Fitbit’s Lesson for Everyone
It’s one thing when you continually innovate new products and push out better and more reliable products. It’s another when you do it too often and you end up taking advantage of your customer base.
How do you make sure your customers love your products and trust your brand? Simple. You make products that solve a user need and it is RELIABLE.
I bought my first Fitbit Alta in December of 2016. I loved how sleek it looked and it can track my activities, steps, and give me the time when I look at it. The first year of using it was fantastic and I found myself using it everyday. At the 1.5 year mark, this is when it all went down. My tracker suddenly shut off by itself in the middle of the day. I went home to charge it, and it said the battery was half-full. After it was fully charged, I unplugged it and immediately, the display turned off and was unresponsive to taps or any attempts to turn the display on.
Well, don’t panic yet, let’s just reset the Alta. Glitches can happen sometimes. I plugged it back in, followed the reset instructions with the button on the charger, and yes — the tracker has reset itself! I unplugged it after making sure it’s at full charge.
Tap. Nothing. Tap. Tap. Nothing. TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP. Nothing.
Yea alright, I earned the right to panic now. To the internet!
I then came across numerous users that posted on Fitbit’s help forum with similar issues. This was a widespread problem that not only was found in the Alta model, but others as well. I felt somewhat relieved, since there must be a solution with so many others experiencing the same problem. I was unable to find any solutions. All solutions basically asked the user to reset the tracker and it should work. Well, it didn’t. Most users said it didn’t either.
So I decided to take matters into my own hands and contact Fitbit’s online help chat. First of all, I loved that the customer service reps weren’t bots (there were typos). Also, they’re super polite and they listen to you. I explained my situation with my faulty device and the rep was patient and walked me through some steps to solve my problem. It didn’t work. After one possible solution attempt, the rep told me that we should review my warranty. It was concluded that my product was outside of the warranty period by 6 months. It only included a 1-year warranty. So they can’t offer a replacement. However, they really want me to have my problem solved and continue to be happy with using Fitbit, so they offered me a 25% discount on a new replacement.
Sweet! 25% discou- WAIT hold on “Humberto”, let’s backtrack a bit here.
Me: “So what’s the issue with my tracker? Was it hardware, software, firmware?”
Humberto: “Seems that it is the hardware.”
Me: “Alright, so was this hardware issue a problem caused by me, or was it a faulty device from manufacturer?”
Humberto: “That I would not be able to respond.”
So you mean to tell me that as an existing customer my only solution to this faulty device that has a hardware issue that wasn’t caused by me is to spend another 75% of the retail price?
To my understanding, here are my takeaways from this:
- This is Fibit’s fault and the hardware problem is not caused by me. In this case, shouldn’t Fitbit offer to replace this device for free? If this isn’t caused by me, why is my only solution to buy another SAME product at 25% discount, essentially meaning I would need to pay 175% retail price for a 100% working device? Please don’t make your existing customers who are your brand ambassadors pay for your mistakes. They were going to help you bring more customers, but now they will keep others from buying and making the same mistakes.
- The Fitbit Alta has a life expectancy of 1–2 years. If this is the case, don’t lie to consumers, and put that on the box. This is basically planned obsolescence. When products stop working on their own shortly after the warranty period is over, this looks highly suspicious and seems greedy and lazy. Again, it’s not like I’m asking for a replacement after 5 years due to a dying battery. The battery is holding charge just fine. It’s some “mystery” hardware issue that’s the problem. If this isn’t the case, stand behind your products and fix the problem for your customers.
I am sure Fitbit isn’t the only company accused of planned obsolescence. Apple was accused of this earlier, but this is the sort of thing that can drive away your customer base that you worked so hard to bring in. When you make a mistake, own up to it. Don’t admit the mistake and give your customers a 25% discount to buy another product that doesn’t have better warranty or proof that the issue has been resolved in later models. This is SLAP in the face for your customers while laughing and calling them idiots. I cannot believe they imagined this kind of problem resolution is accepted and assumed consumers are just sheep and will just buy more products (as I type this, I just found that lots of people bought multiple replacements until they’ve had enough). Don’t even get me started on their accessories and bands.
Fitbit is facing some hard times in recent years, but honestly, can we blame them?
— YES, we can! Although there are other factors like market saturation, maturing product life cycle, and so on, but when you’re failing to sell more products to new users, don’t look to your existing customer base to cover up that loss. It’ll only lose you more sales.
Final thought: Perhaps I’m just frustrated and it is limiting my opinions from a business perspective, but do you agree with me, or not? Does this constitute as planned obsolescence and taking advantage of current users, or is this a smart business move?
