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]

@Fnn the negative reviews are from the few, in relation to the many without problems, that are having problems.

It is simply a case of the ones with problems complain or ask for help, while the ones that are happy have no reason to complain, and don't bother to give positive reviews.

Over the last 4 yearsy e can count those that have told me that they have major issues with Fitbit on one hand. Ok 3 fingers but I might not remember one. I' probably have talked with over a hundred users.

Oh BTW we noticed President Obama has replaced his Surge for the Ionic and you can see it in most of the photos of him.

[SunsetRunner]

You keep defending Fitbit and ignoring the fact that thousands of people are having issues with the Ionic.  There is a real problem.  I know, I am on my third replacement now and take excellent care of my device.  I’m back on this forum to see if there is any more resolution on the problems the Ionic is having since #4 is now no longer keeping time or syncing.  Here we go again...

You need to respect that people are having issues with the Ionic and stop degrading them for posting that there is a problem.

[Rich_Laue]

Can you really count the thousand that are having problems? You seen to be ignoring the many more thousands that are extreamly happy without any problems. From my world experience I think it is more like only 1 maybe 2% of the users with problems. When it comes to a community help board, it is more like 99% of the people who post are having problems. Those without problems normally do not post, these forums are Squad towards those that are not currently happy.

Even though Target, 2 years ago, gave each of their employees that wanted a free Fitbit, Zip, or a big discount on another model and I've worked in the 45 Targets in NJ at least twice I haven't heard one complaint. However many of these Targets have people that want to know more about the next Fitbit.

No I'm not defending Fitbit, I'm looking at reality.

Some in the Fitbit community say that it might be time to go to Apple, yet they ignore the, in your words, "The thousands of users", reporting sync problems after updating, arm rashes which is nothing compared to fires, problems updating, Charging, not counting steps, counting to many steps, pairing problems, Twitter was recently flooded with pictures of their Screens popping off,  the crown not responding to touch, not connecting to LTE, just a few of the promblems with what some feel is a perfect watch.

Personally I don't feel Fitbit or Apple will ever build a replacement for a watch. A watch should easily last 60 or even 100 years being able to be part down to the grandchildren. I still have my grandfather's over a hundred year old picker watch.

[SunsetRunner]

Even in your response you continue to discount the problems people are reporting with the Ionic.  Are you trying to tell me it’s just dumb luck that I have had four of them go out on me with the exact same problem?  Take a good look at the number of people reporting issues with the Ionic in the forums.  You can’t ignore there’s a problem.

Moderator Edit: Format

[Rrovar]

They tried telling me to put in a bag of rice to dry it out? 😭

[johneric8]

Yeah,  I think you're missing the point.  There are tons of problems popping up now that people have owned the Ionic long enough and it's only going to get much worse.  You really need to learn some manners and quit discounting us good people and our experiences.  I've owned many fitness watches and I've never seen anything like this.  This will come to a head you better believe that.

Both of my Ionics totally went belly up at no fault of mine within a 13 month period.  One day I was talking to a friend and he looked down at my watch and said,  is the face suppose to be off your watch!  I was like, NO!  Check the picture attached.  You can see that the buttons are where the leakage is occurring and caused the glue to weaken.  The other shot is my second watch and you can see the screen is damaged with horizontal lines.

[Drew_Watkinson]

@Fnn you are seeing an uptick in people that are angry due to last Christmas’s warranties running out and they are rightfully angry at their sub par quality trackers. My advice to you is upon the first sign of trouble get a replacement. 

Also don’t listen to the schill in this thread that says you only hear of the issues here. A quick look on reddit will yield the same results as you see here except that you will notice issues are across multiple trackers. 

@Rich_Laue you claim 1-2 percent fail rate, care to show a source for that?

Hell just looking around here you will see people on Ionic 3 or 4, let alone the norm seems to be 2. At a 2% fail rate what are the chances that these people are on multiple duds.

Ionic should of been recalled from day one but Fitbit couldn’t as they were under then gun to get a new high end tracker out as their competitors were gaining ground extremely fast. 

In closing I would like to point out the previous company that did what Fitbit is currently doing was RIM and the Blackberry. They too did not listen, they too thought they were above their customers, they too thought that producing more hardware without addressing their current hardware and software was smart and their fall from grace is what is taught in business courses as what not to do. 

If the sub par quality devices being offered is going to be continued then they really should licence out their software and call it quits. It would be more profitable in the long run and would allow for a graceful fade into the sunset instead of the hate filled dumpster fire Fitbit is currently involved with.

After all I did not come up with the name **ahem**Bit but it’s out there. 

[Rich_Laue]

Don't really care to allow than you care to document that thousands and thousands are having the issue?

My experience from taking to people, I find way let that 1% are having ongoing issues.

[pallain]

I've been a longtime Fitbit user, Surge, Blaze and now the Ionic. I briefly left to try a Fossil Android watch most of December and it was complete garbage. Too many issues with the battery being the worst. I was lucky to get a day out of it. For what I use this watch for, it is by far the best I've owned. I get days out of the battery even using the GPS. So far no issues.

[johneric8]

when it works it's awesome pallain..   The problem is,  most likely you will be presented with an issue out of nowhere just getting out of bed.  Trust me,  if you make it past a year with your watch consider yourself in the minority.  My wife has been using her Garmin Vivoactive for three years.

