Petnet charges new $30 annual fee for a service that still doesn’t work

Enlarge / Example of how your furry friend may react to your automated pet feeder being offline. Not pictured: Insistent, deeply annoyed meowing. (credit: Catherine Falls Commercial | Getty Images)

It has not been a good year for customers of Petnet's cloud-connected automated pet-feeder system. After a rough spring, with multiple prolonged service outages, the company tried a last-ditch plea to its customers: pay a subscription fee of $4 a month, or $30 a year, and we'll be able to keep the lights on. Some users paid up-but it was apparently in vain, as their smartfeeders are still basically paperweights without connected service.

Petnet's public troubles began in February, when a service outage took feeders offline. The connection issues lasted for more than a week, during which time Petnet was completely and utterly unresponsive to customer complaints made by email, phone, or Twitter. Nor were customers the only ones who couldn't reach the company: messages Ars and other outlets sent to Petnet's press contact bounced back with an error saying the email address did not exist.

Service was finally restored-but only fleetingly, it turned out. Customers again began to complain of system outages beginning in late March. That time, Petnet blamed the COVID-19 crisis for its lack of response, saying in a March 26 email, "One of our third party vendors has notified us that due to COVID-19 their operations are experiencing an adverse effect. We will monitor this situation closely and provide you with any updates as they arise."

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