Surge band cracking by screws

[BluettD]

I purchased my Surge in Feb 2015 and this last week I have noticed that the band is cracked underneath where the screws are - and is now digging into my wrist when I wear it.  I'm not a particularly 'rough' wearer of the Surge so am very disappointed about this damage and the fact that it may not be covered under the warranty (it's only 13/14 months old!).  What can Fitbit do about this for me? (am UK based)

Have read lots of other threads on this very same topic so I am not alone.

Very disgruntled!!!

[Marine54]

David,

‘when I had my Fitbit Surge and my band fell off, I found replacements on Amazon.. They came with the screwdriver you need..

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi guys, thank you all for the thorough feedback about Fitbit trackers. This has not gone unnoticed and be sure that I will pass this along.

I'll be around. Thanks for your participation in the community! 

[Marine54]

Well, too bad the problem wasn’t addressed earlier. Now, that quite a few people have thrown their useless tracker away..And it seems that Fitbit is all about the dollar and won’t fix the problem. Refund everyone their money spent on the Surge or give them a upgrade free of cost..

Sent from my iPad

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Marine54 thanks for getting back. In case that you haven't gotten more information about your warranty options, I can request a case for you so you can get more details about it.

Please keep me posted.

[photomfc007]

I am so done with Fitbit and there trackers. I tried for months and they
wanted to sell me more interior products no Thanks! I instead invested in a
Apple Watch and it’s wonderful no syncing issues no crappy bands that
break. You can change bands easily if want to do so. I like the community
of Fitbit users but feel sorry for them dealing with their devices! Good

My irritation is that FitBit has never owned up to the design flaw with the
Surge product. I do tire of the canned responses from the moderators. Step
up and do whats right.

1. Admit there was a band design flaw with the Surge.

2. Offer some type of reparations besides a measly 25% off a new tracker.
 

Thanks,

[Marine54]

Michael,
I have done the same thing. I trashed my Fitbit and bought an Apple Watch and I made the right decision. Fitbit is losing quite a few customers for abandoning its loyal customers. Anyway, I am quite happy with my new IWatch...

Sent from my iPad

[YojanaFitbit]

Hey @photomfc007, @Jubal and @Marine54! Sorry you feel that way, please know that we do appreciate our loyal customers but we need to enforce our warranty options. However, thanks for sharing this, our team receives your feedback and based on community posts we are always working on improving our devices and overall environment.

Thanks for your understanding.

[Mangohead]

that truly sucks. My husband's fitbit surge was purchased in Dec. 2015 for Christmas and fitbit will not do anything about the bank. It broke after only about 1 year. They did offer us the 25% discount. Well big fng deakl. No more fitbits for this family.

[RadingZCaunan]

Who do I contactto report the same  problem with my Surge?

[Mangohead]

Hi,

I got in touch with Fitbit and spoke to a manager and was told that there was
nothing he could do for him except to give me a 25% discount on a new Fitbit. I
told him that I would never ever buy any Fitbit ever again in my life.

I want you to know what I ended up doing. I went to a watch/clock repair man and
he fixed the strap by using epoxy glue to glue the strap back on and left it for
a few days to dry. He then put in larger screws with a waher. He charged me $20
Cdn dollars and the bank is very stable and should last for quite a while. You
should check into this to be able to use your Fitbit. I hope this info helps
you.

Amo

[Julia_G]

Hi, @RadingZCaunan, as @Mangohead suggests, once your Surge is out of warranty -- 2 years in rhe EEA and 1 year in most of the rest of the world, you don't really have much to lose by trying some more creative solutions (like suoerglue, etc).  Also you can buy spare bands on the internet and check on YouTube for how to install.  Many people have reported success.

In the meantimw, if, for any reason you want to get in touch with Fitbit Customer support you can use the link contact.fitbit.com.  You can check with them your warrnaty status, and if your Fitbit is out of warranty, I think that they are usually happy to offer loyal customers a significant discount on a new tracker.

[GeeKau]

My surge cracked within the warranty, however the retailer (Dick Smith) went bust so I had no recourse at the time. However, I did nothing about it and waited for it to fall apart so I had an excuse to buy another brand. Unfortunately, it's still hanging together after 3 years... the glue in the middle is holding it really tightly. So, just because it's cracked doesn't mean it'll break completely. Still pretty poor quality/design though.

[YojanaFitbit]

Thanks for your help @Julia_G. Hi everybody, thanks for your participation on Forums. 

Sorry for the inconvenience you've had with your Fitbit, as mentioned before your comments are important for us. Please note that our team can check and review you options according the information here. If you want me to get in touch with them, so they can see what are your options; please let me know.

I'll be around. 

[ltljon316]

Just wanted to reply to all the disgruntled surge users over this band issue. I too contacted FitBit with this issue and was told that the band was not replaceable. I did a little digging and found a band on Amazon. You need to know the size though and went through a couple of these trial and error replacement of the band. My only advice to you would be to use a little super glue inside the band where it touches the FitBit unit and hold till dry. This will keep the band from pulling away from the unit after a short while. Good luck to you all. The next issue that I found is now it has stopped the swiping of the screens. Here is the link to the band that i used. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074DQ4V55/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[rgoudie]

You might want to rethink "super glue".  Typically super glue is not water proof and will let go after a short while.  There is a glue put out by DAP called Rapid Fuse that is water proof but once you glue it you would have trouble getting the band off if needed.

[DavidLH]

Fitbit’s response to this defect in your once top-of-the-line Surge had been abysmal. The one year warranty doesn’t help when the band starts to break at 13 months, and your 25% discount on a new device is pathetic. Thanks to third party replacement bands, I’ve kept mine in service, but I won’t be replacing it with another Fitbit product, not because of the defect, but because of Fitbit’s worthless response.

Sent from my phone, so pardon spelling mistakes.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Jubal, all recent devices made by Fitbit now have replaceable bands, so I guess they have accepted that is a better solution and they have moved on too...

You will note that other early fitness devices also had the tracker partly built into the band (Garmin was the same).  This was because it was difficult to pack all the technology into a device small enough so that they didn't have to use any of the band... For the Surge, the GPS antenna is integrated into the band.

As the technology moves rapidly on, it is possible to pack more into a smaller device and more design options are now possible.

[ltljon316]

Thanks for the suggestion. If the super glue ever fails I will give it a try. So for it’s held for about five months so I’m happy. Just wish I could find a way to fix my swipe function. Tried all the suggestions and it still won’t work. Thanks again!

Sent from my iPhone

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everybody, thanks for sharing your comments.

Sorry for the issues with your Surge. Thanks for the feedback, it's very important to us to have your thoughts in regards our product and your customer support interactions. Fitbit is always trying to provide great products and customer experience. Each scenario is different, but I think that you can use the option available according to your warranty information, as it was mentioned by our support team. 

See you around! 

[GoodByeFB]

Read all of the Surge user comments and weep.

A $250 Fitbit, the Flagship product of the company and the company just walked away from it and will not refund us the money or offer us a replacement Flagship product.

It tells you everything you need to know about FitBit.