Surge building condensation up.

[DAChristeson]

Had the surge for 18 months but now condensation is building up under the screen making it hard to read and no longer swipes to save options. Is there anything I can do beside buy something else?

[DAChristeson]

Had the surge for 18 months but now condensation is building up under the screen making it hard to read and no longer swipes to save options. Is there anything I can do beside buy something else?

[WendyB]

I would contact support

http://help.fitbit.com/?l=en_US&cu=1&fs=ContactUs

[SEAMountaineer]

I've had the same issue lately as well, and had my Surge for around 18 months. Did you find a solution?

[DAChristeson]

They offered me 25% of a new one, but going with a Garmin because they are water proof not just water resisted.

dc

[wildfeather]

Dont bother with a Surge - the screen fractures on its own and then they build up condensation. They no longer work properly and Fitbit does not stand behind it's products beyond the 365 day warranty period even though I contacted Fitbit help and they offered a 25% discount - there is already a 25% discount for Mother's Day.....  Mine was just a few months out of the 365 warranty so I would encourage you to look elsewhere for a quality product or quality company that stands behind product defects like this.

[SEAMountaineer]

Yes, I got the same offer. What a joke. I've seen posts on here where people have gone through multiple Surges in a year, and yet as soon as the warranty expires on ours, there is no support. I'm going to look into the new Garmin as well once this bites the dust.

[JuanJoFitbit]

@DAChristeson @SEAMountaineer @wildfeather So sorry to hear about the issue you experienced with your Fitbit Surge. I also appreciate your feedback regarding the Surge. I'd like to know if our Support team provided a solution for you since I'd like to follow up with.

Looking forward to your responses my friends! 

[SEAMountaineer]

I did not receive a solution, just an offer to purchase a new Surge at 25% off, which I did not take. Sorry, but I am not the type of person to frivolously purchase a new phone, tablet, laptop, GPS device, etc. every year/year and a half. I take care of my electronics and hope they at least last a bit longer than that. It is also especially frustrating reading the forums and seeing that other users have had their Surges replaced multiple times. 

My Surge is now constantly fogging up and covering the entire display. I cannot swipe to other screens, so it is useless at seeing how many steps or floors I've taken (without having to use the phone app) or using the GPS function for running or hiking (which is why I upgraded to the Surge in the first place). The band is peeling off at the corners of the watch face, and a notch of my band broke off, so now I wear it either really tight or very loose. I expect it will cease functioning completely quite soon. Really wish I had just stuck with my Flex and not wasted money on this device!

[DAChristeson]

My advise is go Garmin, they are built for Tri-Athletes and water proof.

dc

[SEAMountaineer]

Which Garmin did you end up getting? The Vivoactive HR looks quite nice - same price point as the Surge but more options.

[RoyL]

After 14 months, my Surge developed a little condensation. I never wore it in the rain; I was very careful. Then I wore it when moving and sweating. Dead, DOA, won't come on, won't charge, kaput!

I just finished calling Fitbit support. Albert, my representative promised to help me. 

After 15 minutes, the representative came back and said there was no warranty, but his manager would allow me a 25% discount. No offer to fix it. I told him I couldn't afford another Surge, even with a discount. The first one cost me nearly $18 a month! No gadget is worth that kind of expense.

I feel scammed.

[DAChristeson]

I got that one. Only issue I have is before I use it for a workout I have to run it under cold water and the dry off it and my skin to get the heart rate to be accurate sometimes. Note to reserve power the Garmin only takes pulse every 5 sec unless in a workout mode. Also it only records actual flight of stairs, notice the fitbit its gave me flight for when walking the trail but the Garmin has to have a more quick change in elevation to record.

dc

[JuanJoFitbit]

Welcome to the forums everyone and thank you for the thorough feedback for the Fitbit environment, customer service, platform and devices. This has not gone unnoticed and be sure that I will pass this along.

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 that feedback.

To you my friends @SEAMountaineer @RoyL @DAChristeson, who received the 25% discount option as per our Warranty Policies please know that this is the best option to help you get back on track with the Fitbit family and I'm sure our Customer Support team will be more than glad to help you further with this. I understand you've invested in the Fitbit Family; however, we as any other company 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.

Unfortunately the Fitbit Surge should not be exposed to direct water since it might get damaged. If your Surge is still experiencing more condensation problems (even if it's a replacement), I recommend to contact our Customer Support team via email here or you can call (877) 623-4997 between the hours of 4am-8pm PST Mon-Fri and 6am-5pm PST on weekends. I am sure they will be more than glad to further assist you.

If you have already contacted our Customer Support team and you're awaiting for a response; please do keep us posted on the outcome. 

If there any questions present, please let me know and I'll be glad to help!

[RoyL]

I respectfully disagree with the moderator. A 25% discount on a new, overly fragile, poorly designed, prone to be damaged by moisture Fitbit Surge, is little more than spending good money after bad. I will not take the bait. I have lost faith with my bad experience. Furthermore, I have become active in spreading my story to convince others not to do the same thing.

[wildfeather]

All:  After being told the same ridiculous line from Fitbit quoted below I it became a game to see if I could fix it.  This was a gift from my employer at time I retired and it meant a lot to me.  I could not afford to buy such a nice one myself.  Others may be in a similar situation and I wanted to share the temporary fix that got mine going again and by the way I DID NOT IMMERSE it in water or get it wet or drop it.  I live in a very dry climate yet it still built up condensate when the faulty face cracked up into little micro fractures.  No it was not dropped or damaged it did this all on its own.  I kept trying to charge it and boot it.  I tried rebooting 50+ times.  I would plug it in to charge and keep an eye on it in case it decided to start fire.  The computer would not recognize it but after leaving it for about 8 hours, I noticed a slight response on the face with the fitbit symbol.  I tried to reboot – no luck – but I kept repeating this until it showed the clock.  Wrong time because it would not sync but kept trying the reboot and charge sequence over a about a week and a half.  Then – behold one day the thing rebooted!  It still would not sync.  I then had to completely uninstall all the software from my computers and phone and reinstall.  Guess what – finally synced.  At that point it was very low humidity here so I painted the ugly fractured top with clear nail polish.  It has been working with the coating without building up condensate for a couple of months now.  It is just hard to read through all the little fracture lines but it does sync, recharge and work fine.  Maybe this will be helpful to someone else until they can justify/afford to buy a better product.


I must agree with the response below.  NO WAY will I again buy such a poorly engineered product from a company who does not have a “Good Will Warranty” extension for a faulty product that is barely out of their policy period.  Poor Business!

Hope this is helpful to others, Malia

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

[LucyAP]

Welcome! It's great to see you around @RoyL and @wildfeather. I wanted to thank you for the feedback provided and for explaining the issue you experienced, this is really helpful for us since it keep us improving our products, services and policies. Please, notice that this feedback will be passed along.