This is a great time for the engineer to exert leverage.

"Yes, I can fix it in hours. Here are my demands:

• $200,000
• I'll also push a firmware update to all your devices that allows setting any address for the server and exposes all functionality in a Home Assistant API, and you won't ever disable this in current or future devices
• You'll offer a free locally-connected button/knob device to any customer owning an affected product, or a free service to upgrade the products with on-device controls
• In any social media posts, press releases, customer communication or interviews regarding today's outage, you have to say that plumbing that requires a server connection is a bad idea