Ionic Screen Coming Out

[johneric8]

I'm going to keep this short and to the point. I've been a loyal fitbit user for quite some time,  I've owned a ton of their products and generally like them.

The Ionic is a faulty by design in it's workmanship and they will likely fail either within your warranty or right outside of it.  My first Ionic the screen came completely off the watch from bad adhesive within 6 months.  They sent me another watch and it failed within 8 months.  This time moisture got into the face and caused the circuit board to fail.  Keep in mind I don't swim,  so this is just from normal everyday use.

After tons of research,  it's known that the knob on the side of the Ionic is letting in moisture slowly but surely and causing the watch to fail. One of the first signs is a smokey white cloud look to the display and then horizontal lines through the watch face.  All of this is caused from moisture and an improper seal and bad button design.

I spent hours on the phone with support with India ;(   and they kept me on hold forever only to tell me that they will not stand behind the product since I'm out of warranty by a few months.  My issue with this situation is that I paid $300 for this watch and two watches could barely make it a year.  If you're having good luck outside a year I can tell you that you are most likely living on borrowed time and the watch will fail very soon.

I talked to a friend of mine in the business and told me that Fitbit knows that the watch has inherent issues with it's seal, but it's too expensive to do a recall so they're dealing with frustrated customers on a case by case basis.  

If you want my advice,  sell your ionic now before it's broken and no longer sell-able.  If you're like me,  you probably love your ionic, but you will thank me later if you heed my advice because one day you will look down and see the seal has failed.

I know I sound frustrated and bitter,  and some of that is true,  but If I knew then what I know now I would of sold my watch and invested in another company.  I'm not saying I won't give fitbit another chance,  but right now I'm very saddened with their customer service.  There customer service was incredible for the Surge,  they always did the right thing,  I just don't understand what happened.

Moderator Edit: Updated Subject for Clarity

[Rich_Laue]

Fitbit has already had one major recall, as for water resistant, note nothing is waterproof, seals to be fine for most people.

I'm not sure on what way they did not stand behind their product, you did get a replacement while under warranty, did you not?

Being out of the legal warranty period, di you expect a replacement? What if it was your car, refrigerator or washing machine that failed outside of it's warranty period.

[johneric8]

You can't really argue with my experience.  I had two watches that failed within 13 months.  I did nothing wrong with either of them.  Why don't you tell me why I have water damage internally without swimming with the watch?  There is no signs of issues with the screen in terms of cracks,  so what is the problem.

In all honesty,  companies can do favors for long time clients such as myself whom have bought many products.  It isn't uncommon at all for companies to honor a replacement when it's near the warranty expiration.  Here is the deal,  when you pay $300 for a watch made by fitbit and original and the replacement fail in a little over a year that is a real problem.   The one thing I think you fail to understand is that I did nothing wrong to cause this,  I took fabulous care of these watches. 

And I do have one thing to say to you in regards to my expectations of a warranty.  With most expensive products they offer to at least repair.  The offer that I was given was to purchase another product at a discounted rate.  Now you tell me why I would want to purchase another Ionic after two watches completely failed close the the warranty expiration?  You can blame me all you want if you think I somehow had something to do with these watches failing but you are off base.  All you have to do is read these forums to see more and more people are having these screen issues very similar to what happened to me.

Mark my words,  the Ionic is going to suffer from a bunch of unhappy people in the coming months when their watches fail like mine because of faulty workmanship.  It's coming,  don't say I didn't warn you.  Keep in mind that I bought my watch as soon as it was announced so I was an early purchaser so everyone else will likely be right behind me.  Maybe enough people will come forward and I will get them to make good on the issues.

[Rich_Laue]

Apple whole it doesn't offer a 25% discount they will charge 75% of the cost to repair, I don't see where Apple is any different then a Fitbit in their policy.

[SunsetRunner]

@Rich_Laue policy can be "changed" if company wants to keep the customer. My wife iPhone was replaced after warranty period ( in the UK ). The problem was battery dying withing 2-3 hours from being charged. She thought they will offer repairing at some cost but they just replaced her device. Maybe it's because it was really shortly after warranty expired or maybe she was just lucky. I don't know that but yeah, such things happen. It's a war to keep customer who has plenty of choice from going to the competitor. Sometimes bending own rules is the way.

