Complaint Review: FITBIT

I received a Vitbit Versa 2 smart watch/fitness tracker as a Christmas gift in 2019. I mainly wanted it to track my sleeping.    It was fantastic and worked perfectly at first but after a year and a half, the heart rate display went blank. Everything else still worked just fine.  I went online to see how to troubleshoot it, and I followed all the instructions. First, I performed an update on the watch. That didn't help.  I cleaned the contacts, cleaned my arm, restarted the watch. No luck. 

I did several factory resets, uninstalled and reinstalled the app several times, turned the heart rate monitor off and on a few times, let it stay on the charger for a few hours. Nothing worked.  I did an online chat with customer service and there was nothing they could do to help me.    I had not done anything to the watch -- I didn't get it wet, I didn't do anything that increased my heart rate significantly, I didn't bang it on anything or drop it.  It just DIED.  

These watches have a "one year warranty": "Fitbit warrants to the original purchaser that your Fitbit-branded device and accessories that are new (the "New Product(s)") shall be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for a period of one (1) year from the date of purchase."    Normally, if you buy something with a warranty and the warranty expires, you can pay some price out of pocket to have it repaired.  That is not an option with these devices.  If it dies and is out of warranty, you basically are left with nothing. 

It might as well self-destruct on the day the warranty runs out - in fact, I would not be at all surprised if there were some behind-the-scenes shennanigans where the operating system is crashed intentionally, in order to force people to buy new Fitbits.  (Because after the technician online tells you there is nothing they can do because your warranty has expired, what do they do?  They offer you a discount on a NEW FITBIT!)    On top of all this, I have been $9.99 extra every month, because in order to have access to extra information about your heart rate while sleeping, you have to be a Premium Member.  

In reading the reviews on Amazon, I was not shocked to find that a LOT of people have this same problem.  Their warranty period expires, their Fitbit stops working in some way, and they are offered a discount on a new Fitbit.    This is highway robbery and these people should not be allowed to continue to get away with it. I'll bet some class action lawyers are already looking into this - and I'll be joining up as soon as that lawsuit against Fitbit is filed.    Meanwhile, I'm telling everyone I know that Fitbit is the worst ever and I'll be switching to Apple or maybe Garmin.