Fitbit takes a dump...

Sunday, March 11, 2018

I had spent most of the day Saturday putting the doors on my cabinets and preparing the ‘Man Cave’ as I had had my old office in Highland Heights.  All my personal effects, pictures and memorabilia came out of boxes and landed on walls, shelved and counters I’d built.  Once finished, I reclined in my favorite chair for the first time and looked around.  It was like pulling on a warm, familiar blanket and for the first time since moving to Peninsula I can honestly say it felt like my home.

With temperatures in the mid-thirties, I decided against trying to ride.  Maybe I’m a sissy Mary, but I know Spring is just around the river bend and I’m just getting a little soft in my old age.  Dakota and I took a hike, though, pushing my steps over 20,000.  Once I got home, I decided I wanted to know how many steps I’d averaged over the month of March, so I tried synching my Fitbit watch with the app on my phone.  Nothing happened.  I tried several things, but could see technology was going to beat me so I tried the Fitbit helpline on the computer.  I started a text-type conversation with something or someone – but I’m pretty sure it was not a human based on the vernacular.  At a point, it/she (Wendy) asked if I was willing to try a different approach.  I typed, ‘you haven’t tried anything yet’.  And she/it hadn’t.  She/it typed back, ‘is that a yes?’

I could see where this was going and typed ‘yes’ and received a response about warranty and having had the Fitbit more than a year.  I wrote back ‘goodbye’ and signed off.  I quickly received an email from Fitbit asking me about my experience and whether I’d take a survey.  I replied, ‘no thanks.  You didn’t do anything and you suck’.  They didn’t write back or check about my dissatisfaction.

I was given the Fitbit by my kids for Christmas, 2016.  I’d been wearing and enjoying it for the 15 months since then, but it came with a 1-year warranty.  It costs $150, but they will only stand behind it for a year.  After that I guess it disposable or you buy an extended warranty because they built them so poorly that you’ll need it.  I don’t like that approach.  I was hoping to just have a human walk me through whatever I needed to do to get it synching again, but I think they knew my unit was fundamentally flawed and I was going to need a new one.  Well…I’m not buying one.  And I don’t recommend Fitbit to anyone else.  I don’t recommend anything that lasts such as short period of time and with limited support from the manufacturer.  It’s a good tool and got me taking hikes I might not have taken otherwise, but it needs to have a longer shelf life.  I miss the Craftsman ‘guaranteed for life’ kind of stuff.  What an old fart I am.