Air bubble on charge HR band

[SunsetRunner]

An air bubble has appeared on the strap of my charge HR. I follow care instructions on my band. I'm gutted as I've only had it since Febuary. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

[S_RAKHIT]

I will suggest to buy a strap matching the charge HR. You can watch some
related videos in YouTube. Until you are very particular about the looks,
it should hold the purpose.

[capryce]

Just noticed on mine too. The edge of the screen has a bubble causing it lift away. Shall definitely be contacting their customer service abou this.

[kaycee1]

Good luck with this, i just received my third charge hr in 9 months (second replacement) after the first two also had this issue. The first one lasted 6 months and the second one lasted 3 months, 

They offered me a  replacement or 25% off a different model when the first one failed and a replacement or 50% off when the second one failed and there is no way i am going to waste anymore money on this product. They refuse to admit that there is a flaw with this device and just offer replacements or discounts. I can imagine when the 1 year warranty is up i will be #%!@ out of luck.

When this one certainly fails i will be done with fitbit as i basically wasted $200 on a device that will only last 3-6 months.

[nikvanenvy]

Yeah, totally agree.  Same response not admitting any issues exist and instead telling me to properly care for it.  Need to find an alternative tracker, I hear Garmin's are great.

[Twistngrind]

Can't really expect too much from the company considering it is more of a cosmetic issue rather than actual function. Mine bubbled, has been bubbled for well over a year, been through water, dirt, mud, & horse crap for that year without any function issues. Mine has peeled away from the face of the tracker and still functions just as well and let me tell you, it is beat up and dirty as hell. I got this one about a week after the Charge HR came out, still works perfectly & it's never been cleaned. If it gets nasty I just unbuckle it & wipe it on my shirt or jeans & put it back on. They all have their flaws, it's impossible to make a perfect product each time so no matter what tracker or company you go with, someone will have had an issue with one of the models at some point. If it was an issue that compromised the functionality of the tracker, fitbit may be more inclined to offer a better response, however it seems to mostly just be a cosmetic thing that people find unappealing to the eye. If I were fitbit I'd tell them to suck it up unless the tracker is proven faulty because of the issue. 

[nikvanenvy]

I don't buy that.  A company has to stand behind their entire product, not just parts that they deem relevant (high quality doesn't imply perfect).  That's like saying a car company is not responsible for brand new paint on a new car peeling off as long as the engine works.   Fitbit's failure to acknowledge a product defect is irresponsible because it doesn't put the customer first like most great tech companies do (Amazon, Apple, etc).  This is clearly reflected in their stock price and company valuation - they've lost nearly 80% of their market cap the last few years and there is no sign of turning around this sinking ship.  I'll bet anyone on this board that unless they change their policies, they will either be taken private or delisted off of the NYSE/bankrupt in the next 18-24 months.  The market is too competitive to put customers second.

[ChasM603]

Agreed..while deterring which new tracker to purchase I will refuse use of their insulting 25% off (time limited) offer and will try to fix the faulty band on the replacement provided when under warranty....if/when that fails a different tracker , likely from a different t company will be purchased.

All the silly emojis and Happy bsfrom tech support cannot overcome the faulty devices they do not sufficiently address so in the words of Curly Bill Brocius in Tombstone "well...bye."

[kaycee1]

@ twistngrind Seriously laughing out loud right now what the heck are you smoking, please send me some ! You may want to walk around with a piece of crap on your wrist but i can guarantee you that the majority of people don't.

Whether it is a cosmetic or function issue doesn't matter it is still a piece of crap and they should acknowledge the issue.

Suck it up.....(shaking my head) 

[Twistngrind]

Ok well my piece of crap is 100% functional and just as good as a brand new one with no faults. I actually have 2 that are bubbled & work just fine. I'm not vain enough to care about a stupid bubble that no one but me ever notices. Sorry that whatever I'm smoking keeps me sane enough to not care about something that doesn't affect the functionality of the product I use. As for their customer service, I was contacted and offered a replacement at no charge after my first post on this thread, which was the 2nd one that bubbled. I never even said anything about wanting a new one and my tracker was no longer under any type of warranty, so they went above their duty for me. When this issue first arose they owned up to it & replaced countless trackers for no cost. They can only bend over for people for so long. This tracker is now obsolete after the newer model, so why keep offering to replace a tracker they are trying to stop making? With the change in band style on the Charge 2 I'd say they remedied the issue very well with the new model. 

[ChasM603]

The strap is part of the functionality..we did not buy a clip on model...the HR function requires skin contact.

To assume we who object to replacing known faulty products with known faulty products until their surplus inventory  of faulty products is depleted are objecting out of vanity is dismissive.

The strap has bubbled so much that it flaps and catches on things. Depending on you profession that may be unacceptable and or dangerous.

[nikvanenvy]

All good, online forums tend to get heated.  Best of luck and much to love to everyone.  Thank God we have the freedom to choose products as we wish.  Some have a higher tolerance than others when it comes to sub-par quality.  To each his own.  For me, bye bye Fitbit.

[kaycee1]

twistngrind you should have a fitbit moderator tag under your name as you have your head in the sand as deep as they do. This has nothing to do with vanity and everything to do with a company that is peddling a faulty product.

And when this issue first arose they did not "own up to it" they continued by replacing a faulty product with another faulty product unless you wanted to spend more money on a different model.I didn't spend $200 just to turn around in 3 months to spend even more money

Most companies will stand behind their product by giving a full refund or an upgrade with the improved model instead of continuing to pass off their garbage.

