Experience with Sense and Customer Service

[GERDD]

On September 24th, 2020 I received the new Fitbit smart watch Sense, and was very happy as I really like the design and features I ordered this from the official Fitbit website for Canada.

On the very next day I contacted Fitbit customer service, because of a black out of part of the settings menu on the watch. After sending screen shots I was told to factory reset the watch, which I did. But afterwards I was not able to link the watch with my iphone anymore. I also sent screen shots for this.

After many frustrating trials to reconnect I requested information about returning the watch and a refund. Especially after reading on a Fitbit problem site that the black out of watch software happens frequently and it does not like that Fitbit has a solution for that.

Though the rep acted surprised about the problem, go figure then I am reading all these posts about  such problems😊. Anyhow, my request was ignored and instead I received from other reps repeated information how to solve it. Nothing worked of it, and at the end I figured out myself that resetting, turning on/off Bluetooth etc was not the solution, but the actual deleting of the Bluetooth connection to the watch.

But guess what, still part of the setting menu was getting black again and settings could not be changed. So here we go again.

After getting tough about the continued ignoring of my request for returning the watch I finally received instructions for a return to US, but requesting It is interesting to note, that the Fitbit customer service in my personal talks were not able to identify the watch as their own ! So I send as requested order and payment confirmation, all from Fitbit itself, and asked about the final info about mailing.

I never received any response but emails from other customer reps proposing how to solve the technical problem, all repeating and already done by me during the last weeks. Also I was told that my case would be escalated to help. Do not really know what that means as there was no change except that my frustration escalated 😊

I asked then for a telephone number of a supervisor/manager as this charade had to end. After telling me that I will get an appointment, then asking my own phone number to call me, guess what, nothing happened and I am waiting for almost a week to speak to a supervisor/manager

Clearly, Fitbit does not take responsibility of their faulty products. A return and refund is being avoided by all means.

Their customer service is very polite, but the most ineffective and unorganized department I ever had to deal with. During this most frustrating time I had the pleasure to get acquainted with ~ 8 different Fitbit customer reps and it seems that no-one read the communication history or they simply do not have this feature to make notes of customer communication.

Without exaggeration I have been wasting many hours of my time.

Conclusion: Think twice about buying a Fitbit product.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject and word choice, font

[Odyssey13]

Hi @GERDD  posts are removed, edited or merged, as deemed necessary with the guidelines being the Terms of Service - click to see them. Sorry you're having problems, but customer support is more  limited these days, as it is with many other companies worldwide.

[FloppyDrive]

In the future, I would suggest buying from Amazon or Bestbuy.

[Rich_Laue]

Hi @GERDD where did you purchase the Sense? 

What is their return policy? 

Fitbit has a 45 day return policy of bought through their web site. 

[GERDD]

Hi Rich: I bought it directly from the Fitbit website for Canada. I know about the return policy, and requested for weeks instructions as the Canadian distributor does not take it back 🙂

Stay safe, Gerd

[GERDD]

Hi Odyssey:

You might want to take the time and read in detail about my experience about the last 4 weeks. It has nothing to do with customer service limitations.

Thanks, Gerd

Moderator Edit: Personal info removed

[GERDD]

Hi FloppyDrive: Guess you are right, though one would think what could go wrong buying it directly from the company itself 🙂

[MrGlenn]

Hi Gerdd, sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately it is very common these days for consumer support to be handled by departments that are very limited in what they can actually do for you.

Like you said they can be very respectful, they're just not allowed to do much outside of their 'scripted' answers.

That's part of the reason forums like this exist, because the company really hopes users will help each other so they don't have to (which saves them a ton of money). This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just an observation.

That said:

I don't think you've shown us here exactly what your problem is, but it sounds like you are trying to change settings while the device is in Sleep mode. That is not possible, you can only access all Settings when the device is in regular mode.

Looking around similar posts here that have been made before that has almost always been the issue.

[sanman202]

At least they were reachable even though it appears it was a frustrating experience. It also doesn't seem like the issue is something common that you're mentioning. Bottom line, the issue will be resolved at some point. Just some more patience. It's in their best interest to get it resolved even though there seems to be a slow resolution. We all are dealing with stuff as far as customer service goes and mistakes go. It's unfortunate but this is society. 

[LizzyFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone. It's good to see you participating in the forums.

@GERDD, thanks for sharing detailed information about your Sense and the interaction with our Support team. This isn't the type of experience that we want you to have and I apologize for the experience that you've gone through. Your feedback will passed along to our team so we can work and improve our products, services and overall environment.

Because you already have a case created, I've forwarded your post to our team so they can take a deeper look into your details and help you with your request. You'll receive an email from them shortly, so make sure to check your inbox, spam and junk folders. If you need anything else from me, don't hesitate to let me know.

See you around.

[GERDD]

Thank you, Lizzy, for acknowledging the problem, and let's hope that action follow. I truly hope that this is taken care of now, as the same was promised by Eli, Victor, Daniel, Sebastian, Andres, Marville, Luis, Rita, Tina, Jennifer from customer support. 

Thank you, Gerd

[GERDD]

That's the point, Sanman, there is no resolution, not even a slow one. It has just been passed on to another customer rep and everything starts from the beginning. Catch 22 does not apply entirely, but gives the idea :), and this for 4 weeks with running out soon of the 45 days :).

Anyhow, I do hope that Lizzy as she said will take care of. Thank you.

[GERDD]

Short update, 02nd November:

My experience was acknowledged and the problem taken care of it now. Thank you!

I received yesterday from Jennifer return instructions and a return label. My sincere appreciation for this action and I do hope that my feedback will trigger improvements in software development and customer service organizational guidelines. After all the sense design itself is excellent.

Have a nice week, Gerd

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @GERDD. Welcome back to the forums.

Thanks for keeping me updated about this issue and I'm glad you've received instructions to return your watch for a refund. I apologize one more time for the experience that you've had. We strive to improve the experience with our Fitbit products and services, so be sure that your feedback won't be taken for granted.

Hope you have a nice day!