Charge 5 battery draining too fast

[SharleneH]

I have had the new Charge 5 for 2 days. The battery discharges within a day. GPS is off, the phone is not set to always on. In looking over the troubleshooting instructions from Fitbit, it seems that you essentially have to disable all of the features that were selling points of this device in order to get decent battery life. Even my ancient Charge 3 got 6 days on one charge! Has anyone with this battery problem found a solution other than disabling everything?

[kimmicocopuff]

I have been. I've been leaving reviews on every sales platform I can think of. I've posted on my socials. And you're totally right about posts. 

[Cathiedb]

Thank you for the good advice. I have asked for information to mail it to
them to be refurbished. I’m gonna mail mine back soon.

[themezman]

@weisheinI agree 100% with what you are saying. Posting to this "Community",  or worse yet contacting CS directly, is a total waste of time as far as getting support from Fitbit and their Clown Car Customer Non-Service people. Your experience and that of literally hundreds of others that have posted just in the past few months is inexcusable.  And those are just the ones that I happen to read about since t began following this Topic when my C5 developed the problem just 2 months ago. (I have never received a response of any sort from Fitbit about my Posts either).  I had no idea that people like you have been going almost a year with this problem. But now that you mention it, I've seen some that go back to last October and there was a big batch of unhappy campers in March, all who were told to wait for the new firmware version, which I assume is that which was recently released in the past couple of weeks. Waiting from March or last October or almost a year is unbelievable. And here's something that you will find curious & hard to believe.  I just looked at customer reviews posted at Best Buy for the Charge 5 model,which supposedly we're validated customers of that particular product, After seeing the 1,387 Posts just to this particular Topic which is just 1 of multiple Topics that about the battery drain problem, I found 1,316 reviews at Best Buy for the C5.  64% of those gave it 5 Stars, 19% 4 Stars,  6% 3 stars, 4% 2 stars, and only 7% gave it 1 Star. What is going on with that?? Those figures appear to be exactly the opposite of what I have read in this Community.

  Okay, so here is what I'm going to do tomorrow. 1. Call the main office number for Best Buy's Customer Service,  2.post publicly what is happening with the C5 to Facebook & Instagram, 3. Punch the Checkout Button in my online cart at a retailer where I have a Garmin tracker picked out and in ready to go.

[themezman]

@kimmicocopuff   Pardon my French, but I think that we &  the large majority of C5 owners have been screwed.

[weishein]

I JUST CONTACTED THE LIVE CHAT. Here's the transcript. sigh.... Yes we got screwed.

22:09:01 System: Thanks for waiting. Please provide as many details as you can so we can get you back on track.
22:09:12 Agent: Amy T.: Hi Weishein, my name is Amy. How may I help you today?
22:09:50 Weishein Y.: Hi Amy, as previously communicated with fitbit thru Live Chat, I have problems with my Charge 5, just like a lot of other users.
22:10:02 Weishein Y.: Initially, it was battery draining problem.
22:10:17 Agent: Amy T.: I'll be glad to help you with your Fitbit Charge 5 that has a battery draining issue.
22:10:21 Weishein Y.: Now that after installing latest firmware update, my screen died.
22:10:37 Agent: Amy T.: I see. Sorry to hear that.
22:10:43 Agent: Amy T.: Just to set your expectation, I'm going to provide you with some troubleshooting steps to help you with the issue. Meanwhile, before we proceed, may I know what your country of residence is?
22:11:00 Weishein Y.: i'm in Malaysia
22:11:02 Agent: Amy T.: Thanks. May I confirm if the tracker happens to vibrate when you plug into the charging cable?
22:11:49 Weishein Y.: vibrate after i pressed the button 3 times, to force restart, just like earlier advise.
22:12:12 Agent: Amy T.: Thanks for that information.
22:12:35 Agent: Amy T.: May I confirm if these are the step you have done to restart your device:
22:12:40 Agent: Amy T.: 1. Connect the Fitbit device to the charging cable.
22:12:45 Agent: Amy T.: 2. Press the button located on the flat end of the charging cable 3 times, pausing for 1 second between each press.
22:12:49 Agent: Amy T.: 3. Wait 10 seconds or until the vibration occurs and the Fitbit logo appears.
22:12:50 Weishein Y.: Photo: 0233c215-cca6-48b5-aedd-620a579875d6.jpg
22:12:51 Weishein Y.: this was the next day after firmware update.
22:13:05 Weishein Y.: now, i can't even see the screen anymore.
22:13:14 Agent: Amy T.: Thanks for sharing the photo.
22:13:28 Weishein Y.: 1.2.3. all done. in fact, i can't even see the logo anymore.
22:14:03 Agent: Amy T.: Alright.
22:14:08 Agent: Amy T.: Now, please sync your Fitbit device automatically when you open the Fitbit app or manually by tapping your profile picture > your Charge 5 tile > Sync Now.
22:14:16 Weishein Y.: ive asked for a replacement, way before the 6months period. but was told to wait for the firmware update. now it is worst!
22:14:54 Agent: Amy T.: Thanks for telling. Now, pleas sync your device.
22:15:04 Agent: Amy T.: Please refer to the steps above.
22:15:13 Weishein Y.: i don't have the device with me now...
22:15:24 Weishein Y.: what's the point of having it with me when it is in such condition.
22:15:36 Weishein Y.: i've literally left it on the shelve.
22:15:53 Weishein Y.: the picture was taken last week.
22:16:31 Agent: Amy T.: Oh, I see. In that case, I will give you this case number 46272790 to get back to us once the device and the charging cable are available for us to perform some available troubleshooting steps.
22:16:52 Agent: Amy T.: I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you, Weishein.
22:16:55 Weishein Y.: i tried to recharge it yesterday, sync it. yet still the same. screen dead. i'm sure you can see when was the last time i synced it.
22:16:56 Agent: Amy T.: I really appreciate your time today, and it's a good thing that you contacted us about this.
22:16:59 Agent: Amy T.: As a side note, after our chat, you will receive a brief survey. Any feedback you'd like to provide would be most appreciated and will help us refine our Support processes.
22:17:02 Agent: Amy T.: While I still have you, is there anything else I can help you with? I'd be happy to assist further.
22:18:02 Agent: Amy T.: Thanks for putting your device on a charge though.
22:19:59 System: The chat is ended.
22:20:00 System: Weishein Y. left the chat.

