The other day we wrote about a 2oceansviber who complained about Fitbit’s return policy, and the fact that they refused to mail fixed / replaced Fitbits to South Africa. Then we received an email from Fitbit.

In the article, entitled “The One Major Problem They Don’t Tell You About When You Buy A Fitbit,” we included a screenshot from the Fitbit website, confirming that all warranty claims should be sent to the U.S.

We also included a copy/paste from the email our reader received from Fitbit, where it made clear that they do not ship to SA.

We thought this would be a great opportunity to mention (as we do for all our partners) that one of our partners, Postbox Courier, specialises in bringing in anything you want from overseas, even from online companies that don’t ship to South Africa.

You can even buy products on Amazon that don’t ship to SA, and that thing will arrive at your door in three to five days. That said, Postbox Courier would easily get that Fitbit back to South Africa without a problem.

I chatted to one of the Postbox Courier owners and he confirmed that the exact same thing happened to his daughter, with her Fitbit.

So that’s two people that we have first-hand knowledge of, who have had issues with their Fitbits.

We duly received this email from Fitbit on July 28:

Hi Henk and Jasmine

My name is Nikki Friedman and I am the Fitbit Brand Manager in South Africa.

I refer to your article – 27th July – “The One Major Problem They Don’t Tell You About When You Buy A Fitbit”

I would like to make mention, that at any point in time, both myself and DigiCape (who I know are one of your partners) are happy to comment on articles and/ or verify information that you are giving to the public.

Based on the article I refer, it is stated that your reader received a letter from Fitbit International stating that they do not ship replacement product to South Africa. This is in fact an error made by a call centre agent that has been passed onto your reader. When the replacement program for the Fitbit Charge went live, we found that a small percentage of warranty claims (less than 0,5%) received this e-mail in error. Subsequent to this, the e-mail that customers now receive has been rectified, and the customers will be asked for a shipping address in South Africa.

Going forward, if any of your readers do get this e-mail, we encourage them to contact us directly at fitbit.info@core.co.za, and we will ensure the reader’s issue is sorted out as a matter of urgency. Customer satisfaction is our utmost priority.

For all other Fitbit product – Zip, One, Charge HR, Alta, Blaze and Surge, the warranty on the product is held locally by the Core Group. Product within warranty that has issues, will be re-set/ replaced within 8 days of taking it to the retailer where you purchased the product.

I hope that the above gives you some clarity with regard to the Fitbit warranty, and I would appreciate it you could update your readers accordingly.

Please let me know if you require anything further.

Thanks and Kind regards

Nikki

We found the little 0.5% stat quite interesting, We were intrigued as to how many claims had arisen against Fitbit. How many of their products were breaking or not performing?

So we replied on the same day:

Hi Nikki – thanks for the update. Sure thing – if anyone contacts us we will let them know.

I’ve just been doing some calculations. Your email suggests there were more than one of these emails sent out.

Academically, for there to be more than one, and to maintain a percentage of 0.5% incorrect emails, there would need to be at least 400 claims (with two of 400 being 0.5%).

I know of two people, personally, who received this email, so I would imagine there were more?

Out of interest, can you confirm how many warranty claims there were, to result in such a small percentage of error emails?

I’m interested to learn what percentage of these products experience problems and subsequent claims.

Thanks for your input – look forward hearing more.

Kind regards,

Seth Rotherham

Then came this the next day (July 29):

Please confirm that you will be correcting the article based on the fact that Fitbit do ship to South Africa?

The incorrect information was giving to your readers based on two individuals receiving an incorrect e-mail.

Thanks
Nikki

Totally ignored the question of claims against Fitbit.

So finally – we sent this (July 29)

Hi Nikki.

There will be no “correction” as everything in our story did happen. Our factual story is based on a first hand account of one of our readers.

That said, I do intend on adding your comments, but want to include a complete picture when I do so, as further questions will be raised.

So please, as requested:

Out of interest, can you confirm how many warranty claims there were, to result in such a small percentage of error emails?

Regards,

That was on July the 29th. We haven’t heard anything since.

I think if the two people we know personally, who have sent back their Fitbits, were the ONLY people who had issues with their Fitbits, then Fitbit South Africa would have stated that there were only two claims that received the wrong email – rather than saying only 0.5% received the wrong email. You only give a percentage if the actual number is too big (doesn’t sound great) when you say it.

Seeing as Fitbit have chosen not to comment to our request for information, let’s try out some examples.

So it’s fair to deduce that there were more than two punters that got the wrong email. After all, to give a percentage instead of a number, one would imagine the volume would need to be – AT LEAST – more than 10, right? Otherwise you’d just say “10,” surely? I don’t think that would be anything to be embarrassed about.

If it was 10, then we’re talking a minimum of 2,000 claims.

If it was 100, then we’re talking a minimum of 20,000 claims.

Which is quite a lot.

But as you will notice above, Fitbit came out the gates strong, and have gone quiet since we asked them questions based on information they had given us.

Why so quiet?

And, more importantly, how many Fitbits sold in South Africa have had problems?

We look forward to hearing back.

And if you readers out there have something to share send it our way – editor@2oceansvibe.com.