Fitbit Alta Fell Off & Now Lost!

[RaymondJr]

I am Very Upset! My wife bought me a Fitbit Alta (Black/Large) for an early Father's Day present. I loved it! and was so happy to help me with getting fit.
Well today while out walking at Disneyland it fell off! I haven't even had it 10 days! The strap on this is terrible! If it comes off while walking & limited activity, how are you suppose to do increased activity? You would think there would be a clasp or some kind of lock to keep it from coming off! My wife is upset too since this was the gift she bought for me so she & I could challenge each other to stay active, now it's gone! $129+ for less than 10 days :-(...
Fitbit needs to improve this band!
I sure wouldn't recommend the Fitbit Alta to my friends or co-workers if it falls off that easily!

Moderator edit: format

[MaginB · Accepted solution]

Hey there @RaymondJr! I hope you're doing great! 

It's sad to hear that your Alta got lost, I suggest checking the suggestion that are listed on this article if you're not able to find it I recommend contacting Support so they can check your options, in the meantime you can take a look at the warranty policies. 

Let me know the outcome! 

[Wonderwoman5]

I also lost my Alta after only a couple months due to the clasp on the leather band coming undone. Terrible waste of money and by the looks of these posts a known design flaw

[LucyAP]

Thanks for posting in the Community @Wonderwoman5! Thanks for the feedback you have provided about Fitbit Alta. I have noticed that @MaginB provided some great tips on how to find your lost tracker in the post above. Also, he made the recommendation to contact Support and to double check the warranty policies before you call. 

I hope to hear back from you soon! 😉 

[RaymondJr]

Dear Luckyfitbit
Thank you for your interest in my problem.
I contacted customer service and they graciously sent me another one as a replacement. Very happy with Fitbit and your level of service to your customers!

Sent from my iPhone

[SunsetRunner]

I just ordered the fitbit clasps from eBay. Only $1.99 for 10.

[tkzimmerman0816]

I too lost my Alta. I purchased my first one in March and loved it! While traveling in India, it fell off of my arm and was lost for good. I blamed my own carelessness, and purchased another one. That second purchased was May 25th. Today, I arrived at work and noticed that my Alta had fallen off my arm in transit and was gone. This time, I am convinced that there is an issue with the clasp. I had the HR version before upgrading to the Alta and I never had any issues. I am calling customer service to see if they can assist in any way. I am hoping that they can because this seems to be a problem based on the number of posts and reads in this area.

[Shellory]

I replied last night that I lost my Alta. This morning at the crack o dawn i traced my goings from last night per a suggestion I read. I had my S5 trying to sync with my Alta while I walked around and YEAH! It synced at Home Depot in the garden area. My Alta was under bags of mulch! Thank you to @MaginB for the suggestion to try to sync! Someone else would have been adding my device to their new Fitbit app. If it wasn't for that great tip. Thank you. I have temporarily wrapped a tiny rubber band on my strap to hold it together. Please try to fix the clasp problem!

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[romcom]

I had my Fitbit Alta for less than a month and last night it fell off while just walking around. I retraced all my steps, blah blah blah. I never had this happen with my Fitbit Charge HR of course. Today I called and explained what happened, I barely got the story out before the rep said they'd be sending me a replacement one. I was really surprised! They must be aware of this issue since more and more folks are having it happen to them. I can't know for sure, but maybe it helped that I have been using their products for over a year and built a history with them as a client. I am going to get one of the fasteners on Amazon to help secure it better this time. So if you lost yours and you feel it was due to the design issue, don't fret b/c Fitbit's customer service is still good.

[SoonerMagicMama]

I lost my Alta last week while on a family vacation to Italy.  We pre-ordered the Alta so I've been wearing since March, wtih the leather band.  In June I started noticing that it would fall off occassionally ... and then I lost it on an after-dinner walk in Sorrento.  No luck trying to retrace steps and find it!  I've submitted a warranty claim through email, so hopeful for a replacement given the feedback from others on this thread.

[Bepsy]

LOST ALTA TRACKER

I lost my brand new ALTA tracker yesterday. I bought it 2 days ago for $129. And lost it within 24hrs 😞 I am very disappinted the way the clasp is made for ALTA. I have a flex and it is very strong clasp. Never had this issue before. I was wearing the Alta and walking in a shopping mall for exercise. By the time I reached home, it was lost - fell-off from my hand somewhere. I went back and traced all the places I walked yesterday. No luck. Couldn't sync it with my phone. I called the customer support today. They didn't help me at all. They disconnected the phone when I asked to talk to the manager for a resolution. Very disappointing customer support as well for me. I was planning to buy couple of more Fitbits for my entire family. But would never look into fitbit again if the support is this bad 😞 Does anyone know how good is Garmin devices compared to Fitbit ?

