Fitbit won't stand behind their products! Very disappointing!

[JenJen77]

I am so disappointed in FitBit and their willingness to back their products. I had an instance in 2016 with my Charge, the band was disconnecting from the device. I had purchased the charge on EBay and FitBit without hesitation said they would replace the Charge. I was overwhelmed by how awesome the Customer Service was. Flash Forward to yesterday.... I now have a FitBit Blaze and the top right hand button stopped working. I believe it has to do with the outer cover on the button, not the actual button inside the device. I contacted Customer Service and when I told them I purchased it from Ebay in July 2018, they told me to contact eBay. I explained it is not an eBay issue, it is a product issue and yet their only response was to take it to eBay. I said what if I got it at Khols, they said to take it to Khols. Not really sure why I need to take a product back to the store when it is a malfunction with their product. Apple stands behind their products when honestly, if you are going to spend the amount of money to buy a FitBit that may last a year and not be backed up by the company, maybe you should pay more for Apple. Or buy one like I found on Amazon that has more functionality and is waterproof..... All for less than $20!! I believe it also has 12mo warranty like FitBit. I would much rather spend $20 on something that isn't going to last than the price of a FitBit that isn't back by the company. I have been a HUGE FitBit Fan until this and now I will NEVER buy another one of their products. Plus, I'm pretty sure the issue with my Blaze would be an easy fix, but they didn't even offer that as an option, but they did offer me 25% off a New Fitbit.... That I'm sure when there is a problem with it, they won't stand behind that product either.

I have purchased an old Blaze on Ebay for parts in an attempt to correct the button issue myself, the whole device for parts was about $20. Fitbit could have fixed my Blaze for probably a few dollars and kept a customer, but that obviously isn't a concern for them.

[MarkMM · Accepted solution]

Hard to dispute what you claim happened 3, nearly 4 years ago, but ebay is not an authorized retailer. You don't even get the one year warranty from Fitbit with an ebay purchase. If it's a year and a half old, where you bought it shouldn't matter anyway. But a helpful employee might have more empathy if it was bought at an authorized retailer. 

And they don't replace ANY parts on the pebble. The whole tracker would be replaced it there was an issue while under warranty.

The button is not working on the pebble itself, or from the band? A replacement band with new buttons can be found rather inexpensive on Amazon. I got my first one for around $10

[JenJen77]

A claim that happened 3, nearly 4 years ago?  I purchased the Blaze in July of 2018 and purchasing from Ebay was not an issue when they replaced the Charge in 2016.  Therefore, it should not be an issue now.  Also, There are "authorized retailers" on eBay, per the customer service rep.  I was unable to see the actual retailer in my history on eBay, therefore, I was unable to verify if they were indeed an authorized retailer.  I didn't buy a defective product and now asking for them to fix it.  It has been in perfect working order until Sunday night and I have taken excellent care of the device.  The product was purchased new and in the box.  Again, this was not an issue with the Charge that I had just a few years ago.  FitBit provided excellent customer service at that point, and yes that device was also purchased from eBay!

I believe the issue with the button is simply the rubber part on the exterior.  The button pushes in but you can tell it is not connecting with the button mechanism inside.  I will know more after I receive the pebble I bought for parts. 

I am able to distinguish what is wrong on the pebble versus what is on the band itself and yes I am aware that there are replacement bands.  I have several of them Thank you!  After having a blaze that I have taken wonderful care of for 1.5 years, I expect better quality from a product that I purchased, New and in the box.  

Apparently you are ok with paying over $100 for a product to then fail after a 1.5 but I am not.  We are all entitled to our opinions and the ability to express them.  However, I, like many others if you choose to read the reviews, are very unhappy with the level of support they provide for their products and will no longer purchase them when there are many other options out there that offer the same "warranty" for a quarter or less of the price.

[MarkMM]

Seems like you may have been lucky the first time. If you search the forum, there have been complaints about Fitbit not warrantying ebay purchases. 

Not an ebay fan. I suppose if I bought an already discontinued product off ebay (would never happen), I wouldn't be surprised if it failed.

Good luck with your spare parts. Hope it works for you. Let us know?

[JenJen77]

I realize that you are under the assumption that you are by far the most intelligent person here, possibly in the whole world!  I researched the blaze and the versa before making my purchase.  The Blaze worked for what I was looking for in a fitness tracker.  Secondly, when researching, I did not come across anything stating the Blaze was being discontinued.  The forums don't have a person from FitBit addressing this until the end of July (after my purchase).  Also, they stated that Fitbit.com would no longer be selling the device but it would still be available at other retailers. 

