Feedback about Support team

[vandermude]

The three worst companies for customer support I have known are Microsoft, Google and Fitbit. For example, I am typing an email begging for decent customer support into a community discussion board. I have not an expectation that Fitbit as a company will take this appeal seriously. At best, this will be an opportunity for people to echo my opinion.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi there, @vandermude.

I've moved your post to the Fitbit.com Dashboard board so we can keep the forums organized. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that you've had with our devices and services, and appreciate the time taken in sharing your feedback.

So I can help you out, could you provide me with more details of the issue you're having, the model of your Fitbit device and the steps you've tried so far? Please note you can always visit our Help Site where you'll find more details about our devices, as well as troubleshooting steps.

[vandermude]

Thank you for asking about the problem I have been having. Note that I have been a Fitbit customer since June 2012. I  am a programmer who works in Machine Learning and Data Science. Looking at my weekly progress report July 9, 2012, I had a modicum of useful information. For example, I had the average number of steps. But I had no trend lines to show my progress and no graphs. Helpful but could be much better. On December 12, 2016 the weekly report went from minimally helpful to annoyingly useless. Instead of graphs or histograms, data was displayed as cutsey circles. Numbers were gone except for a single day's maximum out of the week and the total weekly steps. So if I wanted to compute an average, I would have to do it myself. But never, ever, has the weekly report included useful graphs like the weight chart in my beloved MyFitnessPal application. For over six years I have received an aggravating reminder that FitBit does not care about its customer. As a programmer, I know how easy it is to change data displays and configure dashboards to meet individual needs. In all these years, you have never cared to make this capability available to your customers.

[EvMar]

My Alta HR from 2018 finally gave up (actually it works but the display is so light it is unreadable even in a dark room), so I bought an Inspire 3 which arrived last week. Two problems with it and I cannot get any support. Nowhere to call (there was a hotline number back then) and emails are not supported, which leaves online chat. At first I thought it was a real person but now I'm not so sure. In any case they cannot help at all because they just follow the instructions on the Fitbit "help" site which I have already done. If following the instructions would fix the problems then I would not need support. I do not think there are any actual people supporting the Fitbit products.

[LizzyFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @vandermude and @EvMar.

@vandermude You're welcome, and thanks to you for getting back. I appreciate your thoughts about the Weekly Reports and my best advice is to share this as an idea in the Feature Suggestions board. Please provide as many details as you can about what you'd like to see in your reports so our developers can review and take your request into consideration.

@EvMar Thanks for sharing your feedback, and I'm sorry for the inconvenience you've experienced. Before anything else, let me explain that we're no longer offering support via email. However, you can always get in touch with our Support team via chat or phone. Their contact details can be found in the Fitbit app > profile icon > Help & Support, or by clicking here.

That being said, I went ahead to check your details and it seems our team already sent you an email with instructions. Please check your inbox, spam or junk folders and reply back to them if you have more questions about your case.

[vandermude]

I will be glad to provide details, even though I expect, after years of trying, for this to be an exercise in futility. 

There is a deeper systemic problem at Fitbit. Consider this Feature Suggestion thread:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Allow-multiple-same-Fitbit-model-on-the-same-acc...

This goes back a full year. You are getting customers like me who are saying: hey, we are good customers. We have multiple Fitbits for multiple reasons. All we are asking is that the data for multiple Fitbits go to the same account. There is no response. No developers acknowledge the problem. They don't even bother to say, "we hear you; we're ignoring you". Nothing. Nada. The Feature Selection board is a black hole.

So I will go and add my suggestions. My expectation is that it is an exercise in futility and a waste of my time.

The systemic problems with Fitbit and not unique to this company. Like I mentioned, Microsoft and Google have the same problem, going back decades. What these companies have in common is that they are all tech companies and feel that some sort of tech solution is an anodyne response to customer complaints. Real world companies with real world problems typically have a more personalized response, although I admit I get annoyed at the performative "we are sorry you are having this problem" type of response from people who are not really sorry at all. 

Anyway, I just wish that tech companies had better customer service. It is so frustrating to be ignored. Or in this case, you responded with: "I appreciate your response. I am not going to help you. I am not even going to do anything about it, except to give you advice to the effect that you should go to this other department, which in my personal experience, I have gone to and gotten nothing out of."

OK. I will do that. Wish me luck.

[vandermude]

Are you aware that the Feature Selection Board has a 350 character limit? I got part way through what was wrong with the current weekly report. I could not even finish my critique. How do you expect me to describe the features I want in 350 characters? What is wrong with Fitbit? A Feature Selection Board with a 350 character limit? What were they thinking?

[vandermude]

You suggest I send things to the Feature Selection Board, which says the following. My question is, why should I bother?

Feature Suggestions

We are always pleased to hear from the members of the Fitbit community. However, neither Fitbit, nor any of its employees, may accept or consider any unsolicited suggestions, including ideas for new or improved products or services, new marketing campaigns or product or service names. Therefore, please do not submit any such unsolicited ideas in any form to Fitbit or any of its employees. This policy is necessary to avoid potential misunderstandings or disputes that may arise if our new products or services or marketing campaigns where to appear similar to an idea submitted by you.

If, despite our policy, you still submit an idea to us, then regardless of anything contained in your submission you agree that following shall apply: (i) we shall have no obligation to review the submission; (ii) the submission and its contents shall automatically become the property of Fitbit, without any compensation to you; (iii) we may consider the submission and its contents to be non-confidential and non-proprietary; and (iv) we may redistribute or use (for commercial purposes or otherwise) the submission and its contents for any purpose and in any way, without any compensation to you (collectively, the "Terms and Conditions").

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi there, @vandermude.

Thanks for getting back and sharing your feedback. While I understand where you're coming from, we still recommend sharing any ideas that you wish to see in the future in the Feature Suggestions board. That way our developers can evaluate each request and depending on Fitbit plans, change their status. You can check the Feature Suggestions FAQs to learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed.

Your feedback is appreciated and please know we'll continue working to improve our devices, features and services in order to make Fitbit more useful for you.

[EvMar]

Hello @LizzyFitbit, 

The mail tells me how to set the my country in the app on my phone (which I did but it did not change the language on the Inspire 3), and suggested to wear the Inspire a little higher on my wrist so that the sleep would be recorded. It does not mention the fact that the Inspire does not vibrate to let me know about the hourly activity, nor about how the hourly activity is tracked on the device but not synced to the app. 

I went back to my Alta HR which works fine except for display, so I know I am wearing the Inspire correctly. I want to return the Inspire 3 for a replacement because this one is obviously defective. How do I do that?

[LizzyFitbit]

@EvMar It's good to see you here again.

Thanks for sharing the steps suggested by our Support team. While I'm glad you're tracking your details with your tracker, I understand how you're feeling and I'm sorry for this experience. Because you already have a case created, my best advice is to reply back to your email case so our team can evaluate your case and see what can be done to help you out.

By the way, for any warranty-related inquiry, please check our Warranty Policy here.