Fitbit Pay in the Netherlands-Ionic

[Tim31415]

Today it was announced that Garmin pay will be available in the Netherlands.

I have bought my Fitbit Ionic more than a year ago under the assumption that Fitbit pay would have been available in a couple of months.

Apparently Garmin has succeeded in making the arrangements where Fitbit has failed (so far). A final push towards a Garmin device!

Moderator Edit: Format

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Ericrijswijk]

Does anybody have an idea when the Ionic Wallet will become available for The Netherlands in Europe?

[NellyG]

Fitbit tend not to give out this sort of information until it has happened, so you will just have to keep an eye on the list

Fitbit Pay Bank List

[Demmy1975]

Hello @Fitbit,

When are you planning to set up contracts with Dutch Banks for the Fitbit Pay function in The Netherlands? I have been waiting forever now. Not one bank is listed in The Netherlands 😞 

We use terminals for contactfree  pay almost everywhere nowadays. Even the biggest known bank ABN-AMRO is still not on the list.

Looking forward to some positive news.

Thanks

Demmy

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @Demmy1975! I totally understand you and I do really appreciate your feedback in regards Fitbit Pay with Dutch Banks. 

I'd highly recommend checking out our Feature Suggestion board and adding your preferred bank to the list. This is the best way for our team to gauge interest for new banks to be added. 

These are the ones I already found:

• Please add ONE Dutch bank (The Netherlands)
• Add (Dutch) SNS Bank to Fitbit Pay

Please cast a vote for these ideas and leave a comment to show support for them. 

Keep an eye open for updates! 

[SantiR]

@Tim31415 I hope you're doing well! Thanks for your interest in having Fitbit Pay enabled for the Netherlands. 

I was making some research at the Feature Suggestions Board and found these ideas:

• Add One Dutch Bank (The Netherlands) (Under Consideration)
• Fitbit Pay Bunq Bank Support

The first idea is already marked as under consideration which means that this is being discussed. I don't have a date on when this is going to be resolved, but it is a good sign. Please stay tuned to that idea for updates!

Thanks for your patience. Keep me posted!

[Tim31415]

I have seen the feature suggestion and I have voted in favour of it. However, this feature suggestion is almost 7 months old!

The sad state is that Fitbit used the availability of Fitbit pay as a huge marketing fact with an implied suggestion that it would be available 'soon'. 

For me it is time to say goodbye to the Ionic. It is has been problematic in almost all aspects.

[lenny4d]

>> I have seen the feature suggestion and I have voted in favour of it. However, this feature suggestion is almost 7 months old!

Well, I am not sure if it is Fitbit or Dutch banks & retailers who are to blame!!! In the end it is banks that need to take up and allow for contactless payments, and retailers that need to install the infrastructure. As long as that does not happen I don't think it is fair to blame fitbit! I live in one of the Nordic countries and we see that the adoption of contactless pay is getting massive, both by banks and more and more by retailers. But not all banks. I think the adoption of fitbit pay follows the big leaders like Apple pay, Google pay, etc. They have a LOT more force than fitbit.

[SantiR]

@Tim31415 Thanks for your reply and for providing your feedback regarding this.

Just as @lenny4d was saying; a big part of this decision is taken by the bank itself. Some of these decisions may take a long time to be done as both parts need to be in agreement for the compatibility to happen. 

Rest assured that once I have any updates about this I will let you know. 

Thanks for your patience. See you around! 

[VeryFit2018]

Dear fitbit,

it would have been nice to know that thuis function is not working in the Netherlands.. I didn’t know that which is a bit disappointing. So please add this function in the Netherlands with the largest banks/credit cards. 

Cheers!

[SantiR]

@VeryFit2018 Welcome to the Fitbit Community! Thanks for your interest in having Fitbit Pay available for banks in the Netherlands. 

The good thing about the Feature Suggestions shared above that are requesting for this to be released is that they are marked as "Under Consideration". This is definitely a good sign about this. Please stay tuned to those ideas for updates on it.

