Add Lloyds bank to UK Fitbit pay

[lexi83]

More bank compatibility for uk Fitbit pay versa users. So far Fitbit pay is not connected to any major banks in the UK. The very few that fit bit pay is connected to I’ve never even heard of. So as a UK versa owner I have the special edition and can’t use the very feature that separates it from the the normal versa.

is Fitbit pay going to compatible with the major banks in the UK like Barclays, Lloyds, Santander, HSBC, NatWest, TSB, Metro Bank, Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland etc and also I haven’t seen any where (shops) that accepts Fitbit pay yet.  

Moderator Edition: Labels and format

Moderator Edition Jan 14th 2019: Retitled to focus on Lloyds Bank in particular rather than all UK banks. Updated thread with links to multiple individual UK banks.

[RobIgoUK]

Instead of moaning and waiting for Fitbit to "add my bank" I just opened an account with Starling (which Fitbit shows as one of the supported banks on their list).   It's all done from you mobile, it took a few minutes and the account is free.  I now transfer over my expected "spend" what I'll need for the next week or so when I want to pay with my Ionic and voila!  It works and Starling is a really great bank (I'm considering moving my full account over to them).

[esmelouise]

I understand the frustration. I am guessing there are costs involved, and in the UK Fitbit think they are getting away with gap in the functionality.

The sales details should really say 'banking function for Sanander customers'. This would obviously impact the volume of sales.

As for the Fitbit's selective hearing (or lack of hearing on this topic), this feels VERY 'hard nosed'. It has altered the way I think of the brand, and I am not sure I will buy again. I expected a better response and explanation regarding lack of action on this point.

Maybe retailers should also warn customers. I think I will raise this point with John Lewis. I will also put an online review on the John Lewis website for this product, and add details regarding the banks signed up with Fitbit.

Good luck with your campaign to sort this out.

Regards, Esme

[Orion3T]

I have also put in a report to BBC Watchdog. Hopefully it will help motivate them to get something done about this, or at least publicise how limited the feature is.

[Orion3T]

RobIgoUK, I'm glad that works for you. When I looked up the Starling app, it did not support tablets. Not a great start, my phone doesn't run most apps as it's an older model iPhone.

We should not have to mess about remembering to transfer money and suffer the extra admin of an extra bank account. For a feature that I really only need on the odd time I forget my wallet, it seems it may add more inconvenience than it is worth. But I'm considering it anyway, just in case this feature turns out to be more useful than I expected.

And even with that solution in place, we are not just moaning for the sake of it. It is clear FitBit want us to discuss it here and hopefully help/inspire them improve the feature. At the very least the feature limitations should be made clearer.

[Orion3T]

So I tried to get Starling on my son's old windows phone which he has now given us, they are not in the windows app store.

[Orion3T]

RobIgoUK

Starling not an option as they dont support Android tablets or Windows phone. Santander apparently charge £5 per month for the pleasure of their service. Danske, never heard of them but it didn't appear quick & simple to open an account from their website.

I'l be returning the watch to Argos this afternoon.

[Orion3T]

Argos customer service lady agreed it wasn't clear before buying and also that having to use multiple bank accounts was not a reasonable expectation to use the feature. She swapped it for the normal version and refunded the difference despite clearly being used.

If anyone else isn't happy about this they might want to try the same approach.

[esmelouise]

Good result!



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[Chris1109]

Just bought the Ionic over Versa for the fact that I wouldn’t need my phone on me for the gps... now I realise I need either a phone (apple pay) or a debit card on me if I need to buy things. Ridiculous.  Fitbit Pay - I would have expected it to work with leading uk banks but am very disappointed that it is not. Please update this function soon. This is a lot to spend on a watch for little extra functionality than a cheaper alternative. 

[Spaldingboy]

TO all frustrated Charge 3 users who thought they'd be making contactless payments on Boxing Day, this is the sort of assault course the wonderful execs at Fitbit expect you to go through to get your bank considered, let alone listed!  Who are these people??

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@lexi83 wrote:

More bank compatibility for uk Fitbit pay versa users. So far Fitbit pay is not connected to any major banks in the UK. The very few that fit bit pay is connected to I’ve never even heard of. So as a UK versa owner I have the special edition and can’t use the very feature that separates it from the the normal versa.

is Fitbit pay going to compatible with the major banks in the UK like Barclays, Lloyds, Santander, HSBC, NatWest, TSB, Metro Bank, Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland etc and also I haven’t seen any where (shops) that accepts Fitbit pay yet.  

Moderator Edition: Labels and format

  10. How does Fitbit decide what Feature Suggestions are released?

This is a complicated question, but the following factors will influence what gets prioritized for future development:

• How clearly the Feature Suggestion is written. Specific ideas that are easy to understand and envisage will naturally be more compelling for both other voters and Fitbit staff.
• How many other community members agree! This will primarily be the number of votes, comments and traction your idea has gained within the community.
• Scale of impact. With a wide variety of products and tens of millions of customers across the globe, a feature that will make a handful - or even one customer - very happy, may not be a fair allocation of resources.
• Scale of demand. It might seem like a lot of members want a Feature to be developed but it’s useful to bear scale in mind here. For example, we have over 500,000 (as of summer 2017) registered community members, so an idea with 500 votes actually represents a small percentage of our community and an even smaller subset of the total global Fitbit user population. That isn’t to say that these voices aren’t important, see more in the paragraph below.

[RevViktoria]

Add Google pay, Android pay, Apple pay and PayPal! 

[Spaldingboy]

Good for you RobiogoUK, no doubt Fitbit love users like you, who accept their shoddy customer service and functionality, instead of moaning about it.  I wonder if they get a commission for every new bank account they pressure a Fitbit user such as yourself, into opening.

