Replacement Versa battery life

[pitazita09]

My husband and I bough a Versa last year on Black Friday for him to use. It malfunctioned in August (only 9 months after we purchased it), it got extremely hot on the charger and then wouldn't turn on.

We contacted Fitbit about the issue and got a replacement sent out to us.  The replacement came in and when he went to use it the battery life was terrible. It wouldn't last through his workday for him. He contacted support and they just told him to try a few things and test it again. It didn't help and the battery life was still terrible. He contacted them another time (last week) and they told him that nothing could be done. That only the original is covered by the warranty and the replacement they sent out is not so nothing could be done.

I also have a Versa so we decided to switch them out so I could see if it would work in my daily routine since I have a little more ability to charge it during the day. The battery barely lasts 6 hours and that is with the screen on dim, the notifications turned off, all day sync turned off, anything that I could possibly do, I turned off.  This is not feasible to use and charge every 6 hours and miss out on activity.

I have been a Fitbit customer since January 2015 and have been pleased with the products and services up to this point. The devices should last at least a year, and it's great that Fitbit replaced our device since it stopped working before the year mark but the fact that the replacement that was sent out is defective and we were told there is nothing that can be done is ridiculous. The device only lasted 9 months. I can't justify spending $150-$200 to replace and buy another device that will potentially only last 9 months and be replaced with a defective replacement.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @pitazita09 , I see your point and that is really disappointing.  It is a pretty usual warranty condition that the replacement is only covered for period of the original warranty or a short time afterwards.  I once got caught out on that clause with a defective televison, but since I don’t watch much I didn’t notice the replacement was even more defective until the grace period had run out!  

For the Fitbit, any replacement is warranted until the end of the original warranty period or 30 days, whichever is longer.

When you got the replacement, did you report the unacceptable battery life within 30 days?  If so, you should be covered, and you need to contact Fitbit again.  Even if they asked you to try different thngs, if you reported the problem with the replacement within 30 days I would think you could make a good case if you escalate this.

Unfortunately if you did not report this within 30 days, then Fitbit have fulfilled the terms of their warranty and there is not a lot you can do about getting a further replacement under warranty.

In that case, it is definitely worth giving your Versa a restart (try this a couple of times) and try keeping the battery between 30-80% for a few weeks to see if that helps to re-condition the battery.

[MarkMM]

I would try again. I'm on my third Versa. No one told me the warranty only covered one replacement. My understanding is it's a year. No matter how many replacements are required. I got mine rather effortlessly through chat support. Maybe you just had a not so good support rep. 

[Julia_G]

@MarkMM , it is definitely not one replacement, but it is in most parts of the world one year.  A new replacement does not get a further year.  It gets until the end of the original warranty or 30 days, whichever is the longer.

So if you get a replacement withn six months you get six more months for further issues.

But if you get a replacement in 364 days, you get 29 more days.

[MarkMM]

@Julia_G , @pitazita09  mentioned above, it was bought Black Friday last year, which would mean it's a couple weeks short of a year old and under warranty, yet they were told,  "only the original is covered by the warranty and the replacement they sent out is not so nothing could be done.".

[Julia_G]

@MarkMM that’s why I suggested they should go back to Fitbit and get the issue escalated, depending, of course, on exact dates of purchase and replacement.

The warranty is very clear.  In most parts of the world your original Fitbit is warranted for 1 year.  Any replacement is warranted until the end of the original warranty period, or 30 days, whichever is longer.

[MarkMM]

@Julia_G  You asked if they reported it within 30 days, which is irreverent here. They are still within a year if bought Black Friday. 30 days means nothing. And you told them Fitbit fulfilled their duty if it wasn't reported within 30 days. Again, false if it was bought Black Friday. 

[Julia_G]

Following up: I think Black Friday 2018 was 23 November.  So if it was actually purchased on that date then it (and any replacements) should be warranted until 22 November 2019.  (I live in the EU - there the warranty starts when the item is actually delivered to you, but I do not know whether that applies in the US.  I would recommend following this up as soon as possible.)

