My experience with Charge 5 and Customer Service

[Ekba]

I had a Fitbit and it worked great until I took my kids swimming when it completely stopped working.  I did all the troubleshooting with the techs and no luck.  Conveniently my Fitbit was no longer under warranty so they gave me a small discount toward purchasing a new one.  I’ve been scared to try the Fitbit in water but today I took my kids swimming and was hoping to get some ‘steps’ in so wore it while we played in the pool.  Both mine and my son’s Fitbit’s stopped working.. and surprise… conveniently neither is under warranty anymore and we get a SMALL discount toward a new one.  I think this is ridiculous!

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Ekba , no device is actually water “proof” and companies are no longer allowed to say that they are.  Instead they use the word water “resistant”.  Unfortunately the resistance can wear off over time due to exposure to sunlight, skin creams, etc.  I personally always advise against wearing Fitbits when swimming or playing in the pool once the warranty has expired.

I assume you have tried putting yours and your child’s Fitbit in a bag of uncooked rice for 48-72 hours to dry it off and then giving it a good charge before a restart .  This can help in many cases where water has penetrated the Fitbit.

[Ekba]

They should not have ‘swim’ as an activity option if you aren’t supposed to swim with it.

[Julia_G]

@Ekba I agree that it should be clearer that the water resistance can sometimes deteriorate over time.