I've had it with my Fitbit Charge HR

segacs

Having the same issues as the people in these threads:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/iOS-App/Charge-HR-clock-wrong-won-t-sync-and-won-t-set-up/td-p/1066753 .

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/iOS-App/Fitbit-Charge-HR-Won-t-completely-Sync/m-p/1085230/highlight/false#M31006

Wrong time displaying, trouble syncing, missing data, you name it.

I've only owned this thing since the end of November. Fitbit claims they only offer a refund for 45 days, and after that, they seem to not be willing to take any responsibility whatsoever for the problem -- even though they themselves have acknowledged the issue and claim they're 'working on' a solution... since last December???

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/What-s-wrong-with-my-Charge-HR/?l=en_US&p=charge_hr&fs=Search&pn=1

This thing's supposed to be under a 1 year warranty, right? And yet when I contact Fitbit customer support, all they say is that they're sorry but there's "nothing they can do". They offered to send me a replacement Charge HR, but since they themselves admit that it's a software/firmware issue and not a hardware issue, they admit that the new one they send me will have the same issue. I asked about a refund or a credit or a different Fitbit product in lieu of that -- at least until they get this problem solved -- and ran into a brick wall of excuses.

I'm so friggin' through with Fitbit. It was a nice idea. But not worth the aggravation.

I'm also thinking that selling millions of products that don't work and then refusing to honour a warranty smacks of class action lawsuit.

Mavrick_RN

I just bought mine through Walmart. I want it to work but if it doesn't I'll be taking it back.

I returned a Garmin Viviofit2 last week because it wouldn't pair with my computer. Full refund, no muss, no fuss.

segacs

I bought mine on Amazon. Their deadline for a refund was Jan 31. It's now Feb 10.

So disgustingly annoyed with Fitbit. People on their forums have been complaining about this problem since last September! It's not a temporary issue -- it looks to be an ongoing problem with the Charge HR.

After the Force saga, I guess Fitbit is reluctant to issue a recall on another product, especially for a software issue. But they're not earning any fans with their "we're sorry, but there's nothing we can do" mantra either.

heybales

Ya - even the disclaimer of warrantied against defects seems like it would include software defects - not just hardware.
After all, what is software but a bunch of changed states in hardware that means something. Therefore, it is hardware.

Ya, this has class action written all over it with that kind of attitude and competition available.

heybales

Crap, just checked my saved link for the Vibram 5-Finger shoes that had a class-action settlement that I fit in. When I got the link, nothing to do yet but stay tuned.
I de-tuned for too long and missed it. Argh.

jaxlace

I don't want to tempt fate but having set up my new (from Amazon UK) Charge HR earlier in the week, on my laptop using the dongle, after the second sync I couldn't get it to work again. Tried all the cures. Nothing. I removed MFP as some posts suggested there was a mismatch there. Nothing.

I have an iPhone 4 running on 7 something that won't let me download the Fitbit app, making a dead end. Not buying a new phone just to sync Fitbit!

Got out my Samsung Galaxy tablet, downloaded Fitbit, turned on bluetooth and away it went. Cautiously added MFP into the equation on the tablet - syncs the moment I turn the tablet on.

BUT, having had that success I checked on my relatively new laptop if I had bluetooth (yes) and paired it with the Charge. Easier, I thought, than having to use two devices. On the dashboard though it just tells me I'm not connected to the base station because I took the dongle out (it was suggested in some posts that the dongle in a PC can interfere with the bluetooth signal to mobile devices) and even though my laptop bluetooth recognises the Charge, it's not working the other way around. Still won't sync with the dongle.

Back to the Galaxy and that no longer worked. Removed the bluetooth pairing on the laptop and my Charge syncs again with the Galaxy. How weird.

Now all I need is for Fitbit to sort out why the battery only lasts two days not the advertised 5, but I can live with that I suppose.

