Feedback about customer support

[pilv13]

Reviews are starting to come in:

CNET preliminary review:

https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/fitbit-charge-3-has-arrived-heres-whats-different-vs-versa/

Unboxing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYCmZrEby2o

Tom's guide review:

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/fitbit-charge-3,review-5818.html

[Cyric]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

Hi, I have posted this question and got mixed answers.

I’ve got mine a few days ago and have mixed feelings.

I like the looks and it fits very well. I also like the strap. Installing took ages but went well at the end. I especially had problems with the notifications. I now only miss WhatsApp and I-message. Don’t know why as I did exactly the same with these apps as with the others.

The usability is great. Scrolling up and down goes very easy.

But there are a few issues:

1. Counting of the steps is not accurate. The first day I had a difference of 3.000 and today of 15.000 with the pedometer on my IPhone. 

2. I have been running twice with the Fitbit and as others have stated I can hardly see the stats. Very small. I had to stop to read. 

3. I did not see HR while running. Is it possible to get that one on the screen?

4. Only one in 3 or 4 times screen turns on when I turn my wrist.

5. As said can’t get WhatsApp and sms on the Fitbit 

6. The silent alarm is not strong enough for me. Slept through it twice.

What I am wondering: does a Fitbit has a learning curve. Will it perform better over time?

And can I expect step counting to get more accurate after a software update?  And is the strength of the vibrations software or hardware related?

I really want to like it. In other words, will patience help?

---

As for the HR question if you swipe the center field that's probably "Pace" by default, I believe one of the options is HR.

[LawrenceH]

Yes and no.

Good bits:

Looks good

UI is responsive and runs nicely

Good app

Seems pretty accurate for walking

Battery life seems pretty good

Bad bits

No date on the clock, should be fixed at some point with an update.

Can't keep clock face on all the time.  I appreciate this is for power saving, but at least give us the choice.  I for one would much prefer the clock on all the time and 3 day battery than no clock but 7 day battery.

It records thousands of steps and hundreds of floors while driving.  Only way to remove these from the step/floor count is to mark them as exercise.  Unlikely to be fixed as a feature request went in 4 years ago (and is still regularly updated) but has been ignored by Fitbit.

[SunsetRunner]

That is bad, so you always have to remember your stats before starting to drive or a cycle. Even totday without cycling or doing an awful lot it adds tens of chairs and nearly 2000 steps to much. And it is the beginning of the afternoon!
I was so hoping that this would be fixed with an update.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPhone

[leduck]

Another positive I've found after several days of use is that it tracks my going up and down stairs much better than my Charge 2 did. I live in a split-level house and the Charge 2 really didn't register all the stairs I use on a daily basis. Charge 3 does very well.

I am having trouble with displaying text messages, and I'm not finding the phone alerts to be timely. I'll be playing around with the settings to see if I can remedy that.

[Cashy38]

Have had the unit for a week. Picked it up at REI last Friday - a couple of day's before it's "official" release. My experience has been mixed. Have used it every day, all day, and have used it to track walk and bike exercise each day. Here are my observations.

Set up took some time. After opening the box the Charge 3 wanted to do an update. My 1st update did not complete and had to run it again - It worked. Then the Charge 3 needed to do a second update. All told - took about 2 hrs.  There was a 3rd update later that day or the next to the latest firmware release - also took ~30 min and went smoothly.

Watch stopped responding one day after the 3rd update. No response at all. I had to put it back on the charger and hold the button for 8 seconds and that brought it back to life. Since then, the watch has hung up about 1x per day and holding the button and waiting it has come back to life on its own. Once it showed a sad face and then came back to life.

Syncing works OK on my Android phone. My phone is a  Mororola G5 Plus not on Fitbit's device list although they list older Motorola phones.  In general, sync's pretty good 90% of the time. If I see it has not sync'ed for a few hours, I try a manual sync and it works sometimes. When it does not work, I look at the watch and see that it seems to be hung up - the watch second hand does not work. Hitting the button a few time generally fixes the watch and syncing starts again. 

Step counts is OK - comparable to my pedometer. Does count steps when biking. 

Heart rate is good when resting. Heart rate when active is reading about 10% higher that Polar chest strap readings based on comparing to Polar chest strap when biking. Occasionally reads a very high pulse rate and does not respond in real time - must be doing an average over time when active. 

