Did Fitbit Change Their Warranty to Only Cover One Replacement

[adrienneurban]

I have a question about the current warranty coverage for Fitbit models: I purchased a Versa 2 in September of 2020. There was a problem where the Fitbit would not charge, so I contacted Customer Service who allowed me to exchange it for a replacement. Now, my current Fitbit is stuck on an error screen and none of the troubleshooting steps will fix it. I contacted Customer Service who told me that there was no way to fix the device, but that I did not qualify for a replacement. When I asked why as I have not had my Fitbit for a full year yet I was told that I am only allowed one replacement and was told to go read the warranty terms. I have read the warranty terms many times and nowhere can I find a limit of one replacement listed anywhere. Does anyone know if this is in fact true and where such language might be found in the warranty? 

In the recent past I had a Charge 3 that had so many problems I had to replace it three times. I do know that the Fitbit warranty was updated when Google purchased the company, but I cannot find any documentation to this change in policy. Rather, I find language stating:

"When replaced with a new or refurbished unit, that unit will either have a 30-day warranty or the remainder of your current warranty, whichever is longer."

This would mean that my replacement unit would be covered until September.

[MarkMM]

@adrienneurban You are the second one I've seen say this in recent days, so I went to chat support. They assured me that nothing has changed and you still get the remainder of your original purchase warranty.

[adrienneurban]

Thank you so much for checking. It's really strange that some customer support agents are adamantly telling people this and denying customers a replacement if it isn't true. I'll try contacting them again, and hopefully someone will give me a different answer.

[MarkMM]

@adrienneurban You're welcome! Let us know what happens?

[adrienneurban]

I spoke to another customer service rep who also told me that my replacement is not covered by the warranty. It's very strange that they would suddenly not allow replacements to be covered by the warranty, but state in their terms of service that replacements are covered by the warranty. They should update their policies rather than creating a new rule that is not written anywhere. Can I ask, did you reach the customer service rep via chat or by phone? I reached both of mine via chat. I wonder if the response differs between the two modalities.

[MarkMM]

@adrienneurban I am in chat support right now, and just as last time, they are saying

Clarissa: I'll be glad to help you with your concern about your warranty.

Clarissa: To answer that, we base it from the date of purchase/

Clarissa: purchase

.*Me: Why are people being told it's one replacment only?Me: replacement

Clarissa: Oh no. It will still depend on the date of purchase.

[MarkMM]

Clarissa: To explain, every replacement tracker only acquires and then continues the warranty days left from the original tracker that you purchased by the time it was replaced.

Clarissa: So the replacement doesn't have a full year warranty but only bares the warranty days left from the original device which you have purchased.

[adrienneurban]

Thanks for checking with them again; if it hadn't been for you I probably would not have kept pursuing this. I thought I would update just in case anyone runs into this issue. I contacted Twitter support and explained my situation and they told me that customer service was wrong in denying me warranty coverage, but when I asked for help with getting a replacement and gave them my info they told me that they couldn't help as the original customer service rep had listed in my file that my warranty had expired (it hadn't). I finally filled out an inquiry form via Fitbit's General Inquiry link and explained the situation. I gave my order number and purchase date and quoted from the warranty that replacements are supposed to be covered from a year from the original device's purchase date. I asked them to please tell me where in the warranty it says that replacements are not covered. 24 hours later I received a reply that they would investigate and finally they granted me a return and said that the customer service reps had been in error. All of this was so bizarre. I hope customer service does not continue doing this to other people.

[MarkMM]

@adrienneurban You're welcome! And congrats on being persistent and getting what you deserve. Hopefully the Employee who wrongfully terminated your warranty, is properly dealt with!