Fitbit Force in flames again and I really think this will burn for a good while. The lack of proper updates and customer services were just down right stupid by the time the voluntary recall came about. Now it is in full swing via the CPSC requires everyone to stop selling them. This of course includes those who have bought them direct from stores or the company then sells the bans for those outrageous prices.
The stats provided with the Fitbit Force are not totally correct and would sometimes not count the stairs that I climb daily. I don’t mean missing a step here or there, I mean missing the same staircase I go up and down at least a dozen times a day. The calories seemed to be calculated at an odd rate compared to MyFitnessPal or even using Endomondo (both which I have used for years that work almost flawlessly).
The community was friendly and the only thread I actually got into was originally about the firmware update for users that would allow for push notifications. I thought it was kind of interesting since I knew it would take even longer before it came to the Windows users, even after their original launch date. So I made a reply, I also found out very quickly that my email notifications settings were turned on. Normally I turn these off but it was a great accidental slip as many of the replies provided a great deal of information.
Within the week I kept an eye on the posts being made and noticed a very big trend. It seems Fitbit has been teasing the community of users about this update for quite sometime. I noticed a great deal of trolling (most of course out of frustration) and then it just turned down right nasty a few times by members because Fitbit announced a voluntary recall.
Keep in mind I found this out a few days into the only week I had my Force. I was quite annoyed that through all of my research I never once knew anything about nickel being used in the product. I would have never purchased the device if I knew this as it is not something I can wear. I mean I can wear it, if I want to wear something cheap that is going to freak my skin out. What person does not want that as a bonus for dropping $150+ on a birthday gift for themselves?
The company said they listed it as a voluntary recall because all users were not breaking out in a skin rash. Fair enough, but the problem is misleading your customer base. The thread I popped into had random updates from what I can only call “online Fitbit moderators”. Who knows if they are really paid by Fitbit to moderate the boards or if they are there as volunteers only. I caught one person claiming to be a mod that was a user of their products for years and then turned mod.
If the latter is the case I can understand why they really can’t give an update, they have no right to do so and would not be able to. If you allow mod’s to express a thought without a company agreement, anything they say will be read by all active users and I could see how an accidental misrepresentation could crop up. Oh boy and did it. Between the possible recall, the lack of support, and no real date for a push notification things got crazy!
*Fitbit Force flames – Fully Developed & Decay coming soon. It gets interesting, it really does. Stay tuned.