[Nyobi]

Thanks romcom,

I just decided to invest in another tracker from Fitbit since I've had 4 chargers (3 replacements and my original unit) since December 2014 due to bands that have come apart, buttons popping out, and failure to keep a charge beyond a day and a half. The final straw, per last night was realizing that after showing a fully charged unit yesterday morning I was walking around before the end of the day with 0 (zero) bars of power and the inability to read any data from the unit. Following an overnight charge my Charge is still a blank screen! It's exasperating, but I called Customer Service again and they offered the 25% discount on another unit. Per the advice from you and others in the community I'll order the Alta and immediately head to Amazon to purchase fasteners. exasperating that a product that has the kind of following it has can't figure out the design flaws before they go on the market!

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[Iamquobert]

My band got lost because the clasp is terrible and couldn't stay on with light activity. Horrible design and customer service was awful. Everyone I spoke to was trying to be polite but overall unhelpful and just stuck to a script. The manager on duty j eventually spoke to after hours on the phone and on hold. He was also super unhelpful. I would not recommend this product to anyone or this company at all. Very disappointed that other people received free replacements and they would not replace mine.

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[mjsayshi]

I too lost mine after one month. I've had fitbits for years and was very exited to get an Alta for my June birthday. I was golfing and it fell off.  I got suggestions from customer support on how to find it. I did go looking for it on a golf course. No luck. They did offer me a small discount for a new one. Why should I buy a new one? I lost the one I just got! Isn't the fitbit supposed to be worn during activity? I have always bragged about fitbit but I have changed my story for sure.

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[Wright14]

My fit charge was lost today. I'm furious! I've only had my Fitbit for about 5 months. If I had known that the straps aren't secure and my fit bit can just fall off I would've never bought one. I contacted customer service and of course there is no warrant for my tracker. They did offer me a 25% off coupon. So now I can spend another 100 bucks on another one. I will not recommend this product to anyone.

[LucyAP]

Welcome Fitbiters! Thank you for the thorough feedback for the Fitbit environment, customer service, platform and devices. This has not gone unnoticed and be sure that I will pass this along.

We don't want to create frustration in our customers. Fitbit has been designed to provide motivation and help you to reach your daily goals to success. Please know that we provide feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving our devices and overall environment based on that feedback.

Since you received the 25% discount option as per our Warranty Policies please know that this is the best option to help you get back on track with the Fitbit family and I'm sure our Customer Support team will be more than glad to help you further with this. I understand you've invested in the Fitbit Family; however, we as any other company have policies to follow through. While customer satisfaction remains our number one goal, the demands of running a global business require that we enforce our warranty consistently.

[romcom]

Hey Lucy. Fitbit replaced my lost Alta at no charge after it was lost due to the design flaw in the band (I had owned it for less than a month). So, I'm a bit puzzled at your claim that Fitbit 'enforces its warranty consistently' when it seems that with some customers they offer 25% off and others they replace at no cost. The truth is that there is clearly a design flaw with the band, and it's obvious given the number of complaints about this facet of the product. I owned my previous Fitbit for over a year without this happening. Perhaps because I was an ongoing customer Fitbit chose to believe me? My personal opinion is Fitbit should own up to the product flaw and give consumers the option to switch to another Fitbit while they fix or update the clasp on this one. Don't place the blame on customers (the 25% off offer definitely is not taking responsibility).

[tkzimmerman0816]

I agree. I too had the Charge HR for almost 2 years and switched to the Alta. When I lost mine after one month, the company reviewed my account and replaced it at no charge. Until the obvious flaw with the clasp is corrected, that should be an alternative for all Alta users who experience this issue. 

I purchased additional bands from Amazon that function more like a watch band. This has been a much better option than the newly designed band for the Alta. I highly encourage fitbit, a global company, to take the time to look into how to fix the flaw and to satisfy its customers fairly util it is corrected. 

[Colsen]

Hello, I wondered if you could tell me how you were able to get a replacement please.  I'd been wearing my fitbit for 3-4 days when the clasp came undone and I lost it.  This was the second time (the first fitbit I owned did the same thing but I found it.  Then it quit working).  I contacted Support and they said to go ask Walmart for a refund.  However, it's not Walmart's design issue and they will not give a refund for the flaw in the design.  I'm very disappointed and would appreciate knowing how you were able to get better results.  Thank you.

[IggyMcMuffin]

I guess I'm not buying an Alta after my Charge HR died in the shower. The number of threads about lost Altas is pretty ridiculous.