When Customer Support is Your Achilles Heel (Premium)

This morning, my Fitbit Charge 3 band broke at the buckle. But getting it replaced under warranty was an even worse experience.

Look, I get it: Fitbit straps—like all fitness band straps—must break at an alarming rate. And replacements are cheap: I can buy three third-party Charge 3 bands on Amazon.com for less than $7 (!). But the problem with this sort of thing is that you never think to have extra bands waiting for the inevitable. So when one does break, you need the replacement immediately.

And “immediately” is clearly not in Fitbit’s dictionary.

As my customer support chat reveals, the firm is purposefully making the experience of replacing a band under warranty—my Fitbit Charge 3 arrived in October 2018 and comes with a one-year warranty—as painful as possible. The chat is full of pointless interactions and extra steps, designed, I’m sure, to make most people simply give up, get in the car, and drive over to a local Best Buy or whatever. Where they can buy a replacement strap immediately, albeit at an extravagant cost: A single replacement band there can cost as much as $25. That’s almost 11 times the cost of a single comparable band at Amazon.com (where $7 divided by 3 is $2.35). And far more than the cost of a warranty replacement, which is—or should be—free.

Rather than annotate the chat, which I’ve printed in full below, I’ll just point out a few problems I have with this process.

Once I got into the chat, the first thing I was asked was my email address. Which I had already supplied, along with a lot of other personal information, in order to even be able to speak with an agent. Or bot. It’s not clear. I was the 10th in line for support on a Sunday morning.

(Regarding the bot thing, there were a few misspellings that might make one believe that you were talking to a human. But that may be purposeful. Or it may have really been a human.)

I was then asked for my country of residence. Which was also part of that information I had previously supplied.

What you’re not seeing here is the lengthy wait between each interaction. Nothing happened immediately, and this entire chat probably took over 30 minutes or at least close to that, from the moment finally Benjamin showed up.

Then I had to supply what many would consider to be an impossible photo: One that shows the tiny Fitbit logo on the tiny strap keeper loop, the actual damage (which is two hairline cracks in the rubber, which is impossible to see without a magnifying glass), and my case number, hand-written on a piece of paper. I sent a shot showing a closeup of the damage first, thanks to the Mate 20 Pro’s macro-photography capabilities. And was I then admonished about the need for a hand-written case number. Also, I could only send one photo.

I was surprised they accepted the one photo I finally did send, which had to be taken from far enough back that you could see that number. It is impossible to see the Fitbit logo or tear in that version.

And then I was amused when I was informed there would be a survey after the chat so that I could provide feedback and help Fitbit “refine” its Support processes.  You can assume that I’m going to feedback the hell out of that.

Once Fitbit did agree to send a replacement—in 5-7 business days—I had to once again type in my name, address, and phone number. Again, I already supplied all of that.

To be fair to Fitbit, there’s not much more they could do from a replacement perspective: There’s no Fitbit facility or store nearby where I could do an exchange. (I did buy the device directly from Fitbit.) And shipping express is expensive. But 5-7 business days for a strap means that I wouldn’t be tracking my health and fitness data for a week to 10 days.

Which is not what I was looking for when I chose Fitbit.

Is there a lesson to be learned here? Yes: If you’re serious about using a Fitbit or other tracker every day, you may want to invest in an extra strap, just in case. With my device, as noted, you can get three replacements for as little as $7. That’s a cheap—and smart—investment. I wish I had thought of it myself.

Support chat

Benjamin: Hi Paul, My name is Benjamin. How can I help you?

Me: Hi, my Charge 3 band broke apart today at the buckle

Benjamin: We’re sorry to hear about your Charge 3 that has a broken wristband (buckle).

Benjamin: I’ll do my best to assist you today. Let’s work hand in hand to resolve the issue, Paul.

Benjamin: Can I please have the email address where the Charge 3 is paired?

Me: [email protected]

Benjamin: Thanks for that information. Let me go ahead and check your [email protected]. Bear with me as I do that.

Benjamin: Thanks for waiting.

Benjamin: I checked your [email protected], and confirmed that the Charge 3 was paired Oct 10, 2018.

Benjamin: May I know you’re country of residence?

Me: USA

Benjamin: Thanks for letting me know.

Benjamin: For documentation purposes. Is it okay if you could send me the photo of your Charge 3 wristband.

Me: yes

Benjamin: On the photo we need to see your Charge 3 band showing the damaged part, and Fitbit logo found on the strap keeper loop. Please include a piece of paper with a handwritten case number :xxxxxxxx. Those three should be seen on one photo only.

Benjamin: You’ll need to remove the wristband from the device to take a better shot of the damaged part and Fitbit logo (located on the strap keeper loop).

Benjamin: For instructions on removing the wristband please visit : https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/2084 .

Benjamin: Let me know once you have the photo ready.

Benjamin: As a side note, here’s a link to follow a few simple guidelines as you wear and care for your device https://www.fitbit.com/productcare .

Me: all set

Benjamin: Great.

Benjamin: Let me send the link now.

Benjamin: There you go.

Your file has been successfully uploaded to the agent.

Benjamin: Paul, please re-send the photo and include include a piece of paper with a handwritten case number :xxxxxxxx. Those three should be seen on one photo only.

Me: OK

Me: All set

Benjamin: Let me send the link now.

Your file has been successfully uploaded to the agent.

Benjamin: Thanks and let me check the photo.

Benjamin: Thanks for the photo.

Benjamin: May I know you’re wristband size: S/P, L/G, X/L?

Me: X/L

Benjamin: Thanks for that.

Benjamin: Just to let you know, Paul. We don’t provide extra large bands for the Charge 3.

Me: OK then the L is what I have

Benjamin: The band size we have are S/P, L/G.

Me: L/G

Benjamin: Thanks.

Benjamin: Since you’re one of our valued customer’s, I would be happy to send you a replacement Charge 3™ Classic Band (Black) – Large.

Benjamin: To start getting you back on track. Please provide the following.

Benjamin: – Full name:

-Shipping address:

– Phone number:

Me: [supplied that information]

Benjamin: Thanks for all the details. Please stay on our chat as I process your replacement band.

Benjamin: By the way, after our chat you will receive a brief survey. Any feedback you’d like to provide would be most appreciated, and will help us refine our Support processes.

Benjamin: Thanks for waiting.

Benjamin: I already processed the replacement of your Charge 3™ Classic Band (Black) – Large and the confirmation number is xxxxxxxxx.

Benjamin: Once your order ships, you will receive a shipping confirmation with a link for tracking your order’s status from our order system.

Benjamin: You can expect that your order will arrive within 5-7 business days from the date of shipment. Note that business days excludes weekends.

Benjamin: I suggest recycling your defective old wristband only through a local electronics recycling program after your replacement arrives.

Benjamin: It’s been a delight chatting with you today, Paul. I hope you’re satisfied with the level of service that I have provided.

Benjamin: Will that be all for today?

Me: yes, thx

Benjamin: You’re most welcome and the pleasure is all mine.

Benjamin: Take care, stay fit and happy always!

Benjamin: To properly end this chat and take the satisfaction survey. Please go ahead and click on “END CHAT” located on the upper right side of your chat window.