Keep me posted! 

[Arufa]

Nearly the entire country has adopted contactless payments for a long time already. The infrastructure is better than countries like Germany, where most people don't even realise you can pay contactless. It's a bit weak that it takes 7 months for a suggestion to be taken "under consideration" when there's obviously a demand for it.

[lenny4d]

Banks that support Apple Pay, Google Pay will usually support Fitbit Pay as well... In the end it is all the same system

[JeroenvV]

Owner of a ionic since okt. 2017. Still no fitbit pay in NL.. For me also hello Garmin and bye fitbit

[lenny4d]

@JeroenvV   Well, Garmin pay connects only to Maestro from ABN Amro and Rabo. Who cares about Maestro - seriously 🙂  ICS supports Visa/MC via Garmin and at least they say they consider expanding to other smartwatches too, in due time. You really should not complain about fitbit, but instead about the slow takeup by Dutch banks. Compared to the country where I live (another European country) the difference is striking and almost embarrassing...

[SunsetRunner]

@lenny4d but it's Fitbit advertising FitbitPay, not the banks. It's being advertised saying "works with your favourite banks". No, it doesn't and after such a long time I doubt it will ever be. Here, in the UK the support is the same poor as in the Netherlands. I don't argue that it may be an issue with banks but as I said, banks do not sell the product advertising it with FitbitPay. Fitbit does. If you decide to sell something to people it's your responsibility to make it work. Instead, Fitbit surprisingly pushes responsibility to the users. You want your bank supported? Then contact your bank and of course post in the "suggestions" forum as if this ever made any significant difference. Neither way will ever have any impact on the case and while we are here discussing and arguing, the company may stay focused on releasing another unfinished product to the market. In the UK the marketing campaign for Fitbit rose to the enormous size and seeing all the ads promising perfect product I just wanna scream with anger.

[lenny4d]

@SunsetRunnerI know what you mean... generally a lot of hype is being generated by the likes of ApplePay and all the followers, GarminPay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay, and soon to come "you-and-me-pay". Because that is where really the problem is : everyone with a NFC chip in their gadget can implement a contactless-pay-solution, and the banks are not necessarily happy with that. Neither the shops because it is Visa and Mastercard who dash off with the profits. It is ridiculous in 2018 that every bank has to sign an agreement with every nfc-gadget company and provide the technical interfaces.Every contactless pay terminal accepts every nfc-card/gadget, and so it should be the other way around too. Every nfc-wallet enabled gadget should AUTOMATICALLY support any payment card regadless bank. This is 2018, not 2000.

But reality is different. That's why even when smart-gadget companies claim "works with your favourite bank" the reality is different and goes slow. It may well end from hype to bust as other even smarter or integrated solutions emerge. Time will tell. That said, I like the nfc-wallet interface a lot, it's neat, and it works well.

In the meantime the roll-out of contactless (nfc) payment with smartwatches isn't going anywhere fast, banks are slow to take it on, because they don't earn much on it, shops are slow to catch on because they have to pay more to Visa etc, and that leaves some of the players stand in the queue...

Again, the problem is not with fitbit etc - I am sure they very eager to see fitbit pay accepted (=implemented by banks) as widely and as fast as possible, as does Garmin, Apple, Google and others. And probably all are pulling their hairs out to make this process simpler and easier for everyone. It is with the service providers, i.e. banks and card companies that things go slow and stop up.

[Sander71977]

On the Rabobank website is an instruction video for Fitbit.

Too bad it does not work at this moment. Had a chat with Rabobank and they will implement Fitbit Pay soon. (Not sure when soon is on the scale: Now ←-- Very Soon --- Soon --- Soon-ish --→ End of Time)

[1nu]

ABN AMRO will support Fitbit Pay "soon": https://www.abnamro.nl/en/personal/payments/wearables/overview.html

[1nu]

ABN AMRO will support Fitbit Pay soon: https://www.abnamro.nl/en/personal/payments/wearables/overview.html