My experience with Versa 3 and Customer Service

[SunsetRunner]

Hi everyone, a friend of mine bought a brand new Fitbit and offered me her Versa 3. She used it until last Friday then shipped me. Wednesday, when the watch arrived it was fully discharged. So I plugged in and wait about 2 hours before using it.

As the Versa was closed to my phone (Google Pixel 8 Pro) it was detected and the pairing process began. I downloaded the Fitbit app, paired both watch and phone with a 4 digit code, setup everything and so on. The watch was still plugged, but on the app it still showed 0% charged ("battery empty"). And the app asked to update the firmware. Which I couldn't do as charge is below 25%...

I asked Fitbit/Google technical support and after a few quick q/a they told me that the guarantee had expired in Sept. 2023 and that they couldn't do anything. They just offered me to get a 35% redeem coupon on a brand new Fitbit!!

I wonder how a 3 years old watch which was fully functional last week is bricked a few days later, just because it discharged?!

And despite 35% off, I'm not confident in buying a watch from Fitbit.

Thanks for reading and for your help if anyone has a solution to this issue

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there, @SunsetRunner. Welcome to the Fitbit Community Forums. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and for the troubleshooting steps you've tried. I'm sorry to hear that your Versa 3 is unresponsive. We‘re taking your comments and sentiments in regards to our products and services into consideration.

Thanks for your question about why we offered a discount towards a new Fitbit product instead of a replacement of your existing Fitbit product. Our limited warranty provides repair or replacement of products that have a defect while still in the warranty period. Your device is out of the warranty period, and therefore is not eligible for repair or replacement, but we want to offer you a discount to thank you for your loyalty to Fitbit. For more information about our warranty, see fitbit.com/legal/returns-and-warranty.

Our products are indeed designed and made to last (this goes for each product component) however, there is not an infallible way to ensure that no issues will be present in the long run. Because of this, our Warranty Policy  is set into providing as much coverage as we can.

Even though I truly appreciate you took the time to come here and express your feelings towards your experience with your Versa 3 and also want to find a resolution to your issue, my best advice is to keep the conversation with our Support Team. Since you've exhausted all troubleshooting steps, I'd like to share with you that there are no different steps here on the forums that we can provide other than what our team has already provided to you. Note for this kind of inquiries/cases/process, there's not so much we here in the forums can do for you as this is something that our team handles based on our policies.

Thanks in advance! 

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks Maria for your answer.

I found tons of other users experiences who suddenly have a bricked Fitbit for no reason (here, on reddit, on google support...etc..) and often 1 year later after the guarantee was void. It's a very short lifetime for a product like a connected watch. 

Anyway thanks for telling me that I won't find any other solution here. I told this story to my friend who offered me the watch, she was so surprised and disappointed. She just bought a Vesta 4, let's hope she won't have the same issue in more than 2 years...

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(Versa 4, not Vesta 4)