In exchange for the trouble, August is offering refunds to those customers who are willing to keep their Views and provide feedback. Those who aren't happy, meanwhile, have been asked to return their doorbells to stores.

The company is adamant that it will resume sales of the View "in the near future" and will let people know when there's a specific date. It's an important gesture and shows that the company is determined to do right by its customers. At the same time, there's no doubt that this is a blow to August's expanding smart home ambitions -- it's going to have that much tougher a time competing against heavyweights like Amazon's Ring.