Project shutdown : can we help?

[Extreme79]

Hi!
I'm thinking that we can help the the project to survive and help us to maintain the integration with home assistant alive.

We are a lot of users, and we can massively write to Haier Europe.
The project damage Haier? It's a little hilarious.. Anyway..
What do you think about a creation of petition or a common email to Haier?

[raymondjstone]

I'll be complaining for sure. I can also setup private hosting of the repo if that helps (or you could use bit bucket etc that have a free but private option)

[atmezferix]

Can't believe they want this shutdown what backward thinking. Little annoyed literally just bought an appliance after checking if there was a home assistant plugin for it this weekend and now its been shutdown.
These companies need to re-think their strategy. What is the difference if you are accessing it from you phone or another device, just doesn't make sense.

[cybertorture]

Just point us where to fill a little complain. What the hell is "causing significant economic harm" ? Phone app is hilarious, almost anytime i use it it ask for credentials again and again ... This better be joke ;)

[PurpFrame]

Contact form here though not for complaints

https://www.hoover-home.com/en_GB/contact-form/

[Benniepie]

I also bought two Haier appliances because of their ability to connect to home assistant. I was looking at their dishwashers to add a third and even recommend them to friends. They are shooting themselves in the foot massively - the DIY smart home market is huge.

I saw that the project is to be shut down, is that purely on the basis of Haier's message or has Home Assistant / Github insisted on it? Talk of "attorneys / legal action" will only work if you are in the same jurisdiction, it seems like a scare tactic and I agree with OP - as Haier customers we should make some noise and share the responsibility for the integration however we can to keep it going.

imagine if the repository was archived and as a user base, we were to all fork the project individually in order to continue using it, there'd be multiple copies of the code, managed by users all over the world all connecting into Haier's systems. Haier aren't going to take every one of us to court, irrespective of the legal arguments, taking your loyal customers to court is not a good look for any company and a sure fire way to lose them. If the issue is they have any technical concerns about the integration they could raise them and they can be fixed. Just shows they don't understand the potential of the DIY smart home market.

Happy to help share the burden however would help.

[digital-knave]

Guess you can also send email complaints here. This is specific to the app team I think:

support.hon@haier-europe.com

[delboydell]

if I dont update will the addon still continue to work ?

[Kfrard]

if I dont update will the addon still continue to work ?

you can update, addon still working. the author must remove the code from the Internet.

[raymondjstone]

Just one thing there, while Haier should if anything be offering to purchase the addon (concept or code) and not forcing it to go offline it is possible that the addon does incur economic damage to Haier, it depends on how it works, but I think the most likely 'reason' they can give for this is the addon triggering a constant stream of api calls throughout the day whereas you would only otherwise use their shitty app for a very short period, so in theory they can probably claim correctly that the addon costs them financially (I would however think a great deal given it is only HA users). While the addon will keep working when taken down, it would then probably be a simple matter to either stop it working by changing the api or it's authentication but it will take them a while to do that I hope since they would need to push out mobile app changes first.

I would add that for the HA integration is a must, no more Haier devices for me given this.

[and7ey]

We need to investigate further how to control Haier devices locally.

[Kfrard]

We need to investigate further how to control Haier devices locally.

I am also looking for such a possibility.
I found the project https://community.home-assistant.io/t/esp-haier-haier-air-conditioner-esp-home-wemos-d1-mini/127880 although, I have the impression that there are two versions, Haier and Haier Europe which is why, among other things, my air conditioning does not work.

[Andre0512]

Many thanks for all the support. We have put a lot of work into this integration and I am very disappointed in Haier. This integration brings Haier added value free of charge and I find it appalling how it is being handled.
I will not take the project down immediately and simply let Haier win. Using the api should not be illegal. If the significant economic damage is caused by us making too many requests with the integration, we can talk about it and slow it down.
Luckily I'm insured. I've contacted my legal expenses insurance and they're covering a lawyer for the case. I will seek advice and see how an expert assesses the situation and then proceed.

[Benniepie]

We need to investigate further how to control Haier devices locally.

Definitely.

Perhaps by redirecting the cloud server dns on our home networks and then run a local server to Imitate the cloud.

I have a feeling my washer and dryer are esp32 based. Despite their size they may have the brains of a lightbulb! I will do some digging. If they are esp32 based we may not need to reinvent the wheel for custom firmware as many will have gone that way before us

I have sent a complaint to Haier customer support via email and the app tonight. Will try twitter next. And then I have some 1* amszon/trustpilot/etc reviews to write, but will see if they respond first.