Sync and Support

[WaterCat]

The Sense looks promising, but poking around the forums here, I'm deeply, deeply concerned that...

1. It seems like Fitbit bricked a whole bunch of devices over the last five months, making them no longer sync
2. There are no functional "support" people; the typical response to any post saying, "I've tried everything at Why won't my Fitbit device sync? and still can't sync.  Help!" is...
   
   "We're sorry you have done something wrong.  Please follow the instructions at  Why won't my Fitbit device sync? to fix it, and get back to us."

This isn't quite as reassuring for a potential purchaser of an expensive toy as Fitbit must believe it is.  Is this accurate, or are the device issues and the unhelpful support really just an extremely unlucky sampling?  Are there some threads where support has actually provided help?

Thanks.

[Odyssey13]

Hi @WaterCat  posts from a Fitbit Moderator, which are scattered about the forum areas, often help the member's issue. The Moderator is able to get customer support more directly involved, when needed. You won't see customer support posting on the forums, but they are in their areas helping people. There are many ways to reach customer support, including chat, phone or Twitter. The forums help a member find the answer, which is why you'll see a link to an article. Moderators are Fitbit employees, but they aren't customer support. Many times a person will ask for help, but they don't always return to say the suggestion worked. Happy people rarely come to the forums because they are out stepping.  

[WaterCat]

The thing is, I read through the threads before writing that.  In the Charge 4 and Ionic fora, as examples, it seems like these problems have been significant and that users haven't found solutions after months, instead ranting that customer services does exactly as I posted above.  Hence my question.  

[Cc53]

Hi @WaterCat ,

I agree, I had a Versa Lite that started to have all sorts wrong with it and wouldn’t sync and is now unusable. I’ve had 1 message from moderator offering a suggestion that didn’t help and heard nothing since. Resigned myself to the fact I will have to get a new Fitbit ( I want one with spo2 eov) so I started putting each watch Name that has this into the search on forums and was shocked to see the magnitude of people all having similar problems with all the watches I looked up. Don’t see how I can buy a new one now knowing this. Very disappointed. 

[WaterCat]

That's the fear I have on the Sense.  I don't typically check support fora before buying a device, but I do check the app reviews.  See https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fitbit.FitbitMobile&showAllReviews=true.  Something like 2/3 of recent reviews are one-star.

@Odyssey13 At least at first glance it looks as if Fitbit doesn't even monitor their own fora and the Play store, and that effective help (rather than being told, "try this article again") is so hard to get that people just wind up giving up.  I exercise to reduce stress; don't really want to buy into something that will increase it.

I do agree that mostly you hear from the unhappy ones, but you don't generally see quite that bad a ratio.  What is skewing the picture? 

[Cc53]

Thanks @WaterCat , hadn’t  checked app reviews. Yes, it’s about the same on the App Store now I’ve looked. 
I don’t usually check support forums either but with mine going wrong I decided to have a look what options for buying another Fitbit (Not that I wanted to) and disappointing to say the least. There are some that get a resolution to their problem but there are a great deal of people who have only just got device and it won’t work and extremely frustrated. I’m not prepared to spend on another Fitbit to have more problems, more so when I loved my Versa lite and would have loved for it to have been fixed but losing hope on that happening. 
Surely Fitbit are aware of the magnitude of problems across their range that can’t be blamed on the user and should be doing something to rectify it. 

[Rich_Laue]

Community support forums are for community members to help each other. 

At many times this advice can be help full or hurt full. 

In general it is best to start with a search for posts that have chosen best answers. 

Keep your posts civilized and there is a better chance of getting an answer. Also keep threads on a single subject, start a new thread rather than asking for how to set the time in a discussion on why is my heart rate not working. 

[JuanFitbit]

Hi @Odyssey13 @Rich_Laue , nice to see you around! Thank you for the information provided and for your help. 

Hello @WaterCat @Cc53 , nice to see you in the Community! Thank you for your comments and feedback. I'll be more than glad to forward it for you . 

As our friend @Rich_Laue mentioned, please try to keep the thread on one topic, so that other users can profit from the information shared. The Community is thought for  information to be shared as well as troubleshooting steps, experiences and to help each other. 

As the kind @Odyssey13 mentioned:  We (Moderators) provide the link to the different articles, as a lot of the users have difficulties to find the appropriate help article for the different situations. 

That being said, if you still are having difficulties with the synchronization, could you please provide us the mobile device's model as well as the version of it's operating system so that the Community can help you further.?

I'll be around if anyone has any question.