[Rich_Laue]

Leagally in UK I believe it is a 3 year warranty, I could be wrong but the warranty info link is found below.

[SunsetRunner]

I think it was 2 years warranty back then but won't bet on that. I know it was past the warranty for the device.

[Sbgatov]

I just had my 3rd replacement fail, so that’s 4 watches under a year. Total junk

[Whistler888]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

Fitbit has already had one major recall, as for water resistant, note nothing is waterproof, seals to be fine for most people.

I'm not sure on what way they did not stand behind their product, you did get a replacement while under warranty, did you not?

Being out of the legal warranty period, di you expect a replacement? What if it was your car, refrigerator or washing machine that failed outside of it's warranty period.

---

What was the major recall for and how many were recalled?

[Sbgatov]

If I paid 300 for a car, I wouldn’t care, but we are talking about a watch. A premium price tag better have premium customer service, and they don’t really have that, in my experience 

[Whistler888]

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@johneric8 wrote:

You can't really argue with my experience.  I had two watches that failed within 13 months.  I did nothing wrong with either of them.  Why don't you tell me why I have water damage internally without swimming with the watch?  There is no signs of issues with the screen in terms of cracks,  so what is the problem.

In all honesty,  companies can do favors for long time clients such as myself whom have bought many products.  It isn't uncommon at all for companies to honor a replacement when it's near the warranty expiration.  Here is the deal,  when you pay $300 for a watch made by fitbit and original and the replacement fail in a little over a year that is a real problem.   The one thing I think you fail to understand is that I did nothing wrong to cause this,  I took fabulous care of these watches. 

And I do have one thing to say to you in regards to my expectations of a warranty.  With most expensive products they offer to at least repair.  The offer that I was given was to purchase another product at a discounted rate.  Now you tell me why I would want to purchase another Ionic after two watches completely failed close the the warranty expiration?  You can blame me all you want if you think I somehow had something to do with these watches failing but you are off base.  All you have to do is read these forums to see more and more people are having these screen issues very similar to what happened to me.

Mark my words,  the Ionic is going to suffer from a bunch of unhappy people in the coming months when their watches fail like mine because of faulty workmanship.  It's coming,  don't say I didn't warn you.  Keep in mind that I bought my watch as soon as it was announced so I was an early purchaser so everyone else will likely be right behind me.  Maybe enough people will come forward and I will get them to make good on the issues.

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Yep.  Here is some other interesting info that affects other devices as well.  Get a screenshot while you can.

Moderator Edit: Removed Links

[johneric8]

Yes,  I knew about the skin rashes people were having and that honestly is crazy..

My issue obviously with the Ionic is it's big price tag and the fact that it won't last much longer

than a year if you're lucky.

Karma is going to pay Fitbit a visit I believe because they know that there are huge issues with the seal but they refuse to admit it.  I guess I can't blame them,  it would probably bankrupt them.

They offered me a 40% discount to purchase a new ionic.  So that would of put it at $170!  Let me ask you an honest question?  Why would fitbit think anyone would dish out $170 for an ionic when they had two fail in a 13 month period?  The second one they sent me lasted for about 6 months!!  This is a sad situation and I'm absolutely furious!  

The only solace I have is I know they will have to pay the piper eventually because everyone who bought one of these watches will have theres fail as well in due time.  Can you imagine in the next few months all the upset customers that are going to be flooding these forums?  I think it will be way worse with the Ionic as well considering we paid $300 for it.

[Rrovar]

I know how you feel pal Iv had 4 ionics this year 3 with water damage and 1 where the screen fell off! Poor and cheaply made rubbish! Waste of £299

[Whistler888]

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@johneric8 wrote:

Yes,  I knew about the skin rashes people were having and that honestly is crazy.. My issue obviously with the Ionic is it's big price tag and the fact that it won't last much longer than a year if you're lucky.

Karma is going to pay Fitbit a visit I believe because they know that there are huge issues with the seal but they refuse to admit it.  I guess I can't blame them,  it would probably bankrupt them.

