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I bought a Hisense TV a few years back and when I set it up, I could not proceed without downloading the companion app. I was curious so I called support and to

I bought a Hisense TV a few years back and when I set it up, I could not proceed without downloading the companion app. I was curious so I called support and told them that I didn't have a phone and asked how I could activate the TV. Support had no answer for me other than "well you need the app". When I told them I didn't have a phone to install it on they just said "no that's not correct, you must have a phone..."

stvltvs 10d ago
You should have told them the required phone was missing from the box.
anigbrowl 10d ago
Given how few people have landlines they probably thought you were trying to prank them.
- mitxela 10d ago
  You can borrow someone's phone or only have a dumbphone.
  - anigbrowl 10d ago
    Of course those are possibilities, as is having a landline. People pranking tech support lines is also a possibility and I suspect a more common one.
    - account42 10d ago
      More common is companies "pranking" their customers by adding unnecessary smartphone requirements. If they are concerned about customers pranking support about not having a smartphone they can easily preempt that by not adding a smartphone requirement in the first place.
      - anigbrowl 9d ago
        I am not arguing in favor of corporate apps or smart TVs (which I would not want to buy either). I'm just looking at things from the perspective of the unfortunate person doing tech support, not their corporate overlord.
indoordin0saur 10d ago
> "no that's not correct, you must have a phone..." Well, I guess they were right if you were lying.
- bluefirebrand 10d ago
  That doesn't justify assuming that everyone must have a phone, nor does it make it okay to enforce that people must have a phone to use their goddamn TV
- type0 10d ago
  Just because you can call doesn't mean you can install an app, plenty of people use dumb phones
  - indoordin0saur 9d ago
    This is a better excuse
mingus88 10d ago
This should be an accessibility complaint under the ADA. That should be a big money settlement. There are numerous disabilities that would cause someone to not have a smartphone capable of running an app. Hell, even addiction to social media or porn could satisfy
- mitxela 10d ago
  Lawsuits only cover actual damage. If you actually did have a phone, their decision to require one caused no harm to you, even if you pretended it did.
necovek 10d ago
"I have a PinePhone with phosh, which is neither Android nor iOS — where can I get the app?" Obviously, it still won't get you anywhere except maybe hasten the return as it is not compatible to your environment.
Henchman21 10d ago
> so I called support and told them that I didn't have a phone Did they ask what device you were calling from? :)
pseudohadamard 10d ago
Same with any prepay SIM I'm aware of, to activate it you need a phone because why would anyone ever use a SIM with anything that isn't a phone, like an e-book reader for your elderly mother to read her romance novels on? And before anyone asks, the reader takes a full-size SIM, the phones take nano-SIMs, and you can't restore it back to a full-size SIM with a shim because the reader won't allow it to be inserted, it just gets mangled as you push it into the slot.

stvltvs 10d ago

You should have told them the required phone was missing from the box.

anigbrowl 10d ago

Given how few people have landlines they probably thought you were trying to prank them.

mitxela 10d ago
You can borrow someone's phone or only have a dumbphone.
- anigbrowl 10d ago
  Of course those are possibilities, as is having a landline. People pranking tech support lines is also a possibility and I suspect a more common one.
  - account42 10d ago
    More common is companies "pranking" their customers by adding unnecessary smartphone requirements. If they are concerned about customers pranking support about not having a smartphone they can easily preempt that by not adding a smartphone requirement in the first place.
    - anigbrowl 9d ago
      I am not arguing in favor of corporate apps or smart TVs (which I would not want to buy either). I'm just looking at things from the perspective of the unfortunate person doing tech support, not their corporate overlord.

indoordin0saur 10d ago

> "no that's not correct, you must have a phone..." Well, I guess they were right if you were lying.

bluefirebrand 10d ago
That doesn't justify assuming that everyone must have a phone, nor does it make it okay to enforce that people must have a phone to use their goddamn TV
type0 10d ago
Just because you can call doesn't mean you can install an app, plenty of people use dumb phones
- indoordin0saur 9d ago
  This is a better excuse

mingus88 10d ago

This should be an accessibility complaint under the ADA. That should be a big money settlement. There are numerous disabilities that would cause someone to not have a smartphone capable of running an app. Hell, even addiction to social media or porn could satisfy

mitxela 10d ago
Lawsuits only cover actual damage. If you actually did have a phone, their decision to require one caused no harm to you, even if you pretended it did.

necovek 10d ago

"I have a PinePhone with phosh, which is neither Android nor iOS — where can I get the app?" Obviously, it still won't get you anywhere except maybe hasten the return as it is not compatible to your environment.

Henchman21 10d ago

> so I called support and told them that I didn't have a phone Did they ask what device you were calling from? :)

pseudohadamard 10d ago

Same with any prepay SIM I'm aware of, to activate it you need a phone because why would anyone ever use a SIM with anything that isn't a phone, like an e-book reader for your elderly mother to read her romance novels on? And before anyone asks, the reader takes a full-size SIM, the phones take nano-SIMs, and you can't restore it back to a full-size SIM with a shim because the reader won't allow it to be inserted, it just gets mangled as you push it into the slot.