Its obvious you are not a fan of eBay but apparently you receive some sort of compensation from FitBit.  If not, they should since you are great at trash talking those who have issues with their customer service.  This is not an isolated issue.  Unfortunately for FitBit, their reputation from consumer reviews and reports to the BBB is EXTREMELY Negative!.  Additionally, if you happen to search, many other users have had issues with the buttons on the Blaze as well. 

I expect a company to stand behind their product, if they make an inferior product and refuse to try to correct issues with their customers, then I don't want to do business with that company.  FitBit has refurbished devices so there are repairs being made to different devices so I do believe an effort could have been made to repair the device, even if it was a reasonable price to the consumer.  There are many different options that FitBit could have offered to provide excellent customer service, but none of those were offered.  Instead here is 25% off to spend more money on a device that we won't stand behind.  No Thank you!.  As far as purchases off eBay, when you buy a product new, in the box with no issues and a year and a half later there is an issue.... that is an issue with the product, not where it was purchased.  I have also purchased a new iPhone from eBay and after 2-3 years, when I was having issues with the battery, guess what.... the Apple store was more than happy to help me with the issues, do some repairs and offer a discount on a new battery if I chose to get a new one.  That is how you provide customer service and support your product.  If you produce a quality product, you will support that product, stand behind it and help your customers to fix issues with device.  That is a company that provides a quality product and is willing to stand behind it.  FitBit is obviously not that Company.

[MarkMM]

Thanks for the laugh! I'm far from  'by far the most intelligent person here, possibly in the whole world!"

I think I have common sense though. Let us know how you make out with the parts spare?

[2broke2upgrade]

Fitbit brings us all together 👍🏻

[Jennifer_a_gray]

I hear ya! I bought my Blaze new from Target almost 3 years ago, but it is out of warranty according to Fitbit, they told me to contact the retailer, I even still have my receipt, but they can't do anything and told me to contact Fitbit, My battery does't stay charged for more than 6-8 hours at a time, They have trouble shot it and said they can see it is not working properly, but since it is out of time frame from purchase, they can offer me  a 25% off coupon. .I can get one cheaper at Kohls now and earn Kohl's cash back. It is frustrating because we all know it is cheap to fix electronics now a days and the truly are making a cheap disposable watch that is filling up the land fills..

[WendyB]

@JenJen77 😂🤣

Ebay is not on the list of retailers. No way to know where they got it from

Retailers

You  need to take it up with them as that where you bought it. From an Unauthorized dealer

[WendyB]

@Jennifer_a_gray  3 years?

Warranty is only for a year

[JenJen77]

Funny since the customer service rep on the FitBit chat did in fact state there are authorized sellers on eBay. Again it shouldn’t matter where the product is bought. The product was in working order for a year and a half and then began to have issues. If you will notice, my story is similar to others. The response is to go back to the “authorized dealer” and the reason for that is what?  Just another hoop to jump through to get nothing done. Again, look at Apple.... if you’ve had any experience with them, they provide excellent customer service and product care. I once had that experience with FitBit but that is no longer the case. 

[JenJen77]

Agreed!  For the price of these devices, I expect them to last longer than a year. The year warranty really provides nothing and the response of returning it to a retailer is obsurd. I would encourage you to look at the other fitness trackers out there. If they aren’t going to hold up and the company doesn’t want to assist past a year, then I would prefer to pay less. You can get one with great functionality and a year warranty for less than $20 so why by FitBit???

[JenJen77]

• @Jennifer_a_gray Agreed!  For the price of these devices, I expect them to last longer than a year. The year warranty really provides nothing and the response of returning it to a retailer is obsurd. I would encourage you to look at the other fitness trackers out there. If they aren’t going to hold up and the company doesn’t want to assist past a year, then I would prefer to pay less. You can get one with great functionality and a year warranty for less than $20 so why by FitBit???

[JenJen77]

Spare parts fixed the issue!  As I suspected, the button had fallen off and a small piece inside the rubber “button” had fallen out and become lost. The button on the pebble bought for parts had this piece and the button is now in working order. 

[MarkMM]

Glad it worked out for you and you're back in business! 

[phatbitzr]

that is weird, did the button still make a clicking sound?  I know failing buttons seems to be a pretty common problem on the blaze, but I thought it was due to it being merely sweat resistant instead of splash resistant.