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.

[N8teGee]

Hi @phinnc.

I helped my friend get the money off of the virtual card and into his bank account last week, so maybe this can help you. 

What we did was he went to his PayPal account and to the send money tab, he selected send no money to friends and family and then chose debit card as the funding option. He then sent the full amount that was on the card to my PayPal (you can ask a trusted friend or family member to do this for you) and then I logged into my PayPal and transferred the funds to my bank account, I then did a bank transfer to him. The result was that the funds were now off of the card and in his bank account.

Yes this is a bit of a long winded procedure, but it works and he now has the money in his bank account. 

[phinnc]

Thanks so much however I do not use PayPal and the refund was given to me on a virtual debit card (Mastercard). Will just need to purchased stuff from Amazon over the next year.

[Deegeew]

Thanks.  Will try that. 
Regards 

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

[Danicathea]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to reach higher support. I have been on the phone and in an email chain that keeps telling me they are contacting higher support. Then when I get a response they just tell me to do what the initial person told me, which does not work. I end up repeating my same issue over and over again in the same email chain. Then being told they are contacting higher support, then the cycle happens all over again. This is crazy frustrating. This happened when trying to process my refund and now with trying to get my discount code. 

[Lennylugblasie]

Anyone receive their Ionic refund yet ?

[SunsetRunner]

Loads have

[ShaunOR]

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@phinnc wrote:

Thanks so much however I do not use PayPal and the refund was given to me on a virtual debit card (Mastercard). Will just need to purchased stuff from Amazon over the next year.

---

As you don't use PayPal, I've read on here that some other UK-based people have transferred their money without any fees using Revolut.com. Yeah - it's a bit of faff to set it up, but it's another way to get the money deposited into a bank account as CASH.

[Nathan1970]

I also received a virtual MC  but couldn’t able to activate it over the web so called master card and they confirmed the activation however I still did not use it.

how did you activate it Shaun?

[ShaunOR]

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@Nathan1970 wrote:

I also received a virtual MC  but couldn’t able to activate it over the web so called master card and they confirmed the activation however I still did not use it.

how did you activate it Shaun?

---

I'm based in the UK and validated the virtual Mastercard by entering the code and updating my contact details at the website of the UK-based virtual Mastercard provider (B4BPayments). I think you're in the US though aren't you? I'm not entirely sure if the process is the same or different in the US vs. the UK.

At first, my card wouldn't validate when I tried to make a transfer online via PayPal. However, I eventually worked out that I had to enter my UK mobile number into the B4BPayments site so that I could validate any payments made via the virtual Mastercard. B4BPayments sent me a 6-digit code in a text to my mobile phone when I tried to add the card to my PayPal account to validate that I was the owner of the virtual card.

[Nathan1970]

Yeah I am in the US, I guess the process here would be a little different so will try to fix it within next few day, I am grateful of your help. 
stay healthy and safe😊

[Joel17]

Hi Fairmaiden64 

Your not only one with this issue, Fitbit customer service in general are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, not one single individual in the company believes in taking ownership of an issue and resolving it from start to finish.

Will never purchase from them again.

[Shakti101]

Hi @FitbitCommunity @YojanaFitbit ,

I had received the refund amount on 9th April but it got reverted back, as the KYC was not done for my paypal account. I am from India and both the contact numbers given aren't working and there are no email addresses to request to resend the refund amount. Could you please let me know, who could help me in this?

[NitinNigam]

Try below numbers.

When I called on them, someone picked the call and assured that they will
reinitiate the payment to PayPal. Although it's been more than 2 weeks and
I am still waiting for the refund.

00442080997960
00442075700343

Nitin

[Charf1990]

Entering week 8 now and being 6 months pregnant I'm finding this very stressful. Does anyone have any advice on how I can escalate this further please? I'm in the UK and have already called the ionic recall line 3 times! They just keep telling me to check in another weeks time 

[ArjyaD]

Looks like it will take 3-6 weeks again to get the payment. Fitbit+Paypal
is a bad combination they chose. They could have easily issued an amazon
gift card or something similar. Paypal has not been very smooth in
countries other than USA.

[Mittensmum]

My fit bit got disabled immediately and i did not get a confirmation email. Nothing, No discount codes. I call the fit bit help line in Australia and the guy says hi, how can i help you. I tell him my situation, he puts me on hold, then tells me he don't know what he's doing he needs to escalate it, escalate what???!!! WTF, I just want a confirmation email and a code to buy a new fkn watch, 2 weeks no watch! Piss poor system and customer service.

Moderator edit: word choice

[Vixunimpressed]

Fitbit where is my refund????? 8 weeks tomorrow. Your call centre hang up on me and are rude. You occasionally get a nice person who escalates your case, but no reply from fitbit. You can't help on any other means. I was a loyal customer for 6.5 years. I am so disappointed. Why are refunds being issued to people after a few weeks and us at 8 weeks are being left? 

[Himu11]

For India/Asia-Pacific Regions.

I have registered on Mar 4, 2022 and didn't receive any confirmation mail or anything, but my Ionic stopped syncing after a few days. On completion of 6 weeks, I called their UK helpline and the executive told me that he didn't understand, why I didn't receive my refund till now (as it was in the pipeline), when everything seems to be fine. So, he escalated my case and asked me to wait for a few days (no specific timeline) and that I should receive my refund or someone will call/mail me. It's already 2 weeks down from that call, and I still haven't received any mail or call after that. What should I do?

Are there any others, who all are also in the same situation and if they got some resolution to their satisfaction?

- Himanshu

[M_slinger]

I am very disappointed with the total lack of support for the ionic recall. I registered on the 2nd March and despite Phone calls, Live Chats and Emails. I still have no discount code or refund. I have had to send invoices to prove I have a device!!!! 

All I am told is that it is being passed to the technical team. 

Has anyone else got these issues or been able to resolve them

[fairmaiden64]

Where are you at? Im in NSW Australia and yes, having all the same issues. Fitbit is a swear word in our household now. Registered 4th March, 8 weeks tomorrow and still nothing but the runaround and always being asked for more information when I call. Been told it was 'escalated' on the 14th April and again on 27th April. Just all words to placate us. There will be no Fitbit left after this