I just wanted to speak to the unavailability of this device, so other users could be aware of the problems.
I placed my order on December 31st, 2009. Since then, the expected ship date on my order page has changed from "late January" to "mid February" to "February 28th" (which was oddly specific). Guess what: it still says February 28th.
With emails and forum postings going completely unanswered (that's just bad customer service) I finally hunted down a phone number for the company. A person who answered then gave me a ship date of late March. Wonderful.
But just this morning I checked a thread on their message boards, where a user said she received an email response from them that gave her an estimate of mid-April.
I know the product is popular, but I don't understand how poor their relationship with their manufacturers must be if they can miss three to five ship dates and have delays of four months!
So to sum up, I have no idea when your expected ship date would be if you ordered today. October?
Discussion about
Want it, but can't get it!
Well hooray, the ship dates for those of us who ordered in late December have been updated. April 1st is the new date. Great. So they guy I spoke to was off, and there wasn't any word of this from the company until three days ago. That's two straight weeks with customers having no clue what was up with their orders.
The official word was that there was a manufacturing problem. Well that's fine, but presumably when March 1st rolls around and you have a bunch of people told that February 28th is the estimated ship date, and you're not going to make that, it's time to tell them!
Argh. I can't wait to get my Fitbit, but this is getting to be a bit much.
The official word was that there was a manufacturing problem. Well that's fine, but presumably when March 1st rolls around and you have a bunch of people told that February 28th is the estimated ship date, and you're not going to make that, it's time to tell them!
Argh. I can't wait to get my Fitbit, but this is getting to be a bit much.
Sounds familiar, I ordered in Jan and my date just got changed to April 30. Of course, they never think to actually email me to let me know of the delay, I just wait until the last promised date and check the website to see the new one. If they're waiting for stock, surely they have time to send out a few "sorry" emails?
Seriously considering canceling, this kind of problem is worrying for a device which is useless without a company to provide service to it.
Seriously considering canceling, this kind of problem is worrying for a device which is useless without a company to provide service to it.
On the latest blog post, here's the reason they provided for slow shipping:
blog.fitbit.com/?p=123
"It’s been a while since our last blog post. Since then, we’ve been busy shipping units, but we’re still behind in fulfilling demand. A large portion of that has been due to one of our suppliers falling behind in delivering printed circuit boards in sufficient quality and quantity to meet our needs. To that extent, we’ve spent a lot of time finding a simultaneous second supplier of boards and we are bringing them onboard very shortly. A lot more of you should start to see your orders being fulfilled."
blog.fitbit.com/?p=123
"It’s been a while since our last blog post. Since then, we’ve been busy shipping units, but we’re still behind in fulfilling demand. A large portion of that has been due to one of our suppliers falling behind in delivering printed circuit boards in sufficient quality and quantity to meet our needs. To that extent, we’ve spent a lot of time finding a simultaneous second supplier of boards and we are bringing them onboard very shortly. A lot more of you should start to see your orders being fulfilled."
Thanks for the link! It really sounds like they're addressing their shortcomings. All along I've been reasonably patient with the shipping problems. What I've complained about have been the extremely poor customer relations issues. I'm happy to see they've hired someone for this express purpose.
I am in the same boat you are regarding my order, which now says it will ship at the end of April. Man, I hope it is worth the wait. I am really going to feel like a sucker if, after all this time, this thing isn't useful. Fingers crossed.
Well, April 1st has come and gone, and just as I'd predicted, I have no order confirmation for my Fitbit. I know it's a small thing, but wouldn't it just have looked better for them if they'd just set the estimated ship date as April 2nd? I mean, if you're not going to ship it on time anyway, why not save some face and not make it seem like a cruel April Fools joke :)
All I can hope is that this time it won't be two whole weeks before the estimate is updated and/or someone from the company mentions something or has more information.
And of course, I realize that these are estimates, but they've now missed the FOURTH estimate. This company really needs to get its manufacturing act together.
All I can hope is that this time it won't be two whole weeks before the estimate is updated and/or someone from the company mentions something or has more information.
And of course, I realize that these are estimates, but they've now missed the FOURTH estimate. This company really needs to get its manufacturing act together.
Just got off the phone with someone at Fitbit. He was estimating that if you're like me (I ordered on December 31st, almost January, as he said), you should expect your confirmation email most likely in late April. Wonderful. I was going on vacation the last week of April, and now I have zero expectation that I'll have mine before then.
Besides, the last time I called after they missed an estimated ship date (the Feb28th date), the guy on the phone thought it might be mid-march. Then we got the April 1st estimate (still not a funny April Fool's joke). So I'm thinking a reasonable estimate for getting this product will be late May. Woo!
Besides, the last time I called after they missed an estimated ship date (the Feb28th date), the guy on the phone thought it might be mid-march. Then we got the April 1st estimate (still not a funny April Fool's joke). So I'm thinking a reasonable estimate for getting this product will be late May. Woo!
just got an e-mail that my date has slipped to may 31st. that's after it had already been pushed to end of this month. i placed my order in early march so if you haven't received yours yet and you ordered in december, i probably shouldn't expect mine until holiday season!
Yup, I received that email as well.
Once again, I'm not disappointed in the product or the delay per se, but rