I got my first Charge 5 for Christmas 2022. It was great... until February 2023. Yes.. just 2 months later and it was a brick. Screen wouldn't turn on. No number of times trying to reset would do anything. Contacted Fitbit and was very impressed that they immediately offered to send me a replacement. WOW! That was easy. New Fitbit came in less than a week later and worked great...
Until May 2023. Yes, just 3 months after receiving the replacement it refused to hold a charge and eventually ALSO went dead. So once again to we go to Fitbit support and they are SHOCKED that this happened. No one has ever reported this issue before (oh.. except me 3 months earlier). This time they require me to send them the faulty Fitbit before they will replace it. Fine. About a 2 weeks later, new Fitbit arrives. And it works great...
Until this afternoon when, yes, just 7 months later it suddenly refused to turn on. It worked this morning. I fully charged it last night. Even my Fitbit app says the last time it was connected it had a 96% charge. But no.. just a black screen and nothing else. For the third time I got to Fitbit support where I am told they have NEVER heard of this being an issue, and unfortunately my Fitbit is now out of warranty. The agent did offer to ask for a one-time exception to send me a replacement since my warranty only expired last month. I reminded them I have only had this device for 7 months and was informed that the warranty ends 2 years after the original purchase.
So.... basically Fitbit doesn't stand behind the quality and functionality of their devices. They KNOW the devices have problems and are going to fail. Also.. my issues is a KNOWN issue for Fitbit Charge 5. It's all over their own Fitbit forums and there are numerous reports across the tech blogs and journals online going back to the beginning of 2023. Fitbit doesn't want to acknowledge it, otherwise they would have to replace them into perpetuity. How does this not qualify under lemon laws? This should be criminal.
