Sense Warranty practices

[Cherivo]

I've owned many different Fitbits and they all seem to stop working within a year or two.  I bought a new Sense directly from Fitbit... stopped working within a month.  Tech support deemed it a defective device and said, send it back and we'll send you another one.  So I did.

Problem is, the mail is slow and it takes Fitbit a week to send out another once they receive yours back.  I was without my Fitbit for over a month.  The new one finally arrives and I immediately notice it's not new.  Then I can't get it to connect to wifi.  Finally connect to wifi and it doesn't stay connected.  And it doesn't charge at all.

Call Fitbit back and confirm that yes, the warehouse sends used (refurbished?) fitbits to warranty returns.  How is that right?  I paid full price directly from them and after a month of wearing it, they send a used one that also doesn't work?

I told him I wanted a brand new one in a sealed box since that is what I paid for.  He says, no can do.  This was from the escalation department.  Finally told him I will contact my bank to get a full refund on my card so he quickly filled out the second return.  He knows that if the company is sending out another one, my bank won't refund the money.

All I want is a new (unused) Fitbit Sense that works.... why is that so hard?

Moderator edit: format. 

[m-umar]

@Cherivo Welcome to new Fitbit world. You will see if search this forum lot of us faced similar issues and Fitbit will point you to the limited warranty doc which no one really reads that the replacement will be refurbished. In case you mistakenly bought from unauthorised reseller then also it is not covered by Fitbit. Thats exactly happened to me and $ down the drain.

You will not get a new device & it will still be refurbished. I guess there warehouse is full of returns so have to dumped somewhere and what better place than loyal customers.

Next time read the warranty policy.

[Cherivo]

Ok that's interesting and thank you for clarifying things.  You know, I guess I still believe in companies who want to survive by treating their customers right. You would think that a company would understand the importance of repeat customers.... Exactly the reason Costco and Amazon are so big. So long Fitbit it wasn't nice knowing you.

And yes, I did buy my Sense directly from Fitbit online.  There's no reason that after only one month after purchase they should send me one that's all scratched up and supposedly refurbished. That's just terrible customer service.

Thanks again for your reply.

[m-umar]

@Cherivoask for money back if you can and then buy from a reseller but make sure to get it in writing that they will replace it with a new one as long as under warranty. Yep not fair that new ones are replaced with refubs. Money doesn't grow on tree. So companies needs to know that.

Good Luck.

[Cherivo]

Good point. Normally I buy this kind of stuff from Costco but the last Fitbit that broke was about a week out of warranty and Fitbit offered me a 35% off which was better than the Costco price. They got me. Lesson learned.

[m-umar]

These are not cheap devices so one expect them to last beyond 2-3 years to make it worth a while. Fitbit was good but not sure what happened around the sale to Google that it just don't care. May be the bottom line was more important to get to Google. But I'm just not sure what the hell is going on within Fitbit management.

[Cherivo]

"Back in November of 2019, Google paid $2.1 billion to acquire the well-known fitness tracking company. However, the deal has been subject to scrutiny, including probes into whether it could propel Google’s market position in advertising, if it choose to use the data Fitbit has accumulated to further personalize ads. Following the acquisition, Google now has access to data from as many as 28 million Fitbit customers. Recently, Fitbit and Google have both stated that user data won't be used to target advertisements. In spite of this, and even though the deal has officially closed, the U.S. Department of Justice continues to investigate the purchase.

[m-umar]

Yep, I followed this deal very closely. My interest is in economics. We all know very well that security of the user data and sharing restrictions is just on the papers now.

Like other smart watch company that Google bought before going after Fitbit (forgot the name) and destroyed it, and my guess is that Fitbit is going the same way. 2.1 billion is peanuts for google to get their hands on user data which is the real value in today's global economy/

[MarkMM]

@m-umar I know you're not in the USA. Where you are, you can demand a retailer put in writing that they'll replace it with a new one while under warranty if there's an issue? That won't happen here. They wouldn't even care if you bought it enough to back it like that. 

[m-umar]

@MarkMMyou're right I'm down under and consumer rights are really taken seriously here and we have an ombudsman that vouch on consumer behalf and 99% of the time issues gets fixed once they contact the manufacturer on customer behalf. But I always thought USA is a champion of RIGHTS!

Problem here with Fitbit is that process to replace under warranty is tainted one as replacement is Refurbished one. My guess is these are returned devices due to issues with them and Fitbit get rid of them as warranty replacements so you most likely to get someone else's problem.

Replacement should be brand new not 2nd hand products. We can buy 2nd hand ones online for 1/4 of the original prices.

[Cherivo]

In the U.S. a company can put anything in their warranty and if we sign it, we have little legal rights.  But we can fight back by not buying another Fitbit, which is my plan.  Unfortunately I bought the extended warranty so I'm stuck with dealing with them for a while.  If this third Fitbit is faulty, I'll go to my credit card company and ask for a refund.

[AndreaFitbit]

Hello there! Thank you for sharing your warranty comments and queries.

@Cherivo, I understand you've invested in the Fitbit Family; however, as any other company, we have policies to follow through.  While customer satisfaction remains our number one goal, the demands of running a global business require that we enforce our Warranty  consistently.

We don't want to create frustration in our customers. Fitbit has been designed to provide motivation and help you to reach your daily goals to success. Please know that we provide feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving our devices and overall environment based on what you share here.

I´m going to close this thread. You can check our warranty if you have questions. 

Keep on visiting the forums.