Harmony is offering a full refund to anyone who ever bought its $250 Alexa remote

When it launched in 2019, Logitech’s Harmony Express Alexa remote seemed to be the way of the future: a simple, voice-powered remote that controlled all your devices with ease. Barely a year later, Harmony has announced that it is shutting the whole thing down as of September 30.

As spotted by The Verge, Logitech quietly updated its support page for the Harmony Express with this end-of-life notice: “On September 30, 2020, Logitech will be ending service and support for Harmony Express. The remote’s connection to the Harmony and Alexa cloud will be disconnected, disabling all functionality.” The company notes that any Alexa Scenes you’re set up will still function using another Alexa device.

While this is certainly terrible news for anyone who loves their Express remote, there is some good news. Harmony is offering customers compensation“ in the form of a free Harmony Elite remote upgrade or a refund of the purchase price, for current owners in possession of their Harmony Express.” We’d normally scoff at these types of offers, but this is a very good one. The Harmony Elite retails for $350 and rarely dips below $230, so either option basically gets you a full refund.

Users can find a link to upgrade or request a refund on the Harmony Express app on their iPhone or Android phone. Harmony says the Express will need to be plugged in and will require proof of purchase. The refund or upgrade offer is only good through December 31.

Michael Simon covers all things mobile for PCWorld and Macworld. You can usually find him with his nose buried in a screen. The best way to yell at him is on Twitter.