Fitbit Ionic dead

[rolf1976]

I got my ionic almost 2 years ago and the other day it went dead. tried charging it the usual hoping the battery was drained (never removed the watch unless i need to charge it) so left it for more than 1 hour and still nothing. transferred the usb charging cable and still the same. Tried all the Fitbit troubleshooting tips and still not working (wondering if ionic battery life last only 2 years). Any thoughts?

[Michel-nl]

Same here stoped working without any failure or low battery. 

[Tonyk]

Same thing happened to me and my wife's, both about 2 years old

[rolf1976]

this is not just a random case of ionic shutting down then. complains keep piling up everyday. i wonder how fitbit will address this. they haven't given any response yet.

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello guys! It's a pleasure for me to provide assistance with this situation, my apologies for the delay in responding your posts. Welcome to the Community Forums @rolf1976, nice to see you again participating here in the forums @Tonyk @Michel-nl, welcome back.  

I'm sorry to know that each of you are experiencing difficulties with the battery of your Ionic devices, I'd like to recommend some troubleshooting steps to resolve this behavior. That said, I recommend to first check the steps from our help article: Why isn't my battery charging on my Fitbit device? and then try the last step which is a restart. If after trying such steps your Fitbits are still not responding, please follow the next steps to perform a factory reset procedure:

1. On the device, hold all three buttons for about 10 to 12 seconds.
2. When the Fitbit logo disappears, quickly release the bottom right button, continuing to hold down the left and top right buttons (releasing the bottom right button as soon as the logo disappears is time sensitive).
3. When the device vibrates, release all buttons.
4. Wait for approximately 1-2 minutes while the device clears all data. Eventually, the Fitbit logo appears and the device boots and displays Fitbit.com/setup.
5. When the device successfully resets, please use the normal out of the box process of updating the firmware. You can check: How do I update my Fitbit device? for more details.
6. Take in consideration that a factory reset deletes any stored data, which includes all data that hasn't synced to your Fitbit account and your applications, alarms, etc.

Your patience troubleshooting this situation is appreciated, please keep me posted.

[rolf1976]

@Ricardo, appreciate the response and before I lodge my query, I have gone over all those steps (i even used a multitester to check if im getting enough DC power and to check if the cable is okay and it's working just fine) unfortunately, even with enough patience, i have to say, all the troubleshooting tips are not working and i have to stop. below is the transcript that was asked by one of the customer service rep.

Upon checking our back end tools, we can confirm that your Versa synced 3 days ago, around 11:57 AM with 24% battery level. As mentioned, I am using Fitbit Ionic. And 3 days ago, July 26th was the last day my Ionic was working

With this, we'd like to confirm if you have followed all the suggestions in the article Why isn't my Fitbit device's battery charging?. Yes, instructions were followed as per recommendations and did a check of the charging cable with a multi tester and cable is fine (I have 5v DC power).

If yes, please answer the following questions:

- Is the green lights at the back of the device is still flashing? No. No indicator or whatsoever. 

- Does the tracker vibrate when you connect it to the charging cable or does it vibrate when you press the button? No. The unit is totally dead. Tried to reset it (pressing the 3 buttons at the same time) to no avail. 

- What do you see on the display when the tracker is connected to the charger? Totally black screen. I don't see even the battery indicator 

- Have you tried charging the tracker with a different charger cable? No. As mentioned, I have multi tester. I am getting 5v DC. Anyway to rule any problem with cable i will test it and get back to you.

Also, I have received an update from Fitbit informing me that there's no replacement parts and physical repair centers to service faulty fitbits which is really surprising.

So the question is what now?

Moderator edit: Format 

[SunsetRunner]

Same problem here and I went through all the instructions as well.

I think a buggy firmware update bricked a lot of Ionics.

I am asking for a complete refund from the seller and will be moving to another brand.

Cheers,

Mathieu.

[rolf1976]

so when your out of warranty and your device stopped working for no reason at all and they do not have a repair center and even parts to repair it, Fitbit will just apologize and cannot do anything???

instead, they tell you;

""Since you have been our valued customer, we would like to introduce our new Fitbit trackers that we've based on our customers' feedback. For more details, please see http://www.fitbit.com/compare""

this is very disappointing!!

