Spotify is refunding Car Thing owners before bricking their devices

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If you reach out to Spotify customer service and provide proof of purchase, of course.

By Antonio G. Di Benedetto, a writer covering tech deals and The Verge’s Deals newsletter, buying guides, and gift guides. Previously, he spent 15 years in the photography industry.

May 30, 2024, 8:44 PM UTC

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Photo by Ashley Carman / The Verge

Spotify is now offering refunds to people who purchased its $90 Car Thing dashboard accessory. While the streaming company unceremoniously discontinued its first and only hardware product in 2022, just five months after its release, it recently announced plans to deactivate all remaining Car Things on December 4th, 2024. Users looking to get their money back will need to reach out to Spotify support and provide proof of purchase.

The slight concession comes after a group of Car Thing customers filed a class action lawsuit with the Southern District of New York against Spotify over their short-lived and now doomed accessories.

Car Thing was a simple external screen / remote control for the Spotify app on your phone— most attractive to drivers whose cars lack Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. While the device was fairly simple and likely a sales failure for Spotify, it found new life once it went on fire sale and crafty users took to implementing their Car Things into non-car places like home desk setups and on their keyboards.

Spotify’s slight attempt to make it up to Car Thing owners comes after a rough year that saw its music streaming service increase in price in 2023, reports of further increases coming later in 2024, and a round of layoffs that affected 17 percent of its staff. which subsequently cut off some popular music discovery tools. While a refund is better than nothing, Spotify is still making its customers jump through hoops by digging up years-old receipts (and, according to Reddit posts, breaking up the refund across multiple payments). Refunds or not, there will still be many useless hunks of e-waste left behind.

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