Fitbit Customer Service - IONIC NOT CHARGING

[bjmacdow1]

My wife's IONIC had its battery die while she was wearing it.  It did not turn on or charge after that.  There are mutliple forums and instructions to fix that problem.  

None of them worked.  She has never had it in the water, never did anything with it beyond wear it for its intended purpose and now it just won't turn on or charge. 

1. We cleaned the contacts with rubbing alcohol and light brushing with a toothbrush.

2. We charged it in the wall then tried bottom right and left buttons for 15 to 30 secs, plugged back in for longer periods of time and tried again, did the same thing with all three buttons pressed -tried the buttom combos while it was unplugged also

 3.  Then did the same thing plugging it into a computer

4.  Then did the same thing plugging it into a different USB plug

Nothing has worked and we have been trying to get it to turn on for several days. 

Finally we called customer service, it is under 2 years old, the warranty was one year, we spent over $250 on it and the best that Fitbit offerred on the phone is 25% off to buy a new watch?  Why would anyone buy a new FITBIT if they won't take care of their design problems?

I have three smart watches including an original Moto 360 and have NEVER had a problem charging any of them.  

We then went to FITBIT Customer Service Chat and got the same response.  It is crazy.  The FITBit response is sorry your watch broke, even though people are complaining about this all over the internet and it is a common known Fitbit Hardware Problem, but we are only going to give you 25% off so you can buy a new watch from us!  Who would buy a new watch from them if they won't support their flawed hardware?

I am beyond irritated with Fitbit right now and my wife is sad because she loves the watch.  

If anyone has any other ideas to get this thing working again it is appreciated.  Please respond with any thoughts.

I also had the customer service agent email me the chat transcript.  If anyone wants to read that pleasant exchange I can post it, it may end up on reddit as this is beyond terrible customer service..  

I hope somone at FITBIT sees this and provides a helpful response.  

Thank you for reading a rant.

[eduardovk]

Fitbit will not assume the terrible way which they make business. In fact, they do not care with us... Customers.

They sold garbage, stole our money and nothing happens.

[WendyB]

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@bjmacdow1 wrote:

My wife's IONIC had its battery die while she was wearing it.  It did not turn on or charge after that.  There are mutliple forums and instructions to fix that problem.  

None of them worked.  She has never had it in the water, never did anything with it beyond wear it for its intended purpose and now it just won't turn on or charge. 

1. We cleaned the contacts with rubbing alcohol and light brushing with a toothbrush.

2. We charged it in the wall then tried bottom right and left buttons for 15 to 30 secs, plugged back in for longer periods of time and tried again, did the same thing with all three buttons pressed -tried the buttom combos while it was unplugged also

 3.  Then did the same thing plugging it into a computer

4.  Then did the same thing plugging it into a different USB plug

Nothing has worked and we have been trying to get it to turn on for several days. 

Finally we called customer service, it is under 2 years old, the warranty was one year, we spent over $250 on it and the best that Fitbit offerred on the phone is 25% off to buy a new watch?  Why would anyone buy a new FITBIT if they won't take care of their design problems?

I have three smart watches including an original Moto 360 and have NEVER had a problem charging any of them.  

We then went to FITBIT Customer Service Chat and got the same response.  It is crazy.  The FITBit response is sorry your watch broke, even though people are complaining about this all over the internet and it is a common known Fitbit Hardware Problem, but we are only going to give you 25% off so you can buy a new watch from us!  Who would buy a new watch from them if they won't support their flawed hardware?

I am beyond irritated with Fitbit right now and my wife is sad because she loves the watch.  

If anyone has any other ideas to get this thing working again it is appreciated.  Please respond with any thoughts.

I also had the customer service agent email me the chat transcript.  If anyone wants to read that pleasant exchange I can post it, it may end up on reddit as this is beyond terrible customer service..  

I hope somone at FITBIT sees this and provides a helpful response.  

Thank you for reading a rant.

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if charging in the wall I hope it was USB Certified

See this thread for charging best practices. If you are not charging it correctly you could be damaging the battery

[bjmacdow1]

It is the charger that came with the Fitbit? Charging Best Practices, you need to be kidding me.  What other USB charging product do you need to pay attention to Charging Best Practices with?  There are close to 60000 views on some of the posts in this forum about charging problems.  The Ionic was designed poorly and Fitbit isn't doing anything about it except suggesting you buy a new watch.  

Enjoy the time when your Ionic stops working despite your use of Charging Best Practices.  

This is a terrible company. 

We are gettign her a Garmin today.  

[Beachgoddess11]

I just finished with a chat session with FitBit customer service and experienced the exactly the same darn thing.   My Ionic was a gift from my son and he paid $250 for it.   I loved my Ionic but wouldn't buy another one. 

After the chat,  I realized I have ti contact then back to figure out if I can get my $20 back that was loaded on my Ionic Starbucks account. 

I'm so disappointed that FitBit manufactured the Ionic to fail after under 2 years of normal use and then only give you a 25% discount.  To replace my Ionic would still cost me $203.   

UNACCEPTABLE!!

[zerodameaon]

It is very unacceptable, also don't hold your breath on the 20 bucks. They clearly have taken the stance of we have your money, bugger off.