Unresponsive Fitbit Ionic

[Milos86]

I purchased the Fitbit Ionic back in January 2018 for my girlfriend's birthday. She absolutely loves it and has used it every day to track her workouts, steps and activity. It has had several issues on syncing and updates that took hours but nothing too bad. Last month she said it died with half the battery, she plugged it in to charge and it never turned back on. Doing a bit of searching I found that this isn't an isolate incident and most people are facing the same problem after 1+ year of use. Inconveniently being after the manufacturer warranty. I contacted customer support on their website and was told after an hour of troubleshooting and account review that they can offer me 25% off any of their products, or 40% off a new Ionic. There's no options for repairs or any chance to remedy the situation besides having the customer purchase a brand new device, with no assurance that the unit will come free of defects or failing after warranty expires. It's disappointing because I've purchased 3 different Fitbit's for my family (Versa, Ionic and Charge 2).

Does anyone have the same experience with the Ionic going completely dead with no help from customer service? Are there any other solutions besides purchasing a brand new unit? If the unit clearly has a defect why hasn't there been a recall, or at least a program that provides solutions for the loyal customers to have their device repaired / refurbished?

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity 

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello @Milos86 welcome to our Fitbit Community! Thanks for your post and all the details that were shared with me.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and the experience your girlfriend had with Fitbit Ionic and the service provided by our Customer Support team, I totally understand your situation and how frustrating this matter can be for both of you. I would like to share with you that Fitbit is always striving to improve our users Fitbit experience with our products and services. We appreciate all of the input we receive from our Community Forums because this information help us to evaluate our procedures for future cases.

I recommend you to contact our Customer Support team if you have any additional questions about the resolution that was provided I'm sure that they'll provide you with more information and details. Also, for a better understanding of their response, you can your our limited purchase warranty policies here. Note that at this moment we do not have any repair center for your girlfriend's Ionic device, reason why our Support team provided with alternative options.

Let me know if you have any additional questions, I'll be here.