[Busy3]

Getting a Garmin too.., this is so maddening!!! We have been duped BIG
time!

[themezman]

@weishein  Yes, we all got screwed.  Hundreds, possibly thousands of us.

Thank you for posting your chat session's transcript. I have done everything, and much more,  than what the agent told you to do. It sounds like you have too.  It might be worth it for you to do the Sync that you were not able to do during the chat.

 NOTE :It looks like the person did not specify whether you should leave the tracker on the charger or put it on your wrist when you do the Sync. Perhaps try both ways ?

I can't believe that the agent actually said the following about this problem that no doubt she has already been told by hundreds of others with the same problem :

"22:16:56 Agent: Amy T.I really appreciate your time today, and it's a good thing that you contacted us about this"

My suggestion would be to do this survey and express your "feedback" strongly:

22:16:59 Agent: Amy T.: As a side note after our chat, you will receive a brief survey Any feedback you'd like to provide would be most appreciated and will help us refine our Support processes "

Good luck!

[Cathiedb]

Thank you so much !! Good ideas

[weishein]

at this rate, I'm leaving Fitbit for Garmin, for sure! this is after 7-8 years of loyalty to the brand. apparently, they do not appreciate it.

[KB9WNS]

I got one and not looking back.  

[Sarahyogi]

I still have a battery life of 6 hours after the update… any clues on why my watch is now unusable and what can be done? 

[simpan]

Is anyone able to get a decent battery life after the latest firmware update?

I am still getting good hours on an older firmware, but I am not sure how long I will be able to stay on it.

[ChrisB1966]

@simpan I'm getting the same decent battery life as before on the new firmware on my replacement C5.

I don't think it does much either way, it had one glitch for a short while about clock design - I never changed from default but it reported an error then decided to work again.

[Clemens13]

Was getting 1 day with old version. After update, much better ( hope I didn’t just jinx myself). Using about 10% battery per day.

Sent from my iPhone

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everyone, and welcome to our new members.

Thanks for the details and your efforts while working on this matter. As mentioned before, our team is aware of this issue and they're working to identify a resolution as quickly as possible. I understand where you're coming from and apologize the inconvenience this has caused. Please know I'll update this thread as soon as I receive more information from our team.

[KlausVanderson]

Apologies are super helpful.

[ypevie]

‘I’ve had mine for 7 months and it worked perfectly until yesterday. It will only hold a charge from 2 - 3 hours tops and I’ve got nothing extra running on it. I did all the troubleshooting tips and the gps is not on. It was a gift so I don’t have the receipt so I doubt I’ll get it replaced. I am beyond disappointed. It was my first try with this type of watch and I loved it until it crapped out. No stats on my upcoming 3 day kayaking trip I guess. What a bummer. 

[Rodpud]

I am holding out hope the firmware actually fixed mine.  It’s to early to say for certain but ever since I downloaded it I’m holding a charge that lasts for days.   That would randomly happen once in a very very blue moon prior but since the update last row charges lasted like they should      I’d be afraid to download anything else in the future if I’m indeed fixed lol

[themezman]

@YojanaFitbit   "inconvenience" ?  I have seen hundreds of posts from C5 owners who have been a lot more than Inconvenienced for several months or more, are p*ssed, and have bailed on Fitbit.  Correct me if I am mistaken, but I saw you posting this same story back in *March*,  while attempting to placate owners and telling them to be patient.

  Give us some actual information, details, and explanation for the consistently bizzare, sudden, and varied problems happening with an incredible number of the C5 product. 

  Also, you say "as quickly as possible", That "ship/story has sailed".  Give us an actual Timeline.

[Insightist]

Got the update last week, still drained too fast, and won't even stay on now 😞 Repsonds when I connect a charger. Have called support twice. They've asked me to leave it on the charger half an hour, and call them back if the issue persists. The issue is persisting...