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[StevieTuts]

Where is HSBC? One of the worlds biggest banks ? How has this been a year and nothing sorted ? Please add ASAP 

[SunsetRunner]

Please add more UK banks to fitbit pay.

Bank of Scotland in particular. 

The options for the UK are very limited at the moment . 

[Slev]

Agree with many other posts here. Was definitely a selling feature but all but useless for paying with here in the UK. Why are there delays to the addition of more UK banks? A "thanks for your feedback" is not an answer to the many questions posted.

[Lj001]

Lloyds Banking Group, you'll get 3 major banks in hit. Lloyds, Halifax and RBS.

Or try partnering with someone whose done the hard work all ready and just allow Google Pay or Apple Pay as an app. They already accept most major providers. Not really sure why fitbit did there own and so pathetically when others do it better that could just be opened up in the app store.. 

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@lexi83 wrote:

More bank compatibility for uk Fitbit pay versa users. So far Fitbit pay is not connected to any major banks in the UK. The very few that fit bit pay is connected to I’ve never even heard of. So as a UK versa owner I have the special edition and can’t use the very feature that separates it from the the normal versa.

is Fitbit pay going to compatible with the major banks in the UK like Barclays, Lloyds, Santander, HSBC, NatWest, TSB, Metro Bank, Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland etc and also I haven’t seen any where (shops) that accepts Fitbit pay yet.  

Moderator Edition: Labels and format

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[MarcelBK]

Hi @SunsetRunner, thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us, this feature suggestion already exists so I’ve moved your post here as it is under consideration.

[Tenchu2uk]

I find it frustrating and disgusting that fitbit continue to not support the major UK banks with Fitbit pay but are very happy to advertise this in the UK as a major feature.

I have contacted Fitbit through all forms of social media over the past couple of years and my recent tweets and messages have just been ignored.

Fitbit are fully aware of the problem but continue to fob off customers with comments like "we are working hard" etc.  If this was any normal workplace where employees did not my customers demands they would quickly be replaced with other who could.

Surly fitbit could release some statement on the progress of this issue but they won't because it may affect sales.

It is obvious that fitbit will not reply to this nor make any meaningful statement on the progress of Fitbit pay.

Fitbit - The company that does not care once they have your money!!!!!!

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@lexi83 wrote:

More bank compatibility for uk Fitbit pay versa users. So far Fitbit pay is not connected to any major banks in the UK. The very few that fit bit pay is connected to I’ve never even heard of. So as a UK versa owner I have the special edition and can’t use the very feature that separates it from the the normal versa.

is Fitbit pay going to compatible with the major banks in the UK like Barclays, Lloyds, Santander, HSBC, NatWest, TSB, Metro Bank, Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland etc and also I haven’t seen any where (shops) that accepts Fitbit pay yet.  

Moderator Edition: Labels and format

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@lexi83 wrote:

More bank compatibility for uk Fitbit pay versa users. So far Fitbit pay is not connected to any major banks in the UK. The very few that fit bit pay is connected to I’ve never even heard of. So as a UK versa owner I have the special edition and can’t use the very feature that separates it from the the normal versa.

is Fitbit pay going to compatible with the major banks in the UK like Barclays, Lloyds, Santander, HSBC, NatWest, TSB, Metro Bank, Halifax, Royal Bank of Scotland etc and also I haven’t seen any where (shops) that accepts Fitbit pay yet.  

Moderator Edition: Labels and format

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I

[Orion3T]

Fitbit cannot say more than they have until they actually secure an agreement with a new bank.

If they tell us they are trying to negotiate with bank X but bank X can't agree terms then they lose faith with bank X and with it any hope of them ever joining.

There are obviously financial negotiations involved here and they cannot tell us the details.

My suspicion is the UK market for this type of feature is saturated with google/Apple and Fitbit is struggling to compete with those giants.

[Tenchu2uk]

Your comments are noted and the statements made may well be true but that does not detract from the fact that the issue of UK bank compatibility has dragged on for a couple of years now, as can be seen by many other posts on this forum, and fitbit still continue to push the fitbit pay feature in their advertising well knowing it is a feature that is not available to the majority.

Many have purchased the Fitbit products with the feature being a major consideration in that purchase and are extremely disappointed whn it can not be used and then when they raise the issue with fitbit there is a distinct lack of explanation or support in any form.

Statements from fitbit do not have to be detailed but taking some time to provide an explanation may help ease the concerns of the many who have raised the same issue. 

All they need to do is look at the negativity from purchasers of their products to see the issues

[Slev]

These type of transactions are handled in many cases by a third party such as Elavon and RMS. These middle men handle the actual money transfer between companies. Sage Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay are simply the front end that allows customers to do so. I would doubt very much if Fitbit are dealing direct with the Banks in handling the actual cash transactions. As such the mechanism already exists and it should be a simple fix and still don't understand the delay. If others can than surely they can. In my opinion the Ionic is being "upsold" with a feature that is 99.9% unusable for their customer base.

Let me state this was not a deal breaker in my purchase of the Ionic however it would be a nice to have feature if out walking the mountains, or on a run and pop in for water or a stop or get caught short without your wallet and or phone.

That's all from my on this one.

Good forum btw

[43335132]

Personally,  I think that fitbit should reimburse all customers who paid the extra £20 for the fitpay capability, then put out a disclaimer for future customers; then allow the facility for free for current disgruntled/misled customers once live.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[Ocathain123]

Great idea. Sadly fitbit will probably just pat us on the head and ignore
as they have fir nearly 2 years.

[Michelle1983]

I think this is an excellent idea and I suggest that fitbit pay up immediately

Sent from my iPhone

[pointy101]

https://youtu.be/zPxUNl1dklA

Here's how it was sold to us ,if only !!!!!??