@saltywetman so what you are basically recommending is to virtually brick our devices ourselves for an indefinite period, since there is no sign that Fitbit is even acknowledging that the new firmware is the problem whilst continuing to dish out the damaging firmware to more and more customers, so there is hardly going to be a fix any time soon.
But I really need mine for daily health tracking, and synching to a motivational step and activity challenge, so to be stuck in limbo for an indefinite time without my tracker as the main motivational and accountability factor for that, is likely to kill my hard won momentum and damage the fitness and wellbeing gains I’ve clawed back from the depths I ended up sinking to during the rolling COVID lockdowns.
The Charge 5 is my first step or activity tracker and it, plus the challenge app I synch the activities and steps to, is what turned things around for me.
But as an Australian consumer my right to a remedy is protected under Australian consumer law regardless of the length of the manufacturers warranty. And of course Fitbit and Google would be aware of the legal obligations they have in all jurisdictions where they sell their products, so it should not be news to them, although it probably is news to many Australian consumers who are not tuned in to consumer affairs, that in Australia, if a product is not “fit for purpose” or does not last for the length of time that could be reasonably expected for an item of that value, Australian consumers have their right protected under law, to our choice of remedy including a replacement or a full refund regardless of whether it is still under warranty. So the 35% voucher offer for a faulty product cannot legally be the only remedy offered to customers here for a tracker that gets rendered useless by their own firmware update and hasn’t lasted more than two years. At the price point of the Charge 5, that would be neither fit for purpose nor a reasonable lifetime of the product.
But since so many of them will need to be replaced, it will be a long wait for that remedy.
I have decided that if mine gets bricked I will buy a cheap alternative to fill the gap while I insist on the replacement that I have the legal right to receive (because I actually like my Charge 5, and I don’t want to change platforms) but if I can’t get a functional replacement I’ll be pursuing a full refund and then moving to Garmin.
So if it comes to that, I will need something inexpensive to tide me over for what is likely to be a drawn out process, and I’ll just get a cheap tracker (from anyone other than Fitbit) to fill that gap, but I can’t be without something for that length of time without risking falling back into the health and well-being hole I was in before.
And I have taken a screenshot this post in case I need evidence of any attempt to obscure Australian customers of their rights.
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