Charge 2 Update Problems! Fitbit - don’t ignore!!!!

[Cullzer]

Hello Fitbit! I hope you’ll read and listen to your faithful customers who just want to stay fit!

Two years ago I had a Fitbit One. I had it for years and loved that little tracker, took such good care of it, increased my steps and felt good. 

Well, one day my app showed an update which I’d course I did. However, immediately after, my One suddenly wouldn’t charge or only hold the charge for minutes. Of course I contacted your support team (several times!) and was given all the suggestions everyone has posted on your current forums for Charge 2 after updating. I was offered the standard 25% discount, but was told there were no more Ones available!! I checked your forums, lo and behold I was not alone with my dead tracker. 

After much consideration, I replaced it with a Charge 2. Like others, I recently noticed a crack in the screen and assumed it was something I had done, Now I’m not so sure. 

When I saw an update notice on my app this week I decided to check the forums first, something I haven’t done since my One quit after that deadly update. I can’t believe this same sad update “problem” is going on again! 

And guess what? When I looked  at the Fitbit “store”, you can no longer purchase a Charge 2. They’re apparently obsolete!

Fitbit, you have a VERY  loyal following without these tricks. Those of us who wear our fitbits faithfully, reach our step goals (and more), find ourselves walking around our homes before bed just to get our steps, and are just plain  addicted to this form of fitness, will ALWAYS replace our old with new Fitbit as we need or want to. We don’t need to be duped into it! 

You’ve helped so many get up and moving who may not have done so. For those who were already fit, they’ve pushed their limits even more. Please sit back, listen to your customers, be so proud that you’ve helped us get active and STOP THIS MARKETING PLOY!!!

You're losing customers not gaining them.

Thanks for hopefully reading this.

I look forward to seeing the update notice removed from my app! 

[Rug-Man]

Hey there FitBit and the community,

It would appear that I am not alone in thinking the latest update to my Surge 2 (22.58.00), which prior to the update lasted for nearly a week, has had a hand in the Surge now dying in less than a minute after disconnecting it from its charger, even though it was on charge for over 3 hours????

my tracker was working perfectly fine, holding charge like a trooper, yet shortly after this update, it’s battery is, well dead!!!!

so Fitbit, I would like to know what you are going to do to resolve this as this is painting you guys in a very bad light. I would even go as far to say this is as bad as Apple ‘slowing down older phones’ to conserve battery life....

not a a happy customer, or should I say ex-customer based upon how you deal with this. You will see this is the third Fitbit purchased so I am a repeat customer, but I cannot continue if you don’t take responsibility for this.

regards - Andy (RugMan) Smith

[Marylander-1]

I absolutely LOVE(ed) my fitbit Charge 2.... until the last software update.  My Charge 2 always stayed charged for 4 days or more, so I could go on a one or two day trip and not ever worry about packing the charger.  After loading the August 2019 update, my Charge 2 will not stay charged (from a full charge) for more than 4 hours!  After reading ALL THE POSTS, all over the internet, about people who had the same experience with the earlier models, and now all the posts coming out about the same post-update issue with the 2, so they will be forced to upgrade to the 3 (out-of-pocket, since all the warranties have run out on the 2's and there are no longer any 2's in stock), it is PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that fitbit is a dishonest and deceitful company that I no longer want to have anything to do with.   I will NOT be railroaded into purchasing a product that comes bundled with deliberate, planned, and company-orchestrated obsolescence that will hit me again many years before my device actually becomes obsolete or stops working effectively.  I will be buying another fitness tracker to replace my Charge 2 this week, but it most definitely will NOT be manufactured by fitbit.  

[Wolfe85]

I've had the same problems!!! First fitbit was updated and refused to function ever again - I put it down to age and bought the Charge 2. My much loved and always worn (and well looked after!) Charge has worked perfectly until the latest update 22.22.58.0. Now it wont display anything other that a 'dead battery' icon - even though its been on charge! It still syncs (occasionally) to the app displaying true information and set alarms work still. But the display is faulty, battery life questionable, and all because of Fitbits firmware update!!! Just a money making scam it would appear! 

[Mamalew97]

Since the update I am no longer recieving my text messages! But phone calls will show up! Absolutely annoyed because I loved my charge 2 and relied on the text message notifications!!! Will they fix this???

[ashwolve]

I luckily read the dismay when the Firmware update came out so i did not update (Firmware or the App) - I have had an Official complaint in for 36 days now and counting (for various issues including this one) and have been met with silence and it was sent to every Fitbit email I have - this treatment of its customers and the unwillingnes to engage with its customers to resolve issues is truely a factor on whether i will continue - ontop of that Fitbit failed to respond to an enquiry from BBC Watchdog on a different matter so it poses the question are they on there way out - The Charge series are my prefered range of trackers currently a 2 but was thinking of upgrading to a Charge 3 until this debarcle now i am seriously thinking of reducing functions for proper customer service and go for a Samsung Gear - the floor count and the sleep/hr data was a big factor as was the food log when i purchased my first device along with a simple but informative dashboard - the latter is no more and they only seem to respond that there is no intention to revert/change what they have done even though it clearly does not work - so in summary the device when it works 4 stars out of 5 - Customer service/support Nil stars out of 5 and software down to a 2 star rating

Fitbit acknowledge the errors, own responsibility and fix quickly months/ years is not acceptable and updates that causes more issues than it fixes is just not what we would expect from a profession outfit

dont hold your breath for a response or a fix anytime soon,  they started at the top and are steadily working backwards with a contempt and ignorance thats unbecoming of what they should be wanting to achieve - the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the customers by the looks of it

Regards

Wayne

[Rug-Man]

After leaving my Fitbit on charge for over 24 hours it appeared to come back to life. Unfortunately it has developed a weird glitch whereby it would cycle through the screens as speed without me even going near the button. At first it was just annoying - it would even manage to switch alarms on and off, and notifications (so would not know I had missed calls until hours later), but it has gotten progressively worse until after a full charge, it does nothing but cycle and kills the full battery in under one hour. Having to recharge it half a dozen times a day makes it unusable. I haven’t bothered to recharge it as the faults make it unbearable to wear.

Thanks for the response Fitbit (and just in case you didn’t know - I am being completely sarcastic as Fitbit hasn’t bothered to respond) obviously owning only three Fitbit’s previously doesn’t make me important enough to respond.

I think a new Apple Watch is in order. At least it it becomes faulty they will do something about it. Feel really let down by Fitbit. 😳😳😳

[Rug-Man]

Wayne - how do you raise a formal complaint?

I thought raising summat in these groups was the way to go, but complete radio silence from Fitbit.

It’s as if they don’t really exist... 😱😱😱

[ashwolve]

@Rug-Man  - Hi Supposedly you are to email customer support but they are not much use either - its the same as on here you  are either ignored, given scripted answers (normally involving "we are aware" or "We have no intention to" or being suspended for inflammatory comments) my complaint has been ongoing now for 69 days and still no response from Customer Support, HR or any of the management team - just so you know the latter 2 just divert back to customer support - there is no way to complain about customer support as you cannot really complain to the people you are complaining about as they will and do ignore - you could also try to call them on the support line but I fear you will just get the run around.

Just to keep this on topic there has still not been any response to weather the problems people have been experiencing have been resolved (ie loss of information - rapid battery loss/device no longer working) the chances are they will offer you something like 5% off of a new Device - my patience is wearing thin with this company and whereas I think the devices are good the software needs a lot of work and some of the things they have thought a good idea to remove need to be re-instated - I am hearing lots of negative comments about this in the retail world with many suggesting other providers whose support team care and respond within an acceptable amount of time to any and all complaints and normally have them fixed within a week without the it cannot be done attitude we get from these

I will be surprised if this doesn't get deleted but if it does I hope they take the time to update the thread with a suitable response

Sorry for the rant

Kind Regards

Wayne

[KSMB]

Hi  I have a Charge 2 that froze and is two and a half years old, after waiting to see if a reset would fix it from a discharged state I went from the frozen clock face to a complete whited out display and no fix known.  I will not be wasting anymore money on a product that costs as much and has no appropriate repair service or warranty.  I will go back to wearing my Bulova watch which I received when I graduated from high school, seems it works and will still work for years to come and all in all it only cost as much as the charge 2 and I really don't need to know how many steps I take each day because I can figure that out by seeing how much time I spent being active or resting.  Good luck and hope you can get satisfaction from these types of products.

[Rmhartley]

I have a charge 2 since 2017. It has not synchronised since 2 Oct 2019. I cant get help line or support services. I have all the correct permissions in settings etc. But NOONE to help 

[Rmhartley]

Sadly having read all these I realise I am in the same position of a broken Fitbot 2 and NO help from services. I will not buy again as others say from Fitbit if this is a fact of no help

[AngieOli]

Yes I woke up the morning and my charger 2 was completely dead. When I put it to charge it showed me 22.58.00 that when I new something was wrong as I never seen those numbers before.

[BBBCA]

Same here. Frustrating. Solution appears to be - Don't buy FitBit devices anymore unless they offer a deep discount to retain customers. Firmware updates shouldn't "break" or deprecate their older existing step/ hr products. That's just lazy tech.