I broke my Charge 2 screen

[Pv2786]

I broke my fitbit's screen now I cannot see any thing other than broken display, thought when I charge it light at back are working. It produce vibration everytime I decide to charge it. Service centre in India is bad. Whom should I contact and what should I do?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[JuanJoFitbit]

@Pv2786 Welcome to our Fitbit Community. I totally understand how you feel about the screen issue of your Charge 2.

I noticed that you contacted our Support team via chat and they sent you an email. Please reply to their email and they'll be happy to follow up and assist you accordingly.

See you around.

[Pv2786]

No you don't understand.
I just want to get this **ahem** thing repaired.
Can you share details about how can I get it repaired and what will be the
cost.
Thank you
Regards
Nagarkar

[Williger]

@JuanJoFitbit WHAT? This is most exciting to learn! When did Fitbit start doing email support again? I was told it'd been discontinued. Please share details, many of us would benefit from this. Thanks 🙂 

@Pv2786 it'll cost you nothing more than the cost of a new screen or display and your time to replace it. Both are super easy to do but you've not expressed if your problem is the actual display or the screen. So maybe, go to eBay India or whatever marketplace you prefer and search for Fitbit Charge2 screens. I'm actually about to fix some now. EDIT: IF this is under warranty, do NOT try to self-repair.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Pv2786]

If you repair Fitbit watches can you provide me with details of your
services?

[Williger]

@Pv2786 I do! 🤓 I don't market or sell services on this forum though, my assistance here is free to support the community. I'm based in Chicago. I reached out to friends in India to see if any might be able to assist you, unfortunately, none currently are servicing Fitbits. I'd be willing to take some photos of the process if it'd help you to fix yours.

[Pv2786]

Thank you
Any help will be appreciated. Photographs of process will be great.
Can I get your email address? So that I can contact you via email.

[poruatokin]

The official line from Fitbit website is that repairs of this type and spares are totally not practical so they don't provide any service.

[Williger]

@poruatokin your statement confuses me and likely others, would you mind sharing the link from Fitbit's website that you're referencing so we may each read it for ourselves? Thanks in advance!

@Pv2786 we're not permitted by Fitbit to share our email addresses here, but you're welcome to private message me, but to do so you'll have to first go into your settings and enable messaging, which they disable by default. if you don't enable this, you'll be able to message me but I'll not be able to write back, they make it slightly cumbersome 

@poruatokin please share that link when you get an opportunity. Did it literally state "repairs of this type and spares are totally not practical" and in what context? I'd imagine that sentence would've had to have been proceeded by procedures on how to repair the trackers? I'm super eager to understand what they're saying about spares as I've not heard of Fitbit ever selling any spares; unless in the instances where they'll send the tracker only for an in-warranty service but I thought they'd discontinued doing this after hackers had manipulated their system and were using real member's accounts to get these trackers only replacements, so maybe this changed? please share the link here publicly for everyone to benefit from learning. recognize, nobody should be servicing their own Fitbits if they're still under warranty as doing so will void the warranty. have a good morning! 

Moderator edit: merged reply

[poruatokin]

It's available at the bottom of every page of this website.  Click the link for "Returns & Warranty"

I quote....note the highlighted part which is relevant to the question.

AVAILABILITY OF REPAIR FACILITIES/SPARE PARTS

Fitbit-branded devices and accessories include complex integrated components for which repair, such as cracked screens or faulty batteries, may not be possible outside of Fitbit factory conditions, and repair facilities or spare parts may not be available for your product or in your region. Therefore, goods presented for repair may be replaced by refurbished goods of equivalent type rather than being repaired. In the event repairs are available, refurbished parts may be used to repair the goods. Repair or replacement of goods which are capable of retaining user-generated data may result in loss of that data. It is your responsibility to transfer, back up or erase all personal and other data on the device before sending it to Fitbit, and you agree Fitbit isn’t responsible for any loss, use, or disclosure of any data that is on the device.

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[Williger]

@poruatokin cool, I really appreciate you sharing this contextually, thanks it makes a lot more sense. They're saying we shouldn't expect to get back the exact same parts we had when sending in for warranty service and we should make sure to erase our data before sending them in as people shouldn't expect to get it back with the same data it originally contained. In many cases this is possible but in some cases, it wouldn't be. Good for them too, this strategy surely cuts down on waste and prevents them from maintaining a vast inventory of spare parts.

[poruatokin]

I'd say it is mainly to do with practicality. 

I do most of my own PC and phone repairs having got into many products that were officially labelled as "non-serviceable"

However, with a Fitbit, while a screen replacement might just about be feasible - I'd hazard a guess that just about nothing else can be replaced or repaired as it is probably built as a single chip device.

[Williger]

@poruatokin I've never worked on a phone. Do you have suggestions on how to access the memory of one that's not operating? I've got an old Note I'd like to recover some pictures and data from.

Regarding Fitbits, which are you inferring as single-chip devices? I've worked on over 1000 Fitbits, and even the ZIP has a PCB. I've never opened a Flex or a Flex 2 nor have the desire to do so.

Component repairs aren't practical on the PCB, the only replacements really worth doing would be the screen or display swap as discussed in this thread or the vibrator that sometimes stops working, as they're easy enough to transfer from another tracker but if the vibrator was the only problem I wouldn't bother. The easiest repair on a Fitbit Charge2 is replacing the screen. I'm referring to the screen as the outside part that can get scratched up and goes on top of the display module.

Charge2 is old. Replacing the screen to make it look new again is definitely worthwhile! Fixing the display underneath as OP is inquiring is a bit of work if they're unfamiliar with circuitry, but it's far from impossible, it just takes patience. The displays are attached to the PCBs with a ribbon cable. I'll share pictures in here when I next open a Charge2. Again, I like to emphasize one should only consider self-repairing a Fitbit if out of warranty, otherwise, you're going to void yours. 

I'm about to update batteries in some classic Fitbits right now; One and Surge but will also do some Charge and ChargeHR. They're old but for the cost of a battery, it allows me to introduce people to Fitbit as a starter tracker. What's better than giving another human the gift of tracking their health? Doing it inexpensively, LOL 🙂