FitBit team - a question re Charge 3 and other older models

[EssexHebridean]

Reading through the threads here, the issue of screen dim / white lines dominates. This has been the case for months now - is this a hardware issue, and if so how is it possible to tell whether a particular device will be affected? Or a software issue - in which case what is being done to correct the issue?

Similarly - an issue which has been known about for many months now is that of the device disconnecting from the phone app while the app is tracking activity, and the app then becoming unresponsive and requiring a re-start of the phone to correct. This was first reported at least 7 months ago - so there have been several app updates AND a firmware update since then and yet this issue still continues. It's inconvenient, means that the app cannot be used as an activity tracker and thus renders the FitBit device itself little more than a pedometer and watch - facilities which both my phone and my Garmin running watch perform as well, if not better.

I'm sure you will understand why I say that this apparent complete disregard for correcting known issues with older models does rather suggest that, once a newer model has come along regardless of whether that model suits the FitBit customer or not, as a company, you essentially withdraw support on a practical level to those with older devices. Please could someone answer the question above regarding the screen issues, and also confirm that a fix WILL be put in place for the app problem and that this is being worked on. A little openness and information provided to those of us who have "older model" FitBit devices (Although mine is a matter of months old, in fact) would go a long way to rebuilding the trust which many on here (and elsewhere) have begun to lose. Actually fixing the problems that have been repeatedly reported, would go either further, and might just convince me, for one, that I should not simply have bought a more fully-featured Garmin when I replaced my fitness tracker earlier this year - currently my Charge 3 is looking like £100 of mistake...

(ps - I'm in the UK, please  feel free to skip the platitudes about "reaching out" and "understanding my issue" when you respond - I haven't,, I have entered into correspondence, and as a company, you don't - or you would already have fixed the issues! 😉) 

[EssexHebridean]

So - my follow up post on this today was removed by a FitBit team member who has falsely claimed that I had within the post in question referred to taking legal action against FitBit and apparently this is not allowed on these forums. In fact, no such reference was made - something which is obvious in the text of the removed post that the team member helpfully quoted back to me. I have asked for it to be reinstated.

The post primarily pointed out that in spite of many newer posts being replied to by the team, this one appeared to have been entirely overlooked. It repeated my request for some answers to the questions asked above. Now I ask again - allowing that the FitBit team have definitely seen this post now, why is it proving too difficult to answer the questions I have asked? 

Allowing that it appears FitBit are entirely unwilling to engage on these issues at all, it seems that the only conclusion that can be reached here is that they are fully aware that the Charge 3 and, for many people, the FitBit App also are not fit for purpose, and that they are no longer interested in offering any meaningful support to those of us with older devices. Disappointing - but at least perhaps we now know where we stand, before we commit any further expenditure to FitBit products. 

[EssexHebridean]

In addition - @MatthewFitbit could you please advise what edit you have made to my opening post? On every other forum I have been a member of (on a range of subjects) basic courtesy dictates that a moderator editing a post adds a note explaining why, and what they have changed. 

I do note that the post has been relocated from the Charge 3 forum into the “other trackers” forum. Please could it be returned to the Charge 3 forum as the questions therein primarily relate to the Charge 3 - I can think of no reason why it should have been moved unless it is to shift it to a less busy environment, where it will be seen by less users of the  3, who may also want answers to the questions I have posed! 

[MatthewFitbit]

@EssexHebridean I added the "Charge 3" label to your thread, but did not make any edits to your post content. This is being done automatically for all Charge 3 threads, which is why no explanation was included. The Charge 3 forum is being closed down, and all Charge 3 content will be migrated to this forum over the next few days.

[EssexHebridean]

Thank you for your informative reply @MatthewFitbit  - much appreciated. Clearly that answers the question relating to FitBit no longer being particularly interested in those with the Charge 3 then! 

Could you perhaps now answer my previous questions though in relation to the screen issues being suffered by so many, and also the question of what is being done relating to the fault with the app which renders the device not fit for purpose as an “activity tracker” please - or perhaps direct those questions to someone who CAN answer them? I appreciate that FitBit now see the Charge 3 as an obsolete device, but as it was still selling them to customers as recently as a handful of months ago - and while KNOWING about these issues - it would be an indicator that the company does at least have some regard for its customers, rather than simply seeing them as cash-cows to be manipulated by any means possible into simply purchasing an upgrade to solve a known issue like this. (For the avoidance of doubt, my device was bought in the U.K., and in this country for a company to sell something while knowing it has faults, and not intending to do anything to make good those faults, is considered a serious issue). 

[EssexHebridean]

@Gordy1 - I have an email notification that you posted in this thread - can you confirm whether you did, but then deleted, or whether your post has in fact been deleted? Cheers! 

[fritzmom]

@EssexHebridean I purchased my Charge 3 beginning of August 2020. And now, 3 months later I discover that it is obsolete. Since the day I got it, I have not been able to:

read it outside in the sun while I exercise, too dim

use it to track my mileage, as it always adds to the ‘gps’. 

counts steps when I’m not even moving

loses pixels and stops scrolling, necessitating restarts, long and short

After hearing wonderful things about Fitbit, I thought I’d give it a try. Expensive mistake. I should have stuck with the other company that starts with ‘G’.

[EssexHebridean]

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had so many issues @fritzmom  - that really is rubbish isn’t it. Have you tried speaking with the telephone support team? They are in my experience at least, actually helpful. I put off calling them for quite some time when I had the issues with my first Charge 3 - the experience I’d had on here being so negative I assumed that the same would be true of the telephone support team also, but in fact they are very different - I’d say it would definitely be worth you giving them a call. (Failing that though my Garmin experience has been efficient and seamless from day 1 - I would definitely recommend!) 

[EssexHebridean]

@Gordy1 Having read the text of it in the email I really can’t imagine why either! Thanks for your support! 

[EssexHebridean]

An update - FitBit UK have at least today acknowledged that the app issue IS a known fault. They are still unwilling to engage on the question of a fix though, and are repeatedly asking me to DM them - which I would, except that when I try I get a message back saying "You are no longer permitted to DM this account". Whatever I ask, they repeat the request to DM - I've even sent screenshots of that message confirming that they are preventing me from doing so - and they promptly thank me for the screenshot and then go on to totally ignore the confirmation that I can not DM them...

I suspect I'm going to have no option but to proceed with demanding a refund as the device is not fit for purpose without a working app. Thankfully in the UK we do have a path of redress for "not fit for purpose" so anyone reading this in the UK who is suffering the same issue or another which makes a relatively new Charge 3 unuseable - if you too are getting no joy with a resolution, that may be worth you looking at. 

If I get any further joy I will update here. 

*edit* literally in the last 2 minutes I have had a response from FitBitSupport on Twitter with a DM link that will allow  me to message them. My optimistic nature urges me to believe that this may possibly mean progress...