Versa 3 stopped working after swimming

[sim886]

I bought a Versa 3 back in June. I decided to go swimming in a pool with it last week for the first time and after 5 minutes in the water it died completely, it wouldn't turn on and wouldn't charge.

A few days later I put it on the charger and tried turning it on again and the screen flashed on but was completely messed up - all white and non-responsive.

I have currently put the watch in rice with hopes to remove any extra water and condensation left and get it back to working.

However I doubt it will recover and I am absolutely furious, why does Fitbit advertise the Versa 3 as waterproof if so many watches have died after being submerged into water once???

I am paying off my watch in monthly installments and have got 7 more months left. I don't intend to keep paying for a product that I can't even use. Unfortunately I was stupid enough to not keep the warranty (if I ever even got one) nor a proof of purchase (apart from the payment plan) since I was too excited when I got the watch and must have thrown them away.

Is there anything at all I can do in this situation? Please help.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[sim886]

Bumping up thread... Anyone??

[davedavem]

Hi - This is my second experience of this, So i have now decided to leave fitbit and go with Garmin - All you get from fitbit is a discount code to buy anther watch. Its a cleaver marketing trick in my eyes, sell something that does not do as advertised and then get the customer to buy another one when it fails, this way they make more money selling another product, rather than actually having to deal with the issue.

[MarkMM]

@sim886 Hi. Did you contact support? They can tell when a watch was activated. I just told them I bought mine at Costco and was fine. I never had to provide proof of purchase for any of my Fitbits. 

[NancyB]

Did the rice work? You might also trying drying it out using a hairdryer (not too close up). That’s worked for me in the past. Good luck! 

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[louho1986]

Which Garmin did you get out of interest? I've had my versa 3 for 4 years and always used it in the shower, swimming, gym and never had an issue but last Thursday 24th Oct it decided to break after swimming in shallow water. It had plenty of charge and it just is completely non responsive now with black screen. I've been an avid fitbit user since 2015 and really struggling to leave fitbit but with the recent Google take over I fear that if I buy fitbit again I'm paying money into a sinking ship