Charge 5 not responsive

[Snose]

Post here if your charge 5 has died and share your support experience. I'll start, I bought my family 4 charge 5s last year and they are now all dead out of warranty. All I was offered was 30% off another device which is an absolute joke.

Moderator edit:  updated subject for clarity

[StaggerLee1]

Part of the club. Blank screen of death hit me last Friday. Chatted w customer support, went through the resetting process for the tenth time and nothing. Told me they would email me later. 

I’m dumbfounded how a company can release an update that annihilates a whole product line and then expect us to just say, gee thanks can’t I buy another one of your products? 

[BStew19]

got wet now screen is black. simple dunk in a freshwater lake. nowhere near 50m water resistant. was less than 2 years old but of course out of warranty. all fitbits should be suspect for water resistance.

[SammyIAmmy]

Mine went dead on me yesterday, 13 months after purchase so out of warranty. I have been trying all day to bring it back to life. Frustratingly it will (sometimes) charge, only to go from 100% to 20% withing minutes. If I can't get this one working again I think I'm off to look for other products.  This is too much money to pay for something that lasts barely 1 year.

[StaggerLee1]

Heard back from Customer Service here is their response:

”Unfortunately, your product doesn’t meet the replacement requirements of our warranty policy. For details about our warranty policy, see fitbit.com/returns”

Seriously? No other explanation or anything. They released a firmware update that made my Charge 5 not work but somehow it’s my fault? 

I’ve been a Fitbit customer for 6 years, but done now. Like others said, I’m going with Garmin. What a joke.

[JESPRO]

Mine is 1 year and 2 weeks old. Worked fine yesterday, woke up this morning... dead. Thought it neede charging (used gps tracking for my walk yesterday evening so perhaps the battery ran out sooner), app says it's at 99% and registered when I woke up etc. But the screen stays black. Tried the button on the charger, it sometimes lights up for about a nanosecond and then goes black again. If this is the end of my expensive watch, I'll never buy FitBit again. My Charge HR lasted me 6 years, the device still worked but the wristband was worn out and no replacements. Since Google took over it went downhill. My husband's Fitbit also died after an update. I've got the feelig they use updates to render the device useless and then they offer you a tiny discount for a new expensive watch which again dies within mere weeks after the warranty expires... a little too coincidental, no? 

NOT a happy customer here!

[Jus10pa2]

first one I bought lasted 90 days, figured it was fluke. Was able to return it and get another but that one didn't even last a year. They are definitely not built to last!!

[SammyIAmmy]

Yup. Mine's dead now at 13 months so I haven't even bothered with customer service because they will just say sorry it's out of warranty.  Sorry to say it, but I am done with Fitbit.

[MJ_summer]

Hi! My charge 5 screen went funny yesterday evening after swimming for 10 minutes and got black this morning. Still monitoring but now it's not charging so it will be dead soon. Only 8 months old so I hope I get a replacement!

[AlexB23]

I got my charge 5 for Christmas of 2022. Last night the screen went black and no amount of rebooting or resetting would fix it. I called customer support this morning and they walked me through the troubleshooting steps but concluded there was nothing more they can do. He said their support team would reach out via email but all they did was all for me a discount on another product. Why would I want to buy another version of the same product that just died in 18 months with zero customer support for the product. I told them that this offer is and satisfactory and then I expect them to replace it for free since this is a well-known issue with the device, and the customer support rep basically just stonewalled me. Why would I ever want to buy a second version of a product that is known to fail and has no customer support to speak of? I think I just have to stop using Fitbit.

[Sqw]

I had not synched my Charge 5 for a couple of weeks because of being busy but then charged to 100% and synched on 23rd July as we were going overseas. Worked fine all day 24th, woke up 25th and it was completely dead. Didn't take the charger with me as I knew it would survive so had a dead Fitbit all week.

Got home and charged it yesterday. It works fine when it is in the charger. Can get it to connect to my phone and synch all good. As soon as I take it off the charger it is dead. The battery shows 100% and stayed at 100% even when not connected all night, so this also seems connected to the update.

Have been through the same steps as everyone else via the live chat. Having cleaned it I am being asked to leave it connected to the charger for 30 minutes and then get back to them but I don't expect this will make any difference. Sounds like I am in the same boat as everyone else. This was bought for me last June so is also out of the one year warranty although being in Europe they should be bound by EU rules that binds people to two years. We'll see I guess.

