Voluntary Safety Recall of Fitbit Ionic Smartwatches

[FitbitCommunity]

Fitbit, in conjunction with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), announced a voluntary recall of Fitbit Ionic smartwatches, which the company introduced in 2017 and stopped producing in 2020. The battery in the Ionic smartwatch can overheat, posing a burn hazard.

The health and safety of Fitbit users is our highest priority. We are taking this action out of an abundance of caution for our users. We will offer a refund to Fitbit Ionic customers.

This voluntary recall is specific to Fitbit Ionic devices. It does not impact any other Fitbit smartwatches or trackers.

If you have an impacted Fitbit Ionic device, please stop using it and visit our webpage where you’ll find:

• Answers to common questions
• Information on how to receive a refund 
• Access to a special discount on select Fitbit devices, bands, and services, if available in your region, for a limited time.

[SunriseRun498]

I have had nothing from Fitbit at all! 🤯

[L0tus]

Yes, at least for the Canadian options. I see comments about prepaid credit cards so the payment options are not the same in all countries.

Sent from my iPad

[L0tus]

I think fit bit should have managed this themselves and skipped Sedgwick or used a different company. Fitbit has been more helpful than Sedgwick.

Sent from my iPad

[Jimnamechui]

I am having the issue as well. I have tried to register yesterday evening for a refund and waited for more than 1 hour. Still getting a message Reference Code Not Found. 

Anybody else having same issue since yesterday?

[lavo2010]

Ok happy to report finally got my refund and new Sense in the post. I am based in Ireland and initially couldn't use the discount code but contacted support through the chat bot and direct message on Twitter, they eventually got back to me with a working discount code and delivery of replacement sense in less than a week from order.  Have to say I miss the angular shape of the ionic but happy to get the refund and replacement.

[David.1974]

Hi,

I am still waiting, 12 hours, 2 chats and 1 phone call and still no sign of my account with the FitBit Advocate... but I now have 2 emails with reference codes that donet work.

[David.1974]

The Advocate i'm talking to doesn't have a clue who Sedgwick is and was concerned I was on the wrong site.  😞

[David.1974]

Evening,

So far I have 3 codes from Sedgwick, none have worked... After close to 50mins on support helpline, the best option provided was to setup a new email address and a new fitbit account, sync my Ionic to that account and the request a refund... 

But the Advocate can see my account and has confirmed email address and that I have an Ionic on the account.

What is going on FitBit?   I've had numerous devices, over the past 6 years and this customer support is at an all time low.

[Jimnamechui]

@David.1974 Just to confirm you have filled the form for refund and when tried to disable/verify the account in step 2. You are getting a message Reference code not found?

[NJR1]

This recall will go down in history as one of the worst ever!!! I had my Iconic for 6 years, I walked 4,200 miles. Wish I would have never sent my watch back. They should have been more specific as to the year of the Iconic that was faulty, with the issue of the battery burning the wrist. NJR1

[cunngoc92]

Live chat link now redirecting to an error page

Call to recall center +442080997960 it just give an auto answer message

They are seems trying to avoid answering.

[Hammeroo]

I have been wondering why my only1visagiftcard balance is not showing up within my PayPal account. So I went back to the gift card to check balance and I get "Technical error, please try again later." What a joke! But when I click accept all cookies AGAIN it works, but not before trying to pick the ducks or whatever from their childish CAPTCHA pics. It's hard to tell a duck from an aeroplane in them! Anybody else notice?

So I want to pay the balance to my other (real) card or, if I can't, to my partner. But I am quite unfamiliar with PayPal these days and for a start I need to know if the virtual card balance is there in PayPal. Anyone know about it?

[OwnTooManyBits]

@Hammeroo The balance from your Visa Virtual Card will not show in your Paypal account. The Visa Virtual Card is attached to your Paypal account as a payment option. When you use your Paypal account to make a purchase you will have the option of choosing which credit card, checking account, or debit card you want to use. On Paypal website Click on Pay & Get Paid, than click on Payment Preferences and set the Visa Virtual Card as your first choice of Preferred Payment. You should be able to use Paypal to make the purchase, but the funds will come from the Visa Virtual Card. Just make sure you check the balance on VVC website. 