Sleep works well. 

Receives text messages and email messages during activities. A bit hard to read and do not stay on the screen for long.

I use the Fitbit website running on Chrome on my PC's. Once the phone sync's, uploading data to Fitbit's website via wi-fi works very well and is fast. Fitbit's website on Motorola's G5+ phone and on PC's works great.

Clock faces do not have a date.  I like my wife's clock faces on her Charge 2 much better.

Overall, like the tracker, but disappointed in the unit's reliability to sync and the unit's hanging up what seems like at least 1x per day. I expect Fitbit's engineers are working hard to address some of the issues their customers are seeing with the Charge 3. The unit has only been on the market for 5 day's. I expect they will be issuing some updates soon.

I hope in time the Charge 3 will work as well as my wife's Charge 2. I realize that I am using a non-Fitbit compatible phone but seeing all the issues with syncing that Fitbit seems to be having I do not think it is a phone issue, but a general weakness in the Charge 3 bluetooth handshake with the syncing device. Fitbit should work on expanding their phone compatibility list or at least make it clear to buyers to check their list before purchasing their products.  

[pilv13]

...But I ended up not opening the package, at all, and returning it to Fitbit for a refund. In the end I felt it was too much of a compromise with the closed ecosystem (doesn't synch with Google Fit and not planned).

The final straw were all the reported hardware and software problems. I felt it was too much of a risk to be stuck up with a device like that for several years to come.

I lost quite a bit of money with the return shipping costs, but it's my own fault for pre-ordering. I should have thought it through.

Unfortunately the market situation with smart watches and fitness trackers is not very exciting right now. They are all using few year old processors which drink a lot of juice and the feature sets are immature. The situation might change in 2019-2020. There are some very cool devices coming up in 2019.

In the meantime I think I might try out one of those dream/fitness tracking rings that came out now in 2018. I find the concept very interesting.

All the best to you.

[SantiR]

Hello everyone! Thanks for your continuous participation on this thread regarding reviews about Charge 3. Thank you all for posting your reviews, feedback, and ideas regarding the newest Fitbit tracker.

I'd recommend posting all of the ideas you have that you'd like to see on your Charge 3 in the future at the Feature Suggestions Board. This is the best place to ask for those desired features. 

Also, new clock faces are coming to Charge 3 including ones showing the date. Stay tuned to this thread for updates.

Keep me posted! 

[Foghead]

I got mine 2 days ago and I'm not having any problems persei, it just doesn't work. What piece of garbage. They should be sued for fraud.

[janesteps]

I agree.  I have had three fitbit zips over the years.  The first was the best but gave out after a couple of years.  The others hardly worked. The last burned through batteries in about a month.  I put it away for a while but hoped to use it again.  No dice.  These are trash.  They offered me a discount on yet another piece of junk.  If I spend another dime on fitbit products, shame on me.

[BlanchW]

I have had a Fitbit for four and a half years, from the Charge HR, to the Charge 2, and now the Charge 3. The product itself has been pretty good, minus connection issues as time goes on (the longer I have had each Fitbit, the longer it's taken to connect and sync with the app. Every time. All three generations. Until I had to replace it with the newer version.).
However, my review is for the company itself. My account was recently hacked, I got a notice that my email address attached has been changed. I called customer service right away, because there isn't a 'click here if this wasn't you' button in the email like in most subscription based products today. They processed my phone call quickly, I was talking with a real person within minutes. That's where the helpfulness stopped. Their 'security department' can only be reached by email. Fine, I'll wait. Four days later, I finally get an email that my case is being processed. This should be a simple fix, I call and answer security questions and they update/change my email and password. Not so. Four days, and I call again. I ask to speak to someone in security, I'm told I cant. I ask to speak to someone higher up to get answers on why this will take so long and why I can't speak directly with security. I am told there are no higher ups. There is nothing I can do, no one I can speak to about getting back into my account that I have spent four and a half years building. All my sleep and heart rate data, my cycle, everything I have spent literal years working so hard to achieve and track- gone. Customer service there is a joke. I hope you don't ever get hacked because it's a nightmare to deal with. I haven't even worn my $150 product for the last week because there is no point! If it can't sync with an account, it can't keep track of my progress. Money down the drain. Years of work down the drain. I wouldn't even bother calling, they won't help you! Oh! And because my attached email was hacked I even had to create a new account to leave this review!

