Fitibit, Inc. NYSE: FIT (Class A) Russell 2000 Component refused to honour my warranty San Francisco California
Early in January this year, I purchased a Fitbit Ionic through an Australian reseller on Ebay. The unit came in an sealed, unopened box and connected immediately to my Fitbit app: so the product was genuine.
However, the GPS on this expensive device did not work. It remained stuck on "searching" mode. In early February, I returned from Australia to my permanent residence in Prague, the Czech Republic. The GPS didn't work in Europe, either.
I explained the problem to Fitbit Support. They instructed me to do a factory reset - pressing the three buttons on the device. When I did this, the device stopped working entirely. It now just displays a message: "Data not cleared - Sync and try again." I cannot get the device to either sync or start again.
After giving me this disastrous advice, Fitbit Support then asked me from whom had I purchased the device. I gave them the name and address of the company, which operated through Ebay from an address in Melbourne, Australia. They then informed me that because this wasn't an "authorised reseller," I didn't have a valid warranty.
I have been corresponding with them for the past week but basically they refuse to do anything about it - save sending oleaginous expressions of sympathy and assurances that they "value me as a customer."
The most important points I'd like to emphasise here are:
1. I purchased the device new and in a sealed box. It connected immediately to their app and it's definitely their product.
2. Until I followed to the letter the advice their "support" unit gave me - doing a factory reset - the device worked very well, save for the problem with GPS. Now it doesn't work at all. So it's the responsibility of their support team that I have a totally non-functional watch.
I would also like to add that it is clear from the huge number of complaints about the "flagship" Ionic (especially about the non-functional GPS and about its propensity to stop working, usually a suspiciously short time after the warranty expires) that Fitbit knew that the Ionic was a very poor device, subject to serious failures and breakdowns. But they choose to sell it anyway - and then to hide behind the fine print of their warranty to avoid their corporate responsibility.
I want a refund from this company.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Jim
Anaheim,California,
United States
Not Going to Happen
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, February 19, 2020
Your own words pretty much rule out any refund from FitBit.
Early in January this year, I purchased a Fitbit Ionic through an Australian reseller on Ebay. Except of course you (a) aren't a customer of FitBit, and (b) the Australian company is not a reseller if they aren't authorized by the company to be a reseller. FitBit told you the Australian seller is NOT an authorized reseller of FitBit. What you really did is that you entered into a private sale agreement with the Australian company and your recourse is actually with the Australian company, not FitBit. BTW, the customer of FitBit in this transaction is the Australian company on EBay, not you.
You need to contact the Australian Ebay seller and obtain the refund from them. You are NOT a customer of FitBit no matter what they tell you - they're just trying to be nice. If the Australian company won't give you a refund, then your complaint should be against them, not FitBit.
The most important points I'd like to emphasise here are: Irrelevant. You did not buy the FitBit from an authorized reseller - you may not even have a genuine FitBit, no matter how it was packaged. Calling FitBit support is also irrelevant because your recourse should have been with the Australian company. If they told you to call FitBit, then you are a victim of fraud, but not by FitBit. The fraud was committed by the Australian company who isn't even an authorized reseller.