Roku TV and streaming player owners are furious after the company disabled their devices, unless they agree to new “dispute resolution terms.”
According to sources, the new terms were set into effect on February 20th, 2024, and users started receiving notifications on their devices last week.
The Roku community board has a lengthy discussion about the issue.
Terms include a forced arbitration clause, which prevents owners from suing or participating in a lawsuit against the company.
While these clauses are common, in this case, TVs and streamers are being disabled unless the owners agree to the new terms.
“We’ve updated our Dispute Resolution Terms. Select ‘Agree’ to agree to these updated Terms and to continue enjoying our products and services,” said the notification box.
This only lets users read the terms and agree. There’s no option to disagree or remove the notification box.
The only way to choose not to agree is to send a physical letter by mail within 30 days to the company’s Roku General Counsel in San Jose, California, US.
By doing this, the user will be allowed to participate in any potential future class-action lawsuit over the ploy.
Roku said, “Like many companies, Roku updates its terms of service from time to time. When we do, we take steps to make sure customers are informed of the change.”
This issue is causing owners to question whether they’ll continue to use Roku devices, or whether they actually owned their Roku device.
The company is also refusing to refund customers.
The community board for the company read “Roku is implementing a revised terms of service agreement. If you don’t agree to it, your device is rendered inoperative. When I asked for my money back, since they made the device inoperative they refused. How do you feel about this?”