[Whistler888]

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@pallain wrote:

I've been a longtime Fitbit user, Surge, Blaze and now the Ionic. I briefly left to try a Fossil Android watch most of December and it was complete garbage. Too many issues with the battery being the worst. I was lucky to get a day out of it. For what I use this watch for, it is by far the best I've owned. I get days out of the battery even using the GPS. So far no issues.

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Yep my replacement has not yet crashed.  But my first one was replaced after just one single week.  So reliability is very suspect.  Very much the luck of the draw.  Many are lucky -> many are not.  Multiple replacements handed out is not normal by any stretch.

[Cwheeling]

I bought my first Iconic during the presale, worked great for several months then failed. After a 4 week turn around I got my replacement and was told 3 times during our phone call my warranty expires in Dec 18. Well its Jan 19 and the replacement is glitching and the screen has developed lines. Don't get me wrong it still works but I feel like my Fitbit relationship is on shaky ground. I have owned a Flex, Blaze and now an Iconic and loved them all but having to replace each one  every year is a bit much. I measure steps and cycling routes daily. Not looking for sympathy just sharing my story!

[johneric8]

Lets make no mistake about it,  the Ionic was a great watch when it was working,  so I can see how you would be pleased.. The problem is when it decides not to work a day after your one year warranty expires.  At that point,  there is no repair station to send your watch too,  only a lonely message from fitbit to send them another $175 for another one.  Trust me,  your watch won't make it very far past the one year mark if you use it daily.

[Pescho33]

When the wrist turns off, the battery takes 6 days. The only problem is syncing. With HTC One E9 + synchronize but with HUAWEI 10 mate Lite You mark a lot of time and zoom more do not want. Fitbit Jonic is 10 months tested in the pool and the sea without a problem 

[SantiR]

@johneric8 I hope you're doing well! Thanks for taking the time to share the experience you have had with Ionic. It's unfortunate to read that the last solution provided by customer support wasn't the best for you. Thanks for sharing your feedback on this thread.

@Rich_Laue @SunsetRunner @Whistler888 @Rrovar Thank you for sharing your experience on this thread regarding Fitbit Ionic. 

@Rrovar Thank you for sharing the experience you have had with customer support. Please continue replying to them and inform about the steps you have tried so far so they can provide you with a different solution.

@Sbgatov Thanks for sharing your input on this thread. Is the latest replacement working properly? What kind of issue have you experienced?

@Fnn Welcome to the Fitbit forums! Thanks for your participation on this thread. Have you experienced any issues with your Ionic so far?

@SunsetRunner Thanks for posting on this thread. Are you using a compatible device? If you are, please follow these syncing troubleshooting steps in order to sort this out.

@pallain @Pescho33 I hope you're doing well! Thanks for taking the time to share the positive experience you have had with Ionic so far. Feel free to check the list of compatible devices here. 

@Cwheeling Thanks for sharing the situation you are experiencing with your replacement watch.

I went ahead and created a case with customer support in your behalf for you to get further assistance with this. Keep an eye on your email inbox for next steps.

Keep me posted! 

[Goresh]

In Australia we have "fit for purpose" statutory warranty, meaning if the product does not do what it is reasonably expected to do, you get to claim for repair/replacement.

The upshot of which is that Fitbit will replace a faulty Ionic if it fails for awhile even outside the expressed warranty period.

[ionic-jo]

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@Goresh wrote:

In Australia we have "fit for purpose" statutory warranty, meaning if the product does not do what it is reasonably expected to do, you get to claim for repair/replacement.

The upshot of which is that Fitbit will replace a faulty Ionic if it fails for awhile even outside the expressed warranty period.

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I have just received my replacement Ionic Fitbit, and so far happy

My job in the UK is working in the retail industry, including customer service, so as for Fitbit Customer service, when done properly its brilliant, and they get it right, but when it dosn't go to plan, then they have problems 

The ionic has something which in my workplace would be classed as being defective, and for example last year, two customers brought back Bluetooth earphones, they weren't charging.  We logged the fault on our system, only to find out, other stores had the same problems, so a recall was issued for the Bluetooth earphones

Now with the Ionic Fitbit, we all know something not right with the watch, and if in warranty were might be lucky to get a replacement, but if out of warranty, all you might get is 40% of a new watch

I believe Fitbit should replace all Ionic Watches, no matter if out of warranty, or issue a recall, but the issue with a recall might be, refunding everyone £300/$300

[sharenslz]

The mods can claim those on this site with problems are in the minority - but the truth is that  every dissatisfied customer is not shy in telling family & friends of their experiences .

I had 3 fail in 13 months - the last one lasted 23 days . As in the UK I was able to get a full refund from

Amazon. As I left negative feedback on Amazon I now get asked to assist with questions from potential buyers - and I just give them the link to this site . I've had 2 replies thanking me for the info and that they bought  other makes . Helping others to avoid the problems I had - makes my day.

[Cwheeling]

I am sad to say after 6 months I have lost another Iconic watch. Not because of me but “another one bites the dust”! During an activity my battery died and now after cleaning terminals, new charge cord, and try many times to reset. I have to throw in the towel! It’s gone!😢😕

I may call customer service just to inform them of my heartache. Thanks you for the years of service! I understand that eventually my warranty will run out but I’m still scared to pay for something that keeps dying every 6months. Help me understand what keeps happening! 

[Cwheeling]

Just noticed  Today is my 5 yrs anniversary with Fitbit! 26 million steps! It’s not the same using my phone:-(