IF the Fitbit was purchased on 23 November, and was replaced under warranty, and you believe that the replacement is also defective (6 hours battery life is obviously unacceptable) then you will need to register this matter with Fitbit before 22 November.  It may be that you contacted them by phone and received an inappropriate answer - mistakes do happen!

I would strongly getting in touch again via email rather than phone, so there is a written record, at contact.fitbit.com .  

My experience is that Fitbit is a very fair company and in many cases goes well beyond the legal requirements of the warranty, so if the dates are what is suggested here then @pitazita09 please do contact them again.

Under the circumstances I have flagged this post for moderator attention.  I expect you will have a speedy resolution.

[Julia_G]

@MarkMM , you are correct.  I hadn’t focussed on the exact date of the original purchase.  

The warranty terms are clear.  1 year and any replacement is warranted for the same period, or 30 days, whichever is longer.  In this case if the product was actually purchased last November Black Friday, then it is warranted until then.  So the Fitbit is still under warranty and if the replacement is also defective, then it is also eligible for replacement under warranty.

[MarkMM]

And it's nice to know at this point if they get a late replacement, they have 30 days to try it. Better than nothing. I wasn't aware of that one.

[Julia_G]

@MarkMM , exactly. 

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @pitazita09, welcome to the Community. @Julia_G and @MarkMM, nice to see you here and thanks for your big help!

@pitazita09, I appreciate you for sharing detailed information about your experience with your husband's Versa and our Support team. I understand how you're feeling as this watch should have worked correctly, and I'm sorry that both of you have gone through this situation. I've updated your details to our Support team so they can reopen your case and work on it. You'll receive an email shortly with more details, so make sure to check your inbox.

I appreciate your loyalty towards Fitbit and if there's anything else I can do for you, don't hesitate to reply back.

See you around.

[pitazita09]

Thank you all for your responses @Julia_G @MarkMM @LizzyFitbit .

I placed the order on November 22, 2018. We contacted Fitbit on August 24th. They said they had to receive the device back before sending the replacement, which I can understand, so the replacement was not shipped out until September 13 and it arrived on September 20.  So this is when it arrived and he began using it and saw that it had the short battery life issue.  I do not have the specific dates for when he contacted them after that, other than I know it was last week when he contacted them and was told what I referenced above, but this is all still within 1 year from the original purchase date.

I have been checking my email including junk mail folders and have not received any contact from the support team yet to further discuss this issue.

[MarkMM]

@pitazita09 Why not try chat support? I've always found that pretty easy and helpful. 

And best of all, no waiting around.

[Julia_G]

@pitazita09 , a moderator ( @LizzyFitbit ) is now on the case, so you should be taken care of very soon.  You can, of course, contact chat at any time, but you will need to start over with them giving all your info.

I would say the best way would be to give it another day or two and post here again if you don’t hear anything further.  Do keep an eye on your inbox (inc junk) and I can flag the moderators again if there is nothing further.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @pitazita09, @MarkMM and @Julia_G. It's great to see the three of you in the Forums.

@MarkMM and @Julia_G, I appreciate your big help. You rock!

@pitazita09, thanks for keeping me updated, as well for checking your inbox and junk folders. I understand your point of view and the details you've shared are very helpful! After getting in touch with our Support team I was told that they're reviewing your husband's case and providing him with assistance via email. While I'm not able to access his case, be sure that his case is now on good hands. I'll also be around, so feel free to reply back to me if you don't receive any email shortly.

Keep me posted.

[pitazita09]

Hi Lizzy, I wanted to check back in with you to give you an update on this situation.  Below is the email correspondence from Fitbit Support and our response to them. At this point I am very frustrated to say the least. After reading their latest response, it sounds like they didn’t even read the response that we sent to give them the information that the defective device is now paired with my account. The reason I say this is because in the timeframe they give for checking the battery (November 14-November 16), the defective device was charged and battery depleted several times and does not match the stats they gave.

