Why is the Charge 3 so suspect to problems?

[JHT29]

I was delighted to read today that Will Smith has joined your team as a Brand Ambassador. That relationship will, no doubt, come at a special price, which got me thinking. I wonder what price you place on grassroots ambassadors like me?

My name is John, and I live in the NorthEast of England. I have been a Fitbit user and an ardent advocate of Fitbit for some years now. At least, that was the case until last Thursday.

The loss of my advocacy came about because:

• The Charge 3 seems a flawed product,
• Your customer service response is reactive rather than proactive; and,
• Your replacement service takes too long, placing the onus on the customer rather than on your company, the supplier of the original product.

I have had three Charge 3s in less than two years. The latest replacement for my original arrived on Thursday. It was not working. I charged it for some hours to no avail.

I then ordered a new charger from Amazon Prime just in case my charger was faulty. That arrived the following morning, and I charged the replacement unit for most of Friday. Unfortunately, it still did not work, despite attempts at a soft and hard reset, which I learned the first time I needed a replacement for my original Charge 3.

Somewhat frustrated, I took to your Live Chat for support. That was when my brand loyalty became truly tested.

The reason is quite simple. Your representatives, in this case, Christine D., follow the corporate script and no more. She even closed the chat when I was still clearly unhappy with her responses. To add insult to injury, she did not even leave me the feedback link. I guess she realised my feedback would have been less than favourable. I know unfavourable feedback leads to internal repercussions. So why would she leave the feedback link, eh? But how does that help me when I am unhappy?

So, I read your Ts &Cs and found an email address for disputes. I sent an email and received a reply saying your company no longer responded to emails. Right! I was referred instead to three other channels of communication, one of which was Live Chat! Really!

Your corporate loops are astounding and undoubtedly underscore your company’s authentic corporate culture, which I assume is all about the numbers, not proper customer care.

I am a highly-respected business consultant, coach and mentor, and I work mainly with CEOs of SMEs. Among other things, I teach them proper customer care, and Fitbit comes nowhere near my standards or theirs. Automation has replaced the ability for your representatives to make a discretion call at the frontline. I offered to pay for an upgrade, telling Christine I no longer trusted the Charge 3 model. She said the company’s policy was only to replace like-for-like. I said I am not asking for like-for-like. I am offering to pay for an upgrade, as I have used Fitbit products a long time and like them.  In addition, my wife has a Charge 4, and she likes it. Christine said we don’t do that and then auto-replied a plethora of platitudes and closed the call.

Strangely, back in June 2021, when I had my first replacement for my original Charge 3, I was offered an upgrade. So, what’s changed in your policy?

As you might guess, James, from this rant, I am now a miserable customer who no longer sees the Fitbit brand as I once did. I returned the dysfunctional unit as requested, and no doubt another replacement will appear in due course. When that fails, too, as I have no doubt it will, I will change my brand of fitness tool.

In the meantime, I will be like all good marketing theory suggests – the one person that you need ten positive customers to outweigh.

I would be delighted to hear from you and hear about anything you might do to salvage my love of Fitbit.

[DramaQueenDiva]

Hi @JHT29,

I can't speak for the Fitbit employees but I definitely understand your concern.  Please note, I am NOT a Fitbit employee so I won't be able to answer some of the questions.

I do understand the delivery process and why you're upset.  My Charge 5 was delivered almost a week late.  However, this has nothing to do with Fitbit and everything to do with FedEx (the delivery service).  Part of it is probably due to staffing shortages (thank you COVID), while the other could be due to things beyond their control.  In my case, it was due to weather: we were expecting a storm during the time that my Charge 5 was due to be delivered, in which case, they naturally wouldn't want many of their drivers risking their lives on the road.  When you place an order, you are sent a confirmation email and you can track your package through there.  Once the label is set to FedEx, it's out of Fitbit's hands.  They could send the label to FedEx the day your order is placed, but they can't control when it will be picked up by FedEx.

I do agree that the Charge 3 is a flawed product, which is why I don't use mine much.  It has not fallen apart, but some of the features that I was looking forward to left much to be desired, mainly the ability for the screen to be seen in sunlight.

However, I cannot speak for the Customer Service Reps.

[JHT29]

Thank you very much for your empathy and comments. 🙂