[ptx1]

I got the same reply from customer service after my Charge HR 4 quit after 10 months after after being replaced by factory.for the charge 4 that quit after not even 1 year. They are offering me 30% discount on another Fitbit . I know it will fail before the year is up.  This is my forth fitbit and the last one. No more Fitbit products. They suck. They are a money pit. One has to budget for a new sportswatch from Fitbit at least once a year. This is pure nonsense. Fitbit doesn't know to make a reliable product. It is very disappointing that American company can't make an electronic product that will last more then a year... Frustrating. Now if I switch to a different brand, I will loose all the data from the past 4 years...

Frustrated senior customer here!

[Goingtoloseit]

The same thing happened to my Charge 5 on Monday! 

[ptx1]

It must be that firmware update or planned obsolescence. I hate thinking that way...

[stellafred]

Mine went dead about three weeks ago. I bought it when it first came out (Fall 2021?) so it’s out of warranty. I’ve had many different Fitbit models and this was my favorite…everything I wanted, in the perfect size and configuration. I have a “backup” Inspire2 that I’ve been using since the Charge5 died. I like it too, except the screen is impossible to see outdoors. I didn’t even bother contacting support, as I know what they’ll tell me. I’m trying to decide now whether to switch to the Versa4, wait and see if Fitbit issues anything new this month or next that looks interesting, or defect to Garmin. I’m leaning toward Garmin, but I’ve been with Fitbit since 2014 and the thought of letting all that data go is disturbing to me. Up until my Charge5 died, I’ve been very satisfied with Fitbit all those years. I’m hoping this is a glitch, but the more I hear and read it sounds like planned obsolescence, which is beyond annoying. I fear Google is trying to push everyone to their watch, but that’s a nonstarter for me for many reasons. Just not sure what I’m going to do.

[Ecgirl07]

Got the Charge 5 as replacement in the great Ionic debacle March 22. It had the mad battery drain in July which seemed fixed and yesterday the screen went. My only crime might have been wearing it swimming twice for about 20 minutes in July 23 (but as it tracked swimming as an exercise that shouldnt be a problem). As it is 1 year and 5 months old I can still get a warranty replacement as Im in the UK. So this morning I have a 40 minute chat with support doing the synch, change the clock face, reboot via charger cable and then got the replacement or 50% off a different model email. 

Interestingly while checking out the different model I noticed Google Pixel watches were part of the options - are Google going to phase out the fitbit brand? 

Going forward if Charge 5 keep breaking within 12 - 16 months I should be getting a new one under the 2 year warranty in the UK every year and a half.  

Edit to add mine is not on the latest update im on firmware 57.20001.188.58

[Mishes26]

My Charge 5 went dark July 27th.  I tried the reset and got the Fitbit logo, but nothing else.  I pushed the reset button 3 times, waited....nothing.  I disconnected it from Bluetooth, turned my phone off, restarted everything and nothing.  Took it off the charger and waited a couple of days to let the battery run down and tried again, nothing.  Deleted the app, and the device and tried starting over and nothing.  Haven't contacted support yet.  

UPDATE 8/5/23: I did Chat Support yesterday and after a few quick questions, was told that I was eligible for a new Charge 5. I received a "Replacement Offer" email within 5 minutes of ending the chat. I could choose between a new Charge 5 or 50% off another Fitbit.  I went with the Charge 5 replacement.  Got a second email 10 minutes later confirming my choice.  A third email a minute later stated that my request was being processed and that it would take 4-5 business days to process.  They also mentioned that Fitbit is now a part of Google??  

I'm really grateful for this forum and appreciate all the responses I received.  I'll update when I hear back from them.

[AudreyAB]

Same here. I told them it is something that seems to be happening a lot with the charge 5. My screen stays black. Bought it 16 months ago so no guarantee. And they didn’t offer a rebate for a next one. But clearly won’t go back with FitBit. Loved my Charge 4 that lasted 3 and 1/2 year, but quality seems to go down…

[KalleS]

I gave two once also, both dead…

[Europa18]

Mine started going blank after the last update as well.. At first the screen would go black and the unit would turn off once or twice a week. Now it is multiple times a day. It is so frustrating. It always restarts as soon as I put it on the charger but we are soon to go on holiday & I don't want to have to carry the charger cable with me everywhere just to get my stupid watch to work. I haven't been able to get in contact with Customer Service but I guess there isn't much point as I'm fairly sure it is out of warranty now. Reading all your same experiences makes me think it's best to just give up & buy a different brand.