When sending money to family or friends from Paypal make sure you do not send the funds as a purchase or fees will be deducted during the transaction. 

Moderator edit: all-caps

[Hammeroo]

@OwnTooManyBits. Thank you so much for your help. It's much appreciated. Well I had already set the Visa Virtual Card as my first choice of preferred payment. Now I might try sending the funds to myself, as family or friends, to my real credit card also in my PayPal account. After all, I purchased a new Sense out of my own credit card because I didn't want to risk Fitbit's choice of bands running out if I waited any longer.

If that doesn't work then I will have to set up my partner with a PayPal account and perhaps I can then pay it, as family or friends, to our joint bank account.

Moderator edit: word choice

[ShaunOR]

---

@Hammeroo wrote:

@ShaunOR Thanks for your advice Shaun. I had selected to receive a Mastercard debit card refund because hadn't used my PayPal account for years. Strangely enough at around the same time PayPal had been sending me emails asking me to update details to my account if I didn't want it to be closed down (or something to that effect). I thought nah, who needs it these days, so just ignored them. But then I started reading all the worrying posts on here from Ionic customers with their particular horror stories from the Fitbit recall experience. So I reactivated my PayPal account after reading that you could redirect the money from the virtual debit card through PayPal to a friend or family member and get them to pay it back to you. But I didn't realise that they also must have a PayPal account! As you said, what a palaver!

So I will have to help set my partner up with a PayPal account, send the money to her and get her to send it back to me, either into our joint account (if that is acceptable) or into my own credit card (which I have used to purchase a Sense that will be ready to pick up from the post office just after Easter). And thanks for reminding me to send her the money as Family & Friends. More palaver.

---

An option may be to send a Paypal payment for the balanace of the Virtual Mastercard to your friend/family member's PayPal as a Friend/Family payment (to avoid fees). Then, when the payment is received in their PayPal account, they could transfer the new balance of their PayPal account back to your PayPal account (again as a Friend or Family member to avoid PayPal transaction fees) so that you can then transfer that into your bank account.

I'd offer for you to send it to my PayPal and I promise that I'll return it to you right away however my only concern is that it would be received into my account as AUD and I couldn't guarantee that the AUD that I sent back would be the exact same amount if there were any unintended consequences with exchange rates (from AUD to GBP to AUD) via PayPal as I'm in the UK.

Why on earth Fitbit could not have had a simpler recall and refund system is beyond me.

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[youhippy]

After reading about the Ionic recall I managed to get my Dad's Ionic signed up for the recall. He received his paypal refund of $309 in his UK account. Fitbit/Google actually put more than the $299 to cover any paypal charges. He also got his discount code and will either get the Charge 5 or the Versa 3. He did like the boxy look of the ionic so he is sad to be without it.

Mine on the other hand was sitting in a drawer after it finally died over 2 years ago. However, Fitbit was still able to accept mine even though it wasn't connected to my account any more as I had an order email receipt that was directly from them. That took a few more weeks to process as it had be checked manually so I am still wating for my refund to show up. 

Since my Ionic died from an update I wasn't going to rush back and buy another device from them. 

Moderator edit: word choice

[OwnTooManyBits]

@Hammeroo 

I started with the Flex

Flex 2- Working

One-No longer can sync

Alta- Working

Zip- Working

Charge- Working 

(7) Force- All Returned for recall

(5) Blaze-All working 

Surge

Charge 2- Multiple all worked, but plastic screens cracked

(3) Charge 3- All work, but screen is too dim to read

(3) Versa 

Versa Lite-

(4) Versa 2

Inspire

Ionic Silver-My favorite

Ionic Bronze-The best watch Fitbit made

Ionic Adidas-Bricked after update

Moderator edit: word choice

[SunriseRun498]

Still waiting for refund 6+ weeks later

[animeshweb]

This pertains to Indian users. Received multiple gift cards of amounts less than INR 1,500 and redeemed them on Google Play Store. But the balance cannot be used to purchase hardware here in India. This recall and refund process is a scam for users like us. Not buying fitbit again.

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[apiwat.mo]

I'm a user from Thailand.
I finished the transaction and it was locked since March 5th.
Over 6 weeks Today April 17 I still haven't received my refund details.

Please clarify and update details.