How to (not) get a replacement for your Fitbit

Recently my Fitbit kind of fell apart for no apparent reason even though only 11 months had passed since I bought it. Luckily it was still in the warranty period so I checked the website for options on how to contact customer service.

The website provided an email contact for Japan and I sent an e-mail. Later, I also posted about the broken Fitbit on Twitter and the Fitbit Twitter support contacted me. They said they needed a photo, my name, email address and information about where I bought it. I provided these and they created a support case for me.

I was happy with the quick help because the Japanese email support said it would take 2-3 days to receive a reply.

However, I didn’t yet know what would happen next.

After I provided my address for the replacement to be shipped, Fitbit told me my address was wrong. But it wasn’t. I had checked properly when entering. Nevertheless, they asked me for my address again.

I provided the same address asking what the issue was and if they maybe needed the address in Japanese characters, but I never got a reply to those questions.

After that, the case remained on hold for a while and I didn’t hear back so I contacted Twitter support again but they also couldn’t tell me what the problem was. However, they did tell me to contact chat support if wanted quick help. I did so, but it turns out the chat support couldn’t help me. I was only told to wait for an email.

Then I suggested the Twitter support forwarding my case to the Japanese support team hoping they would know how to read my address correctly. The Japanese support then asked for my phone number, that I had provided twice already, at this point and a receipt of my purchase, which was surprisingly something I had not been asked for yet.

I provided these and a few hours later I got a confirmation that my replacement order was being processed. It turns that they had changed my address to Japanese characters. So, now I wonder why the Twitter support and the English email support were not able to tell me that the problem was that my address was not in Japanese characters. I assume that I was not the first person from Japan with a warranty case so they should be aware of that issue.

But judging from the fact that they send me to chat support that couldn’t help me I get the impression the Twitter support has no idea what they are doing.

I finally received the replacement after about two weeks but after this experience, my next smartwatch will probably not be a Fitbit.