I got my Fitbit Charge HR in April 2015. I didn’t wear it every day – I’d say it was used 9 months of the past 18 months and I am not into any kind of extreme sports. It had never been submerged in water, stepped on or even dropped on the ground. When I went to use it most recently, I was taking the charger off and the black piece of plastic that goes around the back and the sides, and has the button on it broke off. It looked like the glue wore off or something and it would no longer hold the charger in place nor would it track steps anymore when I put it on. It was broken.

In talking with customer service, several (not good) things were revealed, which I will include verbatim here.

Ultimately, though, we escalated to two more people above the initial representative and were denied a replacement as we were outside of the one-year warranty. The worst thing about this is that, as you will see below, they admitted that they knew that was a defect on the product. They know these things are breaking and becoming unusable – and they aren’t doing a damn thing about it. Their offer of a 25% discount on a new one was less than inspiring considering how shitty this current Charge HR is. 

Roma: Just to set your expectations, the Fitbit warranty covers 365 days after the date that the very first tracker was first paired. But, rest assured, I’ll see what I can do for you.
Me: thank you
Roma: You’re welcome. Thank you for patiently waiting as well, Victoria.
Roma: Upon checking your details, I’ve confirmed that your Charge HR is now out of the Fitbit 365 day limited warranty as it was paired to your account on early April of 2015.
Me: Gotta say, i’m not thrilled about only a 1 year warranty. That’s disappointing.
Roma: I understand. However, our limited warranty only covers 1 year since the first paired date of the tracker.
Roma: However, since you are a very valuable customer, I’d like to provide you with an exclusive 25% discount. We don’t usually give out this discount, but for you, I’d like to make an exemption.
Roma: The good thing about this discount is that you can use this towards a purchase of any Fitbit tracker that you would like at fitbit.com .
Roma: You may even use the discount to upgrade to the latest trackers such as Surge, Blaze, Alta, Charge 2, and Flex 2.
Roma: Would you like to accept the offer, Victoria?
Me: That’s not really the solution i was looking for.
Roma: Oh I see. I’d really like to provide you a replacement but my request for a one-time exemption on your case to my supervisor has not been approved, thus I’m unable to do so.
Me: for what reason? this device is rarely used (which you can tell from the history)
Me: it’s never been wet, taken in the shower, or abused
Me: it was clearly defective adhesive

At this point, I’m trying to make the case that this should really be replaced if they care about their products.

Roma: Yes, in the past we had replaced trackers that are no longer covered by our limited warranty as we strive for excellent customer service and though customer satisfaction remains our number one goal, we must now enforce our warranty consistently.
Me: interesting business model. sounds like bait and switch.
Me: When my iPhone 5 had a problem with it’s screen, after 3 years, they replaced it for free.

I then talked about how Apple stands by their products if there is a known issue or defect and the features of the Apple Watch. I got more of the same shit as a response – all they could give was the “courtesy discount.” The emphasis below was added by me to call your attention to their admission of the DEFECTIVE PRODUCT. 

Roma: I’m really sorry for this, Victoria. This is definitely not the experience we’d like you to have.
Roma: Rest assured that your concern has already been forwarded to our product development team and they are currently addressing it and a small improvement has been made on our new batch of trackers.
Me: So you’re acknowledging it’s defective.
Me: And not offering a replacement.
Roma: We consider the damage on your tracker as defective but we can only offer replacements for defective trackers that are covered by our one-year limited warranty.
Roma: You can check this link to review our warranty policy:https://www.fitbit.com/legal/returns-and-warranty .
Me: When did this policy go in to place?
Roma: It is our policy since the beginning of the company.
Me: last update on the policy was sept 5, 2016

I could go on, but after two superiors reviewed this, we got more of the same. Fitbit knows its products are poorly made. They know they break. I suspect that they had been issuing replacements more freely in the past but that there were eventually just too many and they updated their policy to no longer issue replacements past one year. It’s a horrible business practice to acknowledge something is wrong with the product – that it’s defective – and to not give a replacement. It shouldn’t matter how old it is. It should work. And it should work for FAR longer than one year. 

This policy ensures I will not purchase another Fitbit. In good conscience, I will not contribute in such a knowing way to planned obsolescence. I will not support a company that is so wasteful in its approach. Wasteful to the environment in creating products that have to be discarded after a short time and minimal use, and wasteful to consumers by taking their hard-earned money while failing to exchange for an item of quality.

Shame on you, Fitbit.