Snoo Smart Sleeper’s monthly fee causes backlash against the creator

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Sleep-deprived mums and dads are melting down after the makers of a $1,695 status symbol bassinet – which uses remote technology to rapidly rock a toddler to sleep – suddenly announced a new subscription fee of 240 dollars a year to access all the expensive products. high-tech features.

The Snoo Smart Sleeper, a smash hit from Los Angeles company Happiest Baby, comes with just about every bell and whistle imaginable to help a baby sleep — and ease the mess — while also tracking your little one’s sleep stats using an app.

However, in mid-July, the West Coast manufacturers sounded the alarm, restricting 10 of Snoo’s 18 features to premium members.

When contacted by The Post, a Happiest Baby representative said: “There are no changes for anyone who buys SNOO from Happiest Baby or an authorized retailer for their first use.”

“Owners who purchased SNOO from Happiest Baby or an authorized retailer before July 15 will receive premium service with every use. Everyone still gets the subscription.”

New users are now faced with two choices – take the extra money, or submit to a screaming child.

And even though new users get nine months of unfettered access for free, that’s not stopping po’d pops and bored moms from giving the company a full go.

“Wow what despair,” angry Upper East Side mother Caitlin Fuchs-Rosner told The Post.

“They are taking advantage of tired and vulnerable parents. The happiest child? More like the happiest hand-wringing beast of greed,” she said.

Roosevelt Island couple Christopher Cheng, 33, and Laura Daniels, 29, said Snoo was “a lifesaver” for their 10-and-a-half-week-old son Koda, born at less than 37 weeks.

But the new pricing model — and the beatings that came with it — left such a bad taste in new parents’ mouths that they may not use one for their second, planned child.

“They’re actually just milking us,” Cheng told The Post.

“From a moral perspective, this is a tool that people use to maintain their sanity and get their babies to sleep so they can sleep themselves,” added Daniels, who also said he feels like: ” How can we squeeze every penny out of [the] super stressed?”

After all, the bassinet is something of a high investment to begin with — after six months, the baby outgrows the expensive product, baby sleep expert Ann Marks, creator of The Complete Feeding Method, told The Post.

“It is a big expense when a child is born. I think it’s become a status symbol in a way,” Marks, 41, said.

Due to its short lifespan, the resale market is huge for the Snoo. Many parents, like Cheng and Daniels, buy and sell them secondhand. A certified pre-owned one from Happiest Baby is currently $1,195.00.

The representative told The Post that “anyone who buys a second-hand or borrows SNOO can still have a free version of the app that allows day-to-day operation of SNOO.”

“One of the reasons I justified the purchase price was knowing there was a strong second-hand market,” one Redditor posted.

“This subscription has already reduced the value of Snoo. How can technology companies justify lowering the resale value of products after purchase?” they asked.

In the wake of the price hike, the online forum has become a base for parents to vent their anger.

One called on fellow chatters to “join me in protest” until the premium is removed.

Another said they have “already banned at least 6 Snoo sales to people within my community”.

“Way to ruin your Snoo product. This is the beginning of your demise,” they added.

However, not everyone is tossing and turning the added fee.

Sydney Kohan, a 24-year-old mother from the Upper West Side advocated Happier Baby after a very good recent experience with the product.

“Every company is ripping off and ripping off their customers in one way or another,” Kohan told The Post, adding that it’s a way for those who profit from the second-hand market — and those who were given Snoo – a chance to “contribute”.

“I don’t see any problem with it.”