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.

[Wazzah]

For New Zealand users 

I called the NZ customer 0800 number and surprisingly got through quickly!

I started the process and received email on the 8 march of confirmation and refund will be 3-6 weeks.

I've seen people on the thread say about 27-29 days for refunds and I selected PayPal.

The customer service rep said the refund will be about $305.10 USD compared to $299.00 this is to allow for exchange rate fluctuations 

Hoping that the refund will be in the next week hopefully 

Hope that helps NZ based users 👍🏾

[livinginanut]

Which link?

[Gillett1949]

I also had 2 failed ionic devices and have switched to a Samsung Galaxy Watch.  My fitbit account is still active but because I have not synced my device it no longer shows as connected I have even emailed support which they are requiring proof of purchase and serial number of the device, I have given them the emails of my exchange not repair and a photo of my original device this was 2 weeks ago and I still have no reply.  How can they ask for this information when purchased so long ago

[JustNikki]

@livinginanutI'm from tiny europe country and I already got refund (after 3,5 weeks) but I do have problem with access to ionic-upgreade store, that fitbit is "solving" for more than 3 weeks now.

[Satheesh5381]

Fitbit ensured that there are stumbling blocks at every step for it's customers

Even after getting refund mail also, one should not be happy as it will not get added to Paypal account

[Satheesh5381]

@Sarathsanjay 

For Indian customers Fitbit gave only 2 options 

Paypal or googleplay

I have opted for Paypal, and trust me it's even more pathetic... After selecting Claim your money, it says no longer exists...

[Lakhansaxena]

Hi,

when will be receiving my refund of Ionic?  we completed the recall process before dated on 24 March. still pending. 

[VineethV]

@Satheesh5381

Any luck. I stopped trying the number because it is just waste of time and
money. This really is a pathetic customer service from google fitbit.
Atleast give us a general mail about what next action we need to take or
just that they are working on resolving this issue impacting multiple
users.
--
Thanks and Regards
VV

[VMMage]

livinginanut, according to the data supplied by the CPSC regarding the recall, there were about 1 million Ionics sold in the United States and about 700 thousand Ionics sold elsewhere -- so for the Ionic at least, the US market was larger than the rest of the world combined.  And no, it's not "sorted" in the US, I'm still waiting for my refund after Sedgwick received the return kit on March 21, and lots of other US folks are having a variety of problems with the recall as well.  Some people have received their refunds, from what I can see on this thread it appears to be mostly folks in the UK and several of them have reported issues with their virtual Mastercard.

[jackmitchelson]

i bought my ionic back in august 2020 and it’s been unable to charge for the last 6 months, is there anything i can do to fix it?

[LaurenEG]

Someone else said it above but I think if they disabled your device then that means they verified your account as that's what it says in the email, just annoying you didn't receive it with the rest of the information and link to discount. 

Am I missing something or is this site run on a potato that I can't just upload a picture straight from my phone or computer? The title of the second email is "Fitbit Ionic Recall Account Verification- Reference" followed by your own reference number and it was sent by "fitbitionicrecall@sedgwickbp.com" if that helps at all looking in your emails just in case

[Himu11]

Adding to what @LaurenEG mentioned, I think the people in Asia might also have not received the confirmation/discount code mail because not all countries are eligible for the discount code. Only which are mentioned in their Discount Store link: https://help.fitbit.com/en/store.htm are eligible for discounts, so that could also be the reason.

I'm from India and Indians are not eligible for this. I'm already 5 weeks down the registration date, let's see if could get the refund in the next week.

[LaurenEG]

Is the google play store not an app store or do they do gift cards or something that can be used elsewhere online? 

It's kind of ironically tragic that they gave a refund option as a gift card for their own store if that's the case, like screw you if you don't have paypal we'll just keep the money so 😅😂

Do think for anyone looking to change their form of refund now are out of luck considering they gave you the option to choose when registering. If there was going to be a time to fight anything and get somewhere it would have been before registering and agreeing to their terms and conditions.

Moderator Edit: Word choice

[SunsetRunner]

We’ll it does say between 3-6 weeks! 🤷🏼‍:male_sign:

[Odyssey13]

@jackmitchelson  there is a voluntary recall of the Ionic - click to read more

[NitinNigam]

It doesnt inspire much confidence in the ability of a company which asks 3-6 weeks to process an online refund. 
I can understand them taking 2-4 weeks in US because they are recalling the watches through courier. But outside US they just need to verify the account and issue the refund. Taking 3-6 weeks to process online refund is not good for a company which is operating in tech space.

[LaurenEG]

Sorry is the only way I can post in this thread if I reply to somebody? I only registered for the forum to respond but that's just diabolical if that is the case considering fitbit is a technology company and google a computing one 😂 The user interface is shocking, how are people surprised they couldn't roll out nearly 2 million online refunds smoothly 😂

-------

That's so funny I was in the middle of writing something similar when you posted that!

[0hwell]

I received an e-mail today saying my Ionic was received and verified and they will process my refund within the next 10 days. This is the U.S.

[TomDuke]

@0hwell - That's good news.  I believe you were one of the US owners like a few others of us here who jumped on this refund program on day one.  My three Ionics were delivered to Sedgwick on 14 and 15 March so I'm expecting to get that email any day now.  Progress.

[OwnTooManyBits]

@0hwell Great news!!

What date did Sedgwick receive your returned item. From reading through the thread 3-6 weeks seems to be after your watch was actual received by the company and not when you registered.