They offered me a 40% discount to purchase a new ionic.  So that would of put it at $170!  Let me ask you an honest question?  Why would fitbit think anyone would dish out $170 for an ionic when they had two fail in a 13 month period?  The second one they sent me lasted for about 6 months!!  This is a sad situation and I'm absolutely furious!  

The only solace I have is I know they will have to pay the piper eventually because everyone who bought one of these watches will have theres fail as well in due time.  Can you imagine in the next few months all the upset customers that are going to be flooding these forums?  I think it will be way worse with the Ionic as well considering we paid $300 for it.

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Yep many have posted problem after problem in this Help Forum.  Who in their right mind would pay “more money” for a device that is so poorly manufactured.  Personally am afraid for my Ionic to touch any water as the number of water intrusion complaints is over the top.  Screens popping off and the device fizzing out are commonplace.

Then the well publicized fast battery drain after the 3.0 firmware update and bricking of devices in and out of warranty.  Plus random crashing.  You are very right in that the public will come down very harsh on the brand in the next year or so.  They will suffer for sure -> as the users are not as naive as they presume.  The public will not tolerate being bullied.  Magazines and publications and websites will indeed get wind of the magnitude of customer dissatisfaction.  You can bet on that for sure.

[Rich_Laue]

Of course people seem to forget that a community forum setup to help people will attract people that need help. The many more that have not had problems, or like my cousin a quick search of the forum gave him the answer, never have to post.

With many still on their first ionic that they bought some after the release why is it that some can't get theirs to last more than 3-6 months when others have had their for 15 months and still going strong.

Heck I have two brothers each with a Surge still going.

As for the rash, most of it is caused by improper care.

[Drew_Watkinson]

Yet there are other forums out there where you will see the same things being posted about the ionic, it’s not just here in the robo help forums (yes we know how to reset the device)

Syncing issues should of been dealt with long ago yet here we are still seeing them on not only ionic but also with other trackers. I mean it’s freaking bluetooth not a new untested technology. 

Things like buttons falling off and screens becoming detached speak for themselves. Water damage, sure that can be on the user maybe. 

Then you get some devices that are getting bricked by fitbits own firmware updates and this is all supposed to be ok. 

Sorry but I call bull and will be trading my lemon for an apple because it has become apparent Fitbit will not or cannot fix this crap. 

What I am sure of is that Fitbit will continue to do and say nothing, but they sure will churn out another device in an attempt to get people to move onto the next tracker. 

Moderator Edit: Format

[Rrovar]

Well said 

[Rich_Laue]

I can also point to other boards with tons of people complaining about the AW or Garmin.

In fact Apple doesn't like repairing their devices but prefers the user to upgrade by overpricing the repair cost.

[Whistler888]

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@Drew_Watkinson wrote:

Yet there are other forums out there where you will see the same things being posted about the ionic, it’s not just here in the robo help forums (yes we know how to reset the device)

Syncing issues should of been dealt with long ago yet here we are still seeing them on not only ionic but also with other trackers. I mean it’s freaking bluetooth not a new untested technology. 

Things like buttons falling off and screens becoming detached speak for themselves. Water damage, sure that can be on the user MAYBE. 

Then you get some devices that are getting bricked by fitbits own firmware updates and this is all supposed to be OK. 

Sorry but I call bull and will be trading my lemon for an apple because it has become apparent Fitbit will not or cannot fix this crap. 

What I am sure of is that Fitbit will continue to do and say nothing, but they sure will churn out another device in an attempt to get people to move onto the next tracker. 

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Yep.  And the comment posted above about the rash is from a Fitbit supporter not an everyday unbiased user like most that post real issues on here.  Downplaying reality is really in poor taste.  I know someone firsthand who wore my replacement Ionic for one single night and the rash appeared immediately right under the watch.  So complete BS on that guess.  The rash is caused from something in metal that reacts to certain users.  That is fact.  Really.  Misdirection and misinformation in spades.

Get a screen shot -> as surely this post or entire thread may get taken down sometime soon by a bot.

[Fnn]

It‘s been a month since I bought my ionic and now I’m freaking out...

why all the negative reviews just got shared but when i was looking for a tracker everyone praises the god **ahem**ed ionic🚶🏼‍:female_sign:💔