Sense no longer detecting heart rate or sleep

[mwilly]

I recently noticed that my Fitbit sense is no longer detecting my heart rate, or tracking sleep. The green led on the back of the Sense is no longer on when I take it off. I have tried a factory reset, and restarted the Sense several times with no success. 

I also contacted Fitbit Support, and was told, the Sense wasn't under warranty anymore, I bought just over a year ago, and was given a 35% Discount, which is completely unacceptable, especially after owning Fitbit devices for almost 10 years. I am extremely unhappy with Fitbit and their customer support, or lack thereof 

[eezeepee]

Welcome to the Fitbit community.

This isn't unique to Fitbit. Unfortunately, a 1-year warranty is pretty much standard for all electronics unless you purchased a warranty extension like through Best Buy or any other retailer.

[mwilly]

A $200 device dying just at 1 year is unacceptable. Fitbit quality has gone down in recent years. 

I'll make sure my next purchase is a Garmin, as I am extremely disappointed with the poor quality of Fitbit devices. 

[eezeepee]

My Sense is from August 2020 and working just fine including battery life. 

All fitness tracking devices are flawed in some way but keep in mind, Garmin's aren't great for sleep tracking. Pretty inaccurate in tests versus an EEG. 

https://youtu.be/YJRUW0azIqk 

[t.parker]

@eezeepee how did you get it a month before release? 😁

[eezeepee]

@t.parker Correction: Ordered August 2020. 🙂

[mwilly]

Great glad your's still works. Good you can have that experience....

Ultimately, I don't Care If the Garmin sleep tracker doesn't work as well. At least it will work better than a $200 pedometer. 

[eezeepee]

@mwilly Good luck. Maybe you should get an extended warranty for peace of mind. 

[mwilly]

Ahh yes, because that will fix the Problem. Thanks for the condecending attitude. If this is how the Fitbit Community wants to respond to Problems, then goodbye and good riddance 

[eezeepee]

@mwilly I wasn't being condescending. I'm just saying that all these fitness devices have the possibility to fail whether it's within a year or more. I get you're not satisfied with the 1-year warranty and getting a discount on a new device was all they can offer, but at least they offered something. If you don't get an extended warranty with Garmin, check and see if they offer anything better should their device fail after 1 year.

[mwilly]

From what I can find, this is a Problem exclusive to Fitbit. Most other devices don't suffer from such poor quality control. It's sad, because Fitbit used to be a much better company, with much better reliability, but that is no longer the case. It's a poor reflection on their brand that devices fail so often right after the warranty expires. 

[t.parker]

@eezeepee All the devices eventually may break. Garmin doesn't offer an extended warranty but offers out-of-warranty service (which often results in treatment as if the product was still under warranty) and repairs. It would be nice if Fitbit upgraded its service at least offering repairs (paid if out-of-warranty, that could keep customers happy).

[mwilly]

Being able to pay for repairs would be a much better solution than having to spend another $200 on a new device, that will likely break in a year again. 

[t.parker]

@mwilly it's not entirely like that. If the company deals with the customer request the way that customer is satisfied then the customer won't come public complaining that the device broke. The only out-of-warranty treatment Fitbit has to offer is the discount and it's often not accepted by customers. Fitbit, as a company, should work on the illusion that the products don't fail by keeping customers happy. If you think that Garmin or Polar are faultless then you'd be dead wrong. Companies maintain that illusion quite well. I know two people whose Garmin devices broke (Edge800 and Forerunner945). Edge800 was only out-of-warranty (like 4 years, but this is a bike computer so it's almost certain it will outlive the warranty) and got replaced with the refurbished unit. Forerunner was still under warranty (although, my colleague assumed it wasn't because we left the EU but it seems like Garmin kept 2 years for the UK as if it's EEA). The thing is everything breaks regardless of brand. A happy customer is key when it comes to building good publicity.

Having said that I have all my wearables and other gadgets under insurance. It's part of my home insurance so costs me very little. You never know when something will break and how (sometimes warranty may not apply to particular damage).

[mwilly]

Funny how doing more for the customer leads to better satisfaction. As it stands now, I won't be recommending fitbit devices to Friends and family anymore. Nor will I be spending any more money on Fitbit Premium.