act thoughtfully and generously to resolve member warranty claims, working through every warranty ticket with the goody of our membership wiring in mind. Maintaining the original definition of what constitutes a loss or failure allows for discretion if needed. Support is a key goody of the WHOOP membership and quick and satisfactory resolution of warranty claims is no exception.”
Look, I intended to write a post showing how tomfool this new lifetime-forever-and-ever policy was without receiving the e-mail like any other consumer. And further, I fully understand lawyers have to get in the way to alimony companies (and individuals) unscratched from purposefully trying to unravel things or whatever. But in this case, the terms, be it horse-inspired or otherwise, simply go too far. They requite Whoop FAR too many reasons to say no, be it in their CEO’s words – “tomorrow or 10 years from now”.
With that, thanks for reading!
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