[Twistngrind]

Well my bubble is on the outside, as are the majority of the bubble issues happening, so that doesn't affect the contact at all. If you're working in an environment where a flap is unsafe, most likely the tracker in general is unsafe to wear. Where I work a tracker wouldn't be allowed to be worn in the shop with all the equipment and machines. Mine has survived with the bubble through long days at the barn with horses & livestock, hay, equipment, mud, rain, dirt, poop, you name it. I'd think if it can handle ranch life with heavy wear & tear, then it's a good product, even with the bubble. Both of mine have held up well with bubbles, and mine are constantly wet in the warm season from constant sweat and even horse sweat. So yeah, I'd stand by mine all day long. They remedied the issue and came out with a new design, isn't that what everyone keeps saying they're refusing to do? They recognized the issue and developed a new band, offered replacements for old ones, and discontinued selling the old ones, etc.  Since they don't make the HR anymore, they're probably not going to keep replacing it. As for offering discounts, maybe they could offer someone more than a 25% discount on a different model yes. But the new ones are a bit more pricey than the old ones, so I wouldn't offer full replacement for a more expensive model. Both of my Charge HR's were purchased at a local retailer for just under $130 each with tax, not on sale. I'm a business major and I can see both sides, but fitbit has to put a cap on how much money they can spend to continuously replace a now discontinued model. I have several friends who have the old HR's with no bubbles, working just fine still so it's not like ALL of them are faulty. 

[ChasM603]

Assumptions aren't theirs nor yours to make wrt where and whether a product purchased without three sides designed  to, nor purchased with, flaps that catch on things, even clothing when tucking in a shirt, should or shodnot be worn.

Since it could be worn without flaps but the product fails and cannot be worn with the defect then the product as,a whole is defective whether it is completely failing or not.

I didn't buy nor did they replace part of a product...they replaced the product...with another defective product..until it failed again but was then out of warranty.

The defect is not a result of our actions...it is a quality issue..in order to retain customers they could at least offers replacement with a redesigned and remedied product with the customer at most paying the difference in cost between models.






⁣Sent from TypeApp ​

[ChasM603]

Assumptions aren't theirs nor yours to make wrt where and whether a product purchased without three sides designed  to, nor purchased with, flaps that catch on things, even clothing when tucking in a shirt, should or shodnot be worn.

Since it could be worn without flaps but the product fails and cannot be worn with the defect then the product as,a whole is defective whether it is completely failing or not.

I didn't buy nor did they replace part of a product...they replaced the product...with another defective product..until it failed again but was then out of warranty.

The defect is not a result of our actions...it is a quality issue..in order to retain customers they could at least offers replacement with a redesigned and remedied product with the customer at most paying the difference in cost between models.






⁣Sent from TypeApp ​

[Twistngrind]

Ok so say you buy a new fridge (model A) and the icemaker breaks after 3 months, the company is supposed to give you a newer more expensive model (model B) to replace it? Even though not all of the model A's are defective? No, that would be silly of the company. 99.9% of the companies in the world are going to send you another Model A or fix the ice machine, even if it's multiple models that are faulty. Most likely, they just send someone to fix it. If the bubble was repairable, fitbit would probably have taken that initiative. Why should FitBit be held to a higher standard? They're apparently doing nothing to remedy the issue, but they reached out and offered me a replacement when the issue first arose. To me that was excellent customer service. They aren't going to say ok, lets redesign this thing and give everyone a freebie. They're going to replace it with the same model because it is not guaranteed to also fail. Like I said, not ALL of the HR's have had a bubble issue. Of all the HRs purchased, there's only what, a couple hundred on here complaining about this issue. We only see the one's complaining, therefore there could be a million of these bands out there that have not bubbled out. But yet if you read this thread and a couple others, back from the beginning it sounds like its every single tracker when in fact it is not. So yes, the company is going to send you a replacement of the same thing, because there is still a chance it won't bubble. Most of the one's in the threads now, are probably past the 1 year warranty, in which case fitbit doesn't have any responsibility to do anything anymore. That's a risk you take when you purchase any product, no matter what quality. 

[betty_hassinger]

My fitbit charge HR has done that. I contacted fitbit and they sent me a replacement. I had mine for about 6 months when that happened to mine. The replacement lasted for about 6 months as well. I am on my 3rd charge HR and I am not sure if I will replace mine with another charge HR.

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
An air bubble has appeared on the strap of my charge HR. I follow care instructions on my band. I'm gutted as I've only had it since Febuary. Has anyone else had a similar problem?

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[kaycee1]

I guess it's just myself and countless others that have have had 2,3 and even 4 charge hr's fail in less than a year are just very unlucky then, I don't know call me crazy but maybe i just value my money more than others. Also if i bought a fridge and the ice maker failed 3 times i would at the very least expect a full refund

[ChasM603]

It bubbled, because the unit was defective and cannot be partially replaced it was replaced as a unit...with a defective unit...which has again failed.

This is my experience.

Having read through others experience it is clear that the unit is defective.

It is clear that they knew and know it is defective.

It is clear that they do not value me as a customer as I an engineer in a tech company and as their customer believe they should.

It is clear that twistngrind sees it differently.

I can and do accept that; if only twistngrind could too the never ending thread might end. 

Instead we shall continue to go round and round bringing more attention the failure to provide a non defective product or sufficiently make amends.

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[ACG]

Here is a fix that has kept mine going. 

Sure, get Fitbit to replace it when you have warrenty and then glue it after that. 

Some of us have many replacements, glue all of them and have them ready to go if the battery and computer in them are still functioning. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oTOINaksZek