Fitbit made me cut my charging cable

Hi folks,

Remember back in January I set up and reviewed my Fitbit Charge HR, the one Adobe gifted all of us as a New Year present? I signed off that post promising updates at 6 and 12 months. Well, the 6 month update never happened (sorry!), so consider this the 12 month one, more or less. And it’s not about steps or sleep tracking. It’s about the band itself: two warranty claims in one year, and the day Fitbit asked me to take a pair of scissors to my charging cable. Yes, you read that right.

Short version: two replacement Charge HRs have reached me this year. The second one is still sealed in its box, and it’s up for sale. :P

February 2016, the band on my wrist while it was still in one piece

The first few months were mostly fine. In February it stopped syncing with my Android phone, and the fix was the oldest trick in the book: reset the tracker. Took two or three resets before it synced again, but okay, no biggie.

Round 1, May: the bulge

In mid May the band developed a bulge right below the screen. The textured rubber had puffed up into a little bubble, like it had swallowed something. :-/

May 2016: the bulge in the strap just below the display

I wrote to Fitbit, and by the 17th my case was with their India team. The only hiccup was the size. I was so sure my band was an XL. It was a Large, which is exactly what my own January post says I ordered. So that one’s on me lol.

On the 18th they ordered a replacement Charge HR (Black, Large) and quoted 7 to 10 business days. Guess what? By the 22nd it was in my hands! Five emails and about a week. Honestly, that’s how every warranty claim should go. Thumbs up, Fitbit. :)

22 May 2016: replacement number one, still in the box

Round 2, October: proof of destruction

By early October the band on my Charge HR had started peeling. So, back to Fitbit support I went.

This time the reply on 4th October came with a whole procedure. To get a replacement I had to:

• cut the tracker’s band on both sides with scissors
• cut the charging cable too
• write my case number on a piece of paper
• take a photo of all of it and send it in

Cutting the band, sure, it was going in the bin anyway. But the charging cable? It was perfectly fine! And the Charge HR only charges over its own proprietary clip cable. So on the 6th I asked them why the cable. On the 7th they replied that they need “proof of destruction” before any replacement goes out. Okay then.

On the 8th I sent my proof: the band cut on both sides, the tracker in the middle, and the case number on a yellow sticky note. I also asked if I could upgrade to a Blaze instead. Worth a shot, right? :P

8 Oct 2016: my first “proof of destruction”, the band cut on both sides next to the sticky note (case number blurred). No charging cable in the shot, which is exactly why it got rejected

On the 10th the photo got rejected because the cut charging cable wasn’t in the picture. Facepalm. I sent another photo the same day, this time with the cut cable in it. That one was accepted, and a replacement went into processing: a Charge HR in Blue, Large. No Blaze. :(

Out of stock, then stuck in customs

On the 19th, more than a week later, there was still no tracking number, so I asked. Over the next two days I learned that the Charge HR in Black and in Blue was out of stock in every size. Their offer was to ship a Black Large from their US warehouse instead, and not by overnight shipping either.

Mind you, by this point I had already cut up my band and its charging cable on their instructions. On the 22nd I wrote back that it was a shame I had to suffer because of their process, and that I wished there was a refund or gift card option.

What I got instead was the US order, placed on the 23rd and shipped on the 24th.

On 5th November FedEx India wrote to me. The package was held at customs because there was no commercial invoice, and they wanted my KYC documents as well. Seriously? I sent the KYC on the 7th and told FedEx the invoice had to come from Fitbit, since this was a free warranty replacement and nobody had bought anything. On the 8th Fitbit said their finance team would coordinate with FedEx directly.

After that, nothing. Nothing seemed to move. On the 16th I told Fitbit this was going to be the last Fitbit product I would ever use. On 15th December I asked for an update, pointing out that it had been more than a month.

The very next day Fitbit had their India shipping team send yet another replacement, with a quote of 7 to 15 business days. By the 22nd it was in my hands.

22 Dec 2016: replacement number two, sealed, Large

So from Fitbit’s 4th October mail to a new band in my hand: about 11 weeks and a 26-email thread. And for most of that time the band I’d been wearing was already in pieces, because the destruction step comes first and the replacement comes after. Brilliant process, no?

So now it’s for sale

Today I put the sealed one up in the Let’s Barter India group on Facebook:

Anyone interested in a seal packed Fitbit Charge HR with 1 year warranty applicable from date of activation and bill. Manufactured in Nov 16 only. Up for sale or barter.

Filing a Fitbit warranty claim in India? Read this first!

A few things I’d do differently, from both rounds:

• Check the size on your box before you write in. It saves a round of emails.
• Put the cut charging cable in your first photo, along with both cut ends of the band and the case number. Leaving the cable out cost me a rejection and another round trip.
• Ask where the replacement ships from. If it’s coming from the US, it’s an import, and customs will want a commercial invoice that you can’t produce for a free replacement. Ask them to ship from India if they possibly can.

Cheers!