The G-Story

The German big G.

Internet of Things (IoT) systems are crucial in multiple applications, e.g. for safety of patients in elderly homes and hospitals. They are also broadly used for property monitoring, access control and much more. There are many companies in Germany and all over the world which produce or invest in such solutions. One of them become an example how deeply things can go wrong in this field. 

For legal reasons we can't name publicly now which one of those firms decided to treat safety and rights of many thousands of its European clients and coworkers as garbage and grime. But we hope that harmed people and media will name it fast. Even if the company can try to change names, evade by phoenixing or hide behind new investors. The stigma of deliberate wrongdoing will go with the culprit. This is the way.

Some of the info given below was earlier not known to many. Among clients of the company some of it can build more anger. But it can also offer the prospect of getting back lost money, finding justice, and gaining a sense of internal peace. Please read on, share and support.

Germany - sunset of the cheap money

Part 1: The promise

The promise

The offer of the company was clear: very pricy but reliable and universal solution for elderly homes and private households. Providing constant monitoring of wellbeing of their residents. Guarding them from wandering off, neglect and bad environment conditions like improper temperature or air quality. Automatic alarming in case of abnormal lack of movement or not eating for prolonged time.

Additionally, 24/7 remote monitoring of the household to protect it from burglary, flooding of the bathroom and extensive energy losses. Remote control of the lighting, power sockets and cameras. Advanced heating control and even automatic opening curtains synchronized with the sunrise at the given location. And the possibility to arm the house when empty and call for help with special emergency buttons.

Safety of your beloved ones and of the house in caring hands of the company. Peace of mind and confidence of entrusting yourself to a responsible, professional partner.

Beliefs and cheap money

Many believed in the promise. Much more than forty thousands clients around the Europe equipped their houses in various elements of the system. Some spent thousands of Euro on hardware and additional services. Life of their relatives were observed and monitored by the company. Responsibility seemed to be granted. Many relied on it.

But what was not known to the clients - the company was not as caring and responsible as it would like to be seen. And its business model  for many years was based mostly on careless burning money of investors (more than a quarter of billion of USD lost in total). Finally, when the inflow of cheap money stopped, the balloon bursted. And the hard time showed the true values and nature of the company leaders.


Germany balloon deflating during the crisis

Part 2: Abandoned customers

Abandoned customers

At a time of their choosing, almost without warning, the company ruthlessly abandoned tens of thousands of its clients. Within a few  tens of hours of a brief email notification, functioning of hundreds of thousands of devices across many European countries was terminated. Without confirmation of receipt of the message and seeing that the devices were still actively used by elderly, solitary individuals, the systems used for emergency assistance and home security were disconnected. Customers on related online forums described the event as follows:
"It’s not bad behaviour, it’s criminal."

Piles of trash

The system was shut down and the solution offered to clients was that the equipment should be sent to electronic waste. Just a few months earlier, the company was promoting the same devices in a pre-holiday sale! This is a completely perverse understanding of the social and environmental responsibility of Internet of Things systems.

However, what is particularly important: anticipating what the company intended, its Polish employees (us) prepared alternative software on their own initiative over the five months preceding the service shutdown, allowing almost all the equipment in users' hands to continue functioning without needing access to the Internet and the company's servers. However, the company was not interested in providing the software to users in any form.

Without warning

Did the company have the chance to warn its customers with adequate advance notice to ensure the safety of their loved ones? Of course! For services related to certain cameras, the company dedicated over six months of work to add small warnings for their owners that the cameras would soon stop working. However, this honor was not extended to other users. Is this how corporate social responsibility should look for companies that promise to care for their customers' loved ones?

Many customers are still unsuccessfully trying to recover significant lost money by attempting to revive the devices that the company shut down. What they are left with are almost entirely useless scraps. Is this the intended outcome for a company that claims to adhere to principles of ecology and sustainable development?

Part 3: "Invaluable colleagues"

Ruthless advertising

The previously mentioned antisocial and anti-ecological behavior of the company was neither the only nor the first blemish illustrating the management's lack of respect for both customers and employees. For years, the company suggested that its products were manufactured exclusively in Germany. It failed to inform customers that many of its wireless devices were entirely produced in China, with the software being developed in neighboring Poland. For nearly twenty years, specialists there have been supplementing the German factory, providing their 'colleagues' with software. Also the IoT system that was recently shut down by the company was almost entirely developed in Poland. Unfortunately, this was not the only indication of what was to come. But we will not delve into those other issues at this moment.


Collaboration

In a show of gratitude for their cooperation, the German "colleagues" betrayed their long-time partners in Poland during the crisis. They abandoned them without providing the due wages and severance payments for employees. Instead, they left behind multi-million debts. Interestingly, these significant debts also include unpaid taxes and mandatory social insurance contributions. The "colleagues" left the Polish subsidiary in disarray, during which they bypassed many legal regulations and nearly without charge transferred most of the source code and equipment to a new investor.

As the saying goes: The true value of a relationship can be judged by its end.

Values

The company claims that thanks to the above, its most important assets are intact. But what about values?

What can one expect from working with companies that practice such solutions and accept such values and partners?

A stock value close to zero? You guessed it!
Lawsuits for fraud that are already looming? True!
More tens of thousands of abandoned customers and suddenly non-functioning devices? Why not?

If the electronic nanny for your child had anything to do with these business values, would you risk not hearing your child’s cries wherever you go?

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All the graphics on this page were generated with prom.ai and Photofiltre. The help of Mobirise was invaluable.
Any resemblance to persons, devices, symbols or events is unintentional and purely coincidental.
The G-Story, 2024

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