[Jpereiro]

I have one that did the same. I’m hoping for a replacement or refund. It’s pretty surprising that Fitbit doesn’t have a place to repair when so many people buy the devices and they aren’t cheap! 

Hopefully I’ll get help and good luck to you all as well!

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello! It's a pleasure to continue providing assistance, sorry for the delay in responding each of your posts.

@rolf1976 I appreciate all the information and details that were shared in your post, I totally understand how frustrating this situation can be. Also, thanks for taking the time to share your personal experience with us. I was informed by our Customer Support team that they already provided you assistance with this situation, therefore, I suggest you to get in touch with them again if you have any additional questions regarding the outcome of your case. Don't hesitate to contact me back if you need assistance with anything else.

@SunsetRunner Thanks for troubleshooting this situation and for sharing your thoughts with me. Please keep me posted if you're able to return your device with the retailer where it was bought because otherwise our Customer Support team can provide you with further assistance. 

@Jpereiro Our Support team informed me that assistance was already provided regarding this situation, therefore, I suggest you to contact them back if you require further assistance with this situation. Don't hesitate to ask me any additional questions you may have. You can check our warranty policies here for any inquiry related to a refund or replacement procedures. 

See you around.

[Michel-nl]

And me? still have the same problem and nobody contacted me? 

[rolf1976]

@RicardoFitbit  Maybe its not clear or something. Fitbit did not resolve the issue and my Ionic is still dead. Only Fitbit can tell you since its out of warranty, buy something else from them which is not fair. Its not our fault that Fitbit does not have any repair center and serviceable parts.

Anyway, don't sell a product (cheap one) if you can't repair it.

[Michel-nl]

The sales team do nothing, they do not respond on emails. The only things you can do is write in this community

[TruenoAE86]

My Ionic also meet the same fate of sudden dead.

Last night it was 87% battery before I sleep, morning I just noticed the app does not detect Ionic at all so I tried to check and it just dead.

I have tried the reset with the 3 buttons then 2 buttons.. nothing at all.

Ionic just completely dead, does not have any sign when put on charger (no screen, light on HR sensor whatsoever). 😞

By the way how do we reply in thread without replying to someone’s message? I can’t see any button to reply in thread so I had to use reply someone’s post.

[Michel-nl]

Same problem as everyone else and no solution unfortunately.

[Okiebob]

Obviously, many of us are experiencing the same problem with our Ionics and are not getting any satisfactory response from Fitbit.

My wife suggested I just go buy another new one! Wrong! I will buy something but, I can assure you it won't be a product from Fitbit....EVER. Worst customer service I've ever experienced with any company in the world with the possible exception of AT&T and no one is that bad!

And I can assure you I'll be telling everyone I know how sorry this company is!

Bye bye Fitbit

[Neehar]

I've had the same issue, for me first the buttons stopped working, then they started working when i left the ionic overnight. The next morning suddenly the battery started draining quickly. Finally the Ionic Died completely and will not turn on no matter what i do.. Tried all the steps and even changed cables.. but its just dead. As soon as the Customer care realized my warranty expired in March i was not entertained at all.. its been a very bad experience.. Honestly i gave Fitbit a second chance as the same thing happened with my Surge and i feel really stupid buying another Fitbit product.

[Jpereiro]

Yes, it’s pretty sad. I made it clear to them that I will be switching to a different brand and letting everyone know via word of mouth and social platforms my experience. They then “upgraded” my 25% coupon to 50% but honestly it would still be money wasted. I had the same thing happen to me with my charge hr.

Sent from my iPhone

[michaelmerwitz]

i have the exact same problem --

- ionic was working perfectly well this morning, and synced at 8:42am.

- i took it off my wrist and put it on the charging cable -- status was 60%.

- left it for 20-30 min and took it off the charger at 98%.

- put it back on my wrist, and about 10 min later when i looked at it the screen was unresponsive.

i've tried all the button press combinations, cleaning the contacts, putting it back on the charge cable etc., but it is still dead. there are no lights on the back, it does not vibrate or flash, and the companion app searches without success.

what now, fitbit????

[CDCan]

My Ionic has just done the same thing. No response in following the reset. Won’t charge. It had a charge when it became totally unresponsive. By the remarks previously given, I’m not happy with Fitbits’ response. But I’ll try, see what happens and make the change to another brand if needed.