Joanne McNeill: Technology rort a real turnoff

Joanne McNeill.

The tendency of digital devices - purchased in good faith to provide advertised services - to suddenly, sometime down the track without warning, announce unilaterally that these services will no longer be provided, is extremely annoying.

Take Freeview for instance. A few years ago the Government switched off free-to-air analogue television, claiming the new digital version would enhance reception. The upshot was, reluctantly we all had no choice but to buy new sets, set-top boxes and satellite dishes at significant expense if we still wanted to indulge in the historic ritual of gathering around the telly for the news, Shortland Street and any other increasingly rare, barely watchable show.

Enhanced reception turned out to be a myth - now we face stop motion or blackouts whenever it rains or Incey Wincey spider goes walkabout.

Incidentally the switch-off probably produced a mini sales boom for home entertainment retailers of the land (always good for the economy) but the real reason - to free up 700MHz band spectrum for faster mobile broadband - robbed Peter to pay Paul.

Speaking as Peter, still miffed about the original rort, the latest outrage is to find the Freeview channel Prime flashing a running warning that it is about to disappear into outer space somewhere unless we update our device, go to the website for more information or contact the manufacturer.

Ever tried going to a website for more information? Chances are your product is not listed among those authorised and even if you do make it through the elimination heats to the main instructions you are faced with a marathon of indecipherable gobbledegook which is clearly going to take hours to negotiate and likely as not, at the touch of the wrong button, bugger up the telly irretrievably for all time.

And as for contacting suppliers - good luck with that if they're not based in Kazakhstan or haven't liquidated since.

Then there's the trusty, slightly elderly laptop, purchased at great expense, which keeps us connected to cyberspace and all manner of pesky necessities such as banking and word count.

It too is running an ominous yellow message announcing it will no longer receive updates because its operating platforms are no longer supported. We are urged to update to supported, secure operating systems, doubtless meaning more cost, more palaver, more mystification and more withdrawal of services, not to mention waste.

Once upon a time things were built to last. Now planned obsolescence props up capitalism's insatiable appetite for growth with a global e-waste mountain. In my book, peremptory withdrawal of services already bought and paid for amounts to breach of contract. Why is there no outcry?

If Leonardo da Vinci were paid to paint The Last Supper and then came back three years later, whitewashed over a couple of disciples and left paint-by-numbers instructions about how to daub them back in, would that be okay?

Should I buy a new car or a new house and then three years later the manufacturers/builders decided to take back the steering wheel or the east wing leaving kitset instructions in Chinglish for DIY replacements, would this be acceptable business practice?

In the current market/consumer climate it appears there's nothing to stop them.