Parents are furious after baby company adds subscription fees to its $1,700 bassinets

Parents are criticizing Happy Baby, a company that makes a smart bassinet known as the Snoo, for adding monthly subscription fees to access its features.

The $1,700 bassinet, which uses sensors to detect a fussy baby and creates calming womb-like movements and sounds to help add “an hour or two” of rest to the baby’s routine, became a hit among parents when it launched in 2016.

Parents justified spending their funds on the high price of the bassinet and all the features that would help soothe their babies in the middle of the night due to the high resale value, with a used product selling for around $900.

However, the makers of the high-tech crib recently announced that customers who had purchased the bassinet secondhand would now have to shell out more than $20 a month for most of the beloved features, such as motion levels and sounds. at bedtime.

Following the news, parents took to social media to harshly criticize the company, questioning whether the practice was “even legal,” as even those who bought the bed secondhand and were currently using the bassinet are being forced to pay. the subscription fee. .

The Snoo is also marketed as “the first and only medical device to receive De Novo clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its ability to safely keep infants asleep on their backs,” making parents are even more willing to pay. the cost of $1,700.

However, since babies grow quickly, parents can only use the bassinet for about four or five months, which means they would spend an extra $100.

in your websitethe company revealed: ‘We will continue to provide our premium features and settings to original owners who purchased SNOO directly from Happiest Baby (or an authorized partner). Everyone who purchases a SNOO from Happiest Baby or our authorized partners after July 15 will receive a free subscription to the premium features and settings of their Happiest Baby app for nine months. And families who rent SNOO from Happiest Baby (or get a free SNOO rental at work) will get the premium subscription for the duration of the rental plus an additional month free after you return the rental.

“Those other than the original owners (who borrowed or bought SNOO secondhand) will still have access to all the free features of the app and will be able to use the premium features for a monthly fee starting July 15.”

This means that even those who purchased it outright may have to pay for premium features when reusing it for their other children, and parents say they should email the company and request free use.

The announcement sparked an avalanche of backlash when one mother took to TikTok to criticize the company.

Mom based in Miami liz june questioned whether the practice was even “legal” in a viral video, which has so far racked up more than 700,000 views.

He added: “Honestly, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of a fuss about this. I paid about $1,200 for a bassinet before there was any talk of a subscription… and now you want to pay a monthly fee for the “premium” features Were they the ones I originally paid for?

Viewers flooded the comments section and echoed their thoughts, as many of them even took to Reddit to criticize the company’s decision to scrap subscription costs.

One person said: ‘The fact that Snoos has been running without a subscription for years proves it’s unnecessary! “I loved mine, but maybe I wouldn’t have gotten it if this had been around at the time.”

Another user added: ‘It also decreases the resale value! Many baby products are purchased with the intention of selling them.”

Someone else wrote: “A subscription service for a bassinet is crazy.”

“I hope you’re only thinking of a child, because your Snoo only comes with nine months of service,” another user commented.

‘Disgusting. I bought a used Snoo for $750. I used it and resold it for $850. They are just trying to milk a product to death,” one person said.

DailyMail.com has contacted Snoo for comment.