For the 12 hours when I thought I wasn't ever going to be able to sync the Charge to stats, I re-researched all the other makes and options and still find the Charge HR is the only one which fulfils all my criteria for price, function and appearance, without going for a model which has far more function than with arthritis in knees and ankle I am ever going to need!

Don't give up trying. Like me, there may be a solution for you out there.

segacs

The battery on my Charge HR never lasted more than 2 days either, even at the best of times. I think the advertised 5 days was BS.

My Flex regularly lasted 5 days, mind you.

kuroshii

I know people with the Charge HR that they've owned for a long time (year or more) and they *used to* get five days' use pretty regularly between charges. But then they did that firmware update this past fall, and BLAMMO everything went hooey. Sync problems, time problems, notification problems, and battery problems.
Makes me glad all I have is a Zip.

d_thomas02

No battery issues with my Charge HR. Got it just after New Years. I do put it on charger while in shower every day (15 min?) and then give it a full charge once a week (2 hours). Other than that, I wear it 24/7.

mathiar86

d_thomas02 wrote: »

I do put it on charger while in shower every day (15 min?) and then give it a full charge once a week (2 hours). Other than that, I wear it 24/7.

That's not a bad idea. I just got mine yesterday and charged it for two hours then wore it. This morning I noticed after waking up at 730, going for a walk and coming back around 10, that the battery showed "low" on the app. That couldnt be right, worse than the Apple Watch at that rate. I plugged it and the charge icon only moved up to around 25%. 30min later and the charge icon showed charging up to almost full. I disconnected and synced and the app showed "battery full". It's a bit weird. I'm probably also at fault for being a new Fitbit user and probably prone to the "check my wrist every 5min and sync so my stats are always up to date" syndrome.

Going to give it another 2 days and then let the thing totally die before recharging it fully. I might try your method if that doesnt solve the issue though.

d_thomas02

App only shows three battery states. Charged, half, and low. Not sure how it breaks down into those divisions. Most of the time I see half a battery on the app.

retirehappy

Mine holds a charge for around 3.5 days, I use alarms and synch it alot too. I usually just take it off to sleep, since I am not concerned about tracking that, so it never runs down. But when I did try to see how long it lasted, after the last firmware update it went from almost 5 to 3.5 days. Until I got the fitbit I had not worn a watch in years, so I don't like sleeping with it on. Isn't a problem for me, YMMV.

myheartsabattleground

I have found myself charging mine 2x a week, but I have said that as soon as the charge HR in mint is available in HR, I'm slapping a battery claim, and asking for the mint as a replacement.

segacs

So this story goes from bad to worse: After multiple calls to customer service about my non-working Charge HR, Fitbit finally authorized a refund. They told me (in writing) to send it back to them and they'll mail me a cheque. So I did. I sent it back using their FedEx shipping label, as instructed.

They confirmed having received it 2 weeks ago. Now they're dragging their heels and refusing to pay out my refund.

In a nutshell, Fitbit just stole $172 of my money. Stay FAR, FAR away from this terrible, terrible company.

dollydiva2

Got my HR mid jan, I'm not having any of these issues. My battery holds for 4 days but I don't have it on all day sync or always connected. I think that makes a difference, I got an extra day out of it from turning those settings off.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

FWIW: I've had some problems syncing with the app. I have to re-start the phone sometimes to get it to work, which is annoying. Other than that, it has been OK in terms of software.

I had the little button fall of a while back. I called Fitbit and they sent me a new watch for free. The battery life of the replacement seems shorter than the original. (4 days max.)

Note: Don't tell fitbit, but I wear it when I swim so I can see my heart rate profile later.

segacs

The issue is less about how well it works (mine doesn't, but whatever) and more about the terrible, fraudulent customer service. They sell me a product that they know doesn't work, promise me a refund, send me a FedEx label to ship back the product, then they never deliver the refund. That's flat out theft.

This company is screaming for a class action lawsuit.