45 day refund policy needs changing

[StanChec]

An electronic fitness tracker that costs between £120 - £189 should be expected by the customer to last longer than 45 days.

Consumer rights state that any product which is faulty should be refunded if it is not satisfactory quality, not fit for purpose or as described.

I personally have been through 3 replacement units now with no offer of a refund due to the 45 day policy. In my case the replacement unit fiasco meant that i was over the consumer rights recommendation of 6 months when i asked for a refund.

In my opinion this policy has to change. I wont be buying another product from Fitbit until this changes.

[Rich_Laue]

The 45 day return policy is a grace period when purchasing from Fitbit. If your not satisfied you may return it. I think 45 days is plenty long enough if a period to evaluate the unit. 

It is not the 1 year warranty (2 for Europe). 

[N8teGee]

The 45 day guarantee is something Fitbit offer so that you can test drive the product and if you don't like it within that period, send it back for a full refund no questions asked. This has no bearing on your statutory/consumer rights. 

[StanChec]

I'm not saying 45 days is not enough time to evaluate the device.

I'm saying that I have been told that even though I am on my 4th unit, due
to faulty devices I am told I can not have a refund.

As my unit has had to be replaced 3 times inside a 12 month period I would
expect to be offered a refund as clearly the unit is not fit for purpose

[SunsetRunner]

If you are still within your 12 month period then you are entitled to a refund but only if it fails again before the 12 months is up as you accepted a replacement device.  If that device fails then ask for a refund and not a replacement (I would have done this on the 3rd time).

If however you were pressured into taking a new device and told you were not entitled to a refund despite 3 failures then I'd contact Fitbit directly or the store you bought it from and demand to talk to someone in charge.

Of course this all depends on how your country (state) consumer law and rights are written.  I'm basing my statements on our rights here in my country so they may not apply to you.

[StanChec]

When I was offered my 4th device I asked for a refund and was told that a
refund was only an option up to the 45 day period.

I pointed out that this was wrong under UK consumer law and as the unit was
not fit for purpose I wanted a refund.

All of this communication was direct with Fitbit.

I never happily accepted a refund I was told I had no other choice. If this
is a case of a large corporation taking advantage of its customers then it
simply stinks !

[Rich_Laue]

I would think Fitbit would want a couple of the units back. It is extremely unlikely that you would receive 4 bad units. With no knowledge of the hardware / software issue I would not know. 

[StanChec]

They can have them all back. My issue with Fitbit is that I was refused a
refund on a faulty product and was quoted that the reason I could not have
a refund was that I was outside of the 45 day returns policy.

[Rich_Laue]

I would have told them to esculate my case. 

The squeaky wheel gets greased

[SunsetRunner]

---

wrote:

I would have told them to ejaculate my case. 

The squeaky wheel gets greased

---

@Rich_LaueUm did you mean to say that or did you mean Escalate 🙂

[N8teGee]

---

wrote:

I would have told them to ejaculate my case. 

The squeaky wheel gets greased

---

I'm not sure what sort of results that would get... 😂 

[DasseD]

I am now.in a similar position. I bought a versa in may 18 from argos. I'm now on my 3rd watch after 2 replacement. The last being delivered in January this year which has failed in less than 4 months. I have been offered a 3rd replacement (4th watch) or 50% off  a new watch. I really am not sure I want another one after 4 in 12months and so the offers from fitbit seem unacceptable.  I am going down the unfit for purpose route and attempt a full refund.

[painsnail]

This is exactly what's happening to me now... I've had 4 units, and would be receiving a 5th if I were to accept that's reasonable. I only bought the Blaze unit in July last year after the 3rd time my Charge2 failed. 
It's beyond daft, they're not useable units, and they certainly don't perform as Fitbit suggest they will. 

I've also thrown the Consumer Rights Act at them, and await a response. This has been going on for 2 weeks now and I'm mightily fed up. 

[Rich_Laue]

How OS it that thousands of people have no issues,  yet a very few, no matter how many times the unit is replaced, have nothing but problems? Surely every tracker they received can not be bad. 

The 45 day replacement is unconditional but only available when purchasing through Fitbit's online store.

Defective trackers that have failed are covered under fitbits warranty ( warranty link found below), depending on when the tracker was purchased it would be 1 or two years. 

@painsnail your less than 1 year old Blaze will still be under warranty.

[painsnail]

I’d absolutely love to know!

The first one started incessantly vibrating at 5am one morning and didn’t
stop until the battery died, the second one lasted one swim and broke. The
3rd one stopped holding charge for longer than a day, and this one will
only stay on if it’s in the charging dock.

It’s an absolute joke, they’re just not fit for what Fitbit say they can
do. I shouldn’t have to accept a 5th unit in 10 months, and I don’t have to
accept that.

I understand the replacement and refund policies, but at this point it’s
breaking UK law and I’d like my money back. Immediately.

Moderator edit: removed personal information

[Samrason]

I'm in somewhat of a similar situation with the Aria2. The body fat reading hasn't worked since I bought it. I've randomly gotten readings about 3 times, but mostly no readings at all. The weight measurement is fine, but I paid a lot of money to get the body fat measurent too. 

I contacted Fitbit on here asking for a fix or a refund and they told me customer services would be in touch to help fix it. I heard nothing. So I contacted again. Again I heard nothing. Eventually I got through to them directly on email and they gave me some tips (which you can already find online and which I'd already tried such as resetting it, batteries out etc.). There was much back and forth on this to no avail for quite some time. I offered to send the Aria2 back to them for fixing but they weren't interested. When I'd exhausted everything they'd suggested, it was clear that it is a design issue and that I should get a refund. When I asked for the refund again (like I'd asked for immediately but they placated me with online fixes) they told me it was outside of the 45 days so it wasn't possible. I was not aware that if you try to go down the fixing route you invalidate the chance for a refund. Surely this is illegal. When I've pushed them on consumer rights just recently they told me they'd replace my Aria2 and asked for my contact details. I gave my details but asked them if sending a new Aria2 would solve the issue as it's clearly a design flaw and I confirmed that I just want what I paid for - a working scale with body fat measurement. They responded saying they'd already sent my replacement and because the Aria2 was not in stock they sent an Air. The Air does not measure body fat and is far cheaper. This is clearly not a replacement and it stinks of some way of Fitbit trying to get around the law to avoid a refund. I told them immediately not to send me the Air as it's not a replacement and they've ignored me. It's an absolute joke. It's so frustrating and I've been mucked about so much that I'm considering taking them to court over this. Has anyone done this and do you have any advice?