Horrible Product, Disreputable Company

[FullofFit]

My tale of woe is NOT uncommon in this community or elsewhere on the Internet.

Purchased a Charge HR in 2016 took exceptionally good care of it. Did not get it wet in the shower or elsewhere ever. It fell apart (Rubber housing the Tracker separated completely from the Tracker) after approximately 9-10 months. Called Fitbit it was replaced in Fall of 2017.

Took very good care of Tracker #2 but it BEGAN to separate again in Summer of 2018 approximately 8 months after I received it as a replacement for the obviously defective first Tracker. I did not call then because I stupidly thought this couldn't happen twice but just today the rubber again completely separated from the rest of the Tracker where it apparently was glued in.

I called today a bit frustrated that this defect was very widespread not limited to my two trackers. There can be no doubt the company has been aware of this defect for years but not only have they not cured it with the Charge HR but they of course shoved the warranty at me when I asked for a replacement.

The obvious impropriety: what good is a short warranty--365 days--IF the product itself has a widespread defect and is KNOWN to be defective? I did not pay $ to "rent" a device for essentially one year and hope beyond that year it holds up?

A supposedly reputable company stands behind its products. These two robots I spoke to simply repeated "warranty" and did nothing other than offering me "discounts" to other Fitbit products with (Spoiler Alert) ONE YEAR WARRANTIES!

Question: do I have any recourse? What about the universal CONSUMERS'' warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, of merchantability and/or of other implied warranties protecting buyers?

Feel free to respond here or e-mail me Temprock@hotmail.com.

[FullofFit]

From reading this Board alone,plus the general Internet and elsewhere it seems this known defect has affected many purchasers of the piece of junk Charge HR. Ive had two essentially fall apart in less than one year each despite extremely careful use (i.e., never getting it wet, etc.).

Given the prevalence of this issue and Fitbits utter disregard in fixing the problem for current owners or replacing the product--buy a new one is not fixing the problem and BTW the new products come with only one year warranties too--is there a COLLECTIVE/MASS complaint regulatory or reporting Department, State, Local or Federal--that the many of us can file complaints with?

Losing one, two or 50 customers wouldn't make a dent in their bottom line or get their attention: a formal Complaint filing campaign if properly targeted I'm certain would have an impact in time. Any interest or ideas?

[FullofFit]

Interesting video even though this Dude actually said Fitbit's customer service is excellent. Listen/read how MANY others have had this problem with this obvious defective product.

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

[WendyB]

Sorry never had this problem. My Devices have lasted  more than 3 years

But I take care of them and charge them property

[amoberg04]

I 100% agree! I have used Fitbit for over 3 years. I take care of my watches, I charge regularly! I have gone through 5 watches since I went with this company because of faulty. Back in the day Fitbit stood behind their warranty and then had to stop because of the # of claims (this coming from a Best Buy rep) was too much and so they stopped that program. I called to get a replacement and they cancelled the order, did not tell me why. They told me that the only person I could talk to was in a different department that only dealt with email. I emailed on the 25th, 27th, 28, 30th. Never got a response and today is the 31st. It has become a scam, and very sad. I will be going to Apple just because I know the product and customer service will be MUCH better! 

[Yackydoodle]

Horrible product and just as horrible customer service. I wore my Fitbit ONE time and ONE time only before the screen readout appeared backwards and then didn't appear at all. It syncs and charges but has no display and the button produces no effect!  And I have taken EXCELLENT care and charged it properly.  One day of use and customer service robots could only suggest a discounted new product for me to consider purchasing. I dont want to spend my hard earned money on another piece of crap that the mfg. Won't back up even when they are fully aware their product has obvious glitches. Why would I ?  These devices are not cheap.  I'm left to wonder ... just who's the idiot here?

[FullofFit]

Dont they still offer their one year replacement guarantee??? Im the OP for this Thread and they replaced the first **ahem** Device (it failed in less than a year) but when the replacement also failed quickly they said "no way". Call to be sure you dont get at least one shot at this.

[amoberg04]

Hey so they do offer that, but then when the product didn’t come in over a week I checked the status. It said canceled, when I called to see why it was canceled they said they couldn’t tell me. They said to email this certain department because you couldn’t actually talk to an actual person. When I emailed 4 times I never got a response. That was over 3 weeks ago. Still no response. I bought an Apple Watch and have been loving it!