The smart glasses company North has told customers that their $ 600 (£ 460) purchases will stop working in a few days.
The Canadian company, recently purchased by Google, says that its Focals glasses will cease to function on Friday.
Since then, owners will not be able to use "no functionality" of the glasses or connect to the associated app.
But the company also said it will automatically reimburse all customers.
He promised to return the purchase price to the original payment method and to contact those customers whose refunds have not been processed.
In late June, North announced that it would be acquired by Google and would not release a planned second generation device.
He also said he would "liquidate" his first generation smart glasses, released last year.
Customers discovered that it meant that smart glasses would be made "stupid" through a statement posted on the company's website and via email.
Focals glasses, however, come with prescription lenses as an option, which means they can function as prescription glasses every day. The bulky bezels, which house a laser, battery and other kits will no longer do anything that normal glasses can't do.
Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, said that extracting functionality from cloud-based hardware is not uncommon - and something that has happened to him before.
"If you want to be an early adopter and have fun with new technology that has created an ambitious start-up, there is always the risk that they will not be able to stack the business plan," he warned.
"This could mean that the service stops working or you end up finding that you need to pay additional costs to maintain the continuity of the service."
Not so smart houses
There have been several examples of Internet-enabled smart devices that are suddenly made "stupid", losing many features or even becoming unusable when the company changes its business model.
For example:
Google made an early but unfortunate attempt to integrate smart glasses with its Google Glass product in 2013.
When he purchased North, Google said that the company's "technical experience" would help him realize his vision for a future of "ambient computing".
And despite the short notice, Wood says that offering a full refund for Northern customers is "exceptionally generous" and the best approach in customer relations.
"For Google, given the small number of North glasses actually sold to real end users, this is a rounding error," he said.
"But not all people who invest in startups will be so lucky."