I am growing more and more frustrated here.  Just to recap for the record: We bought a device, 9 months after purchase the device still performed well as far as the battery life goes, it would last a few days on one charge, but that device has some sort of hardware malfunction that caused it to turn off and not turn back on.  Since it was within the one year limited warranty, we were sent a replacement device, and that replacement device would not last even one day on a charge (not even through a full workday even). This just doesn’t come close to the battery performance of the device that we had prior to the hardware malfunction. The fact that I have had to turn off all of the features of the watch to be able to have it last just defeats the whole purpose of purchasing the Versa in the first place.

I have always felt taken care of and like my concerns were heard with Fitbit Support in the past, but now, my frustration is mounting because I don’t feel like the people dealing with our case on the Fitbit Support chat and emails are even reading our emails for the actual content or giving us actual correct information. The only way I have felt like I’ve gotten any actual help with this situation is through this post with you reading and responding to my posts here, so I do appreciate you @LizzyFitbit  taking the time to try to help with the situation, but this is just making me feel like the others dealing with the case have not cared about it. I just don’t know what else to do other than posting here so that the history is together as much as possible.

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From Fitbit Support on November 14, 2019

Hi Jazz,

We are sending this email to update you regarding you're Versa's battery draining issue.

We'd like to share that we’ve carefully reviewed your device’s battery performance and it shows that your device’s battery life is at 100% from November 7th at 9:29 p.m. and depleted to 12% battery level on November 14th at 2:25 p.m.

With this, it looks like your Versa’s battery life is in the expected range for your type of smartwatch and the frequency at which you use features that impact battery life.

We hope this information helps. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Sincerely,

Dolly and the Fitbit Team

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Response Sent to Fitbit Support on November 14, 2019

Hi Dolly and Fitbit Team,

The reason your tests are showing a better battery life is because we switched the defective device over to my wife's account. Due to the active nature of my job, it was not feasible for me to have a device that didn't last through my work day and I am not able to charge it throughout the day as is needed to be able to get any use out of it. Since she has a sedentary job where she is able to charge the device while at her desk, we switched it to her account (pitazita09 is her username).

After the switch, she is still experiencing horrendous battery performance.  After the first day when it drained within 5 to 6 hours, she went in and turned off any settings possible to try to conserve power. She turned off all day sync, turned off notifications, turned off screen wake, made the display dim, and only syncs sparingly to conserve as much as humanly possible.  With these settings she's had a slight gain in battery life, but at great cost as these are all functions that she uses. Having notifications and being able to sync throughout the day to check progress, having the screen wake function to be able to check time and progress, etc were all reasons that we decided to purchase the Versa devices.

As an example of the poor battery performance, she charged the device to 100% and took it off the charger before she went to sleep at 12:20 am and by 7:00 am 5 hours and 40 minutes later, it was already down to around 30%.  She put it on the charger as she was getting ready for work and then when she got to work put it back on the charger to charge it to 100%.

Please review the defective device that is linked with her Fitbit account for information on the defective replacement device that we were sent.

Thank you,

Jazz

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Response from Fitbit Support on November 16, 2019

Hi Jazz,

We appreciate your patience and understanding on this case and we appreciate you for reaching us out via community board.

We'd like to share with you that we’ve carefully reviewed your Versa’s battery performance and it shows that your device’s battery life is at 100% from November 14th and depleted to 88% battery level on November 16th.

With this, it looks like your Versa’s battery life is in the expected range for your type of smartwatch and the frequency at which you use features that impact battery life.

We hope that you find this information helpful, Jazz. Let us know if you have other inquiries or questions.

Sincerely,

Don and the Fitbit Team

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @pitazita09. Thanks for keeping me informed about your case.

I completely understand how you're feeling and I apologize for the frustration caused by this situation. I also appreciate you for taking the time to share this information with me. I've got in touch with our Support team and shared all your details so they can review your case based on your feedback. They'll provide you with further assistance via email, make sure to check your inbox. If you have any other question in regards to this process, don't hesitate to let me know.

I'll be around, let me know the outcome.