Moderator edit: format

[jdiamond]

Yeah - I notice none of them show your progress wrt Reminders to Move.  How do you know if you've won the hour?

[MrslBoa]

I am using Charge 3 almost 1 year now, what I would like to see is, 

1 -  Always on display option or at least longer on display options. 

2- Modify able watch faces or at least more pre made watch faces(I know they added more and i like only 1 of them I could have liked more)

3- Proper EGK graphics and warnings.

4- as 1 year of use with up to date firmwares still not counting stair steps, My office is on 3rd floor of the building, either I do not know how to up on the stairs or Charge 3 does not know to count :), it is already 60 steps I am using to go up, Charge always shows about 6 or 8 sometimes 2-3 that is not good. 

5- There is no auto start stop of activities for phase tracking as samsung health app does.  (especially walking)

[SunsetRunner]

Regarding clock face choices.....I don't recall how many I had before running the update the other day, but I know it was more than 5.  After the update I now have 15 clock faces, 9 include the date.

[kyleekidd4]

The  Fitbit Is an unreliable product. The fit bit charge 3 is cheap., You get what you pay for. The customer service is one of the worst I’ve experienced in my 62 years. The Fitbit charge 3 looks like a girls watch. It Is sold as a unisex watch. All of the instructions have a women wearing the watch.

[Eggetta]

I upgraded from charge 2 to charge 3. The charge two was functional and did the job. Charge 3 hopeless. Takes forever to sync, too much on screen, too 

small to read and functionality poor. 

[Indiguana]

Just wanted to share a story with my recent experience with fitbit support. 

Recently my fitbit blaze broke during an accident at work. If not for having the watch on, I probably would have broken my wrist due to the weight of the empty beer barrel I was lugging down the stairs. The fitbit was badly smashed on the front which shows just how bad the damage could have been. Thanks to the protective barrier which was the watch, it is simply a strain and some bruising.

I knew that the fitbit was not applicable for its warranty and as such did not expect to get any response when contacting fitbit support via twitter, but was surprised at what was done. The support team offered a discount when buying a new watch. I was amazed at the offer and have ordered the fitbit charge 3, as well as spoken to my manager about getting some reinforced gloves for carrying the empty beer barrels from now. I was amazed at how supportive the team was and I am ever so grateful for their assistance. 

As to the Fitbit blaze, I found it was a great watch for casual use, and had a number of options for exercising in the gym, tracking your activity, heart rate, and calorie usage, and accessibility for a variety of users. It is also waterproof, can be charged easily and has a good battery, though I did find that after 2 years of constant use, it began to deteriorate in its ability to retain charge. This is expected, however, after so much use. 

The strap was comfortable within the home or when out at work. I highly recommend it for users who regularly use the gym or just for those trying to better their lifestyle. 

[Jck3]

I’ve had 2 fit bits. Neither one had a band that was secure. Especially the HR-2. Both were continuously falling off my wrist. I’ve complained about this infinitum, without satisfaction. In my opinion, Fitbits are a piece of junk. They want me to “buy” a new one as the fix for the first one, which is what I did the first time!. Little did I know the second Fitbit is even worse than the first one. I won’t be repeating that mistake. Don’t buy any Fitbit!  They are lousy. You can do better with a different brand. (Imagine, a business model designed to sell more Fitbits by refusing to fix them!)

[mattguse5]

2/5 stars - bad for fitness tracking

The product fails to capture any heart rate during workouts about 50% of the time. When it does capture a heart rate, it is spotty and often inaccurate (verified against two independent measurement tools). This is disappointing because it's the main reason I bought it.

The sleep tools are cool, but the above calls into question their accuracy.

[Jck3]

I have complaints too. The strap will not stay on. Ive almost lost the device 3 different times. And I'm constantly finding it loose in my bed, when I put on and take off a jacket, and etc. I've complained about this several times, but no helpful help from Fitbit. The device also does not give sleep info reliably. Suggest trying a different product. You will be disappointed in this one.

[Stermdad12]

My wife and I each bought a Charge 3 17 months ago.  She had to replace hers early, and today mine died.  Once the service tech acknowledged it was a **ahem**, the only offer they gave me was a discount on future inadequate FitBit products.  SAVE YOUR MONEY.  There’s too many good alternatives where the company is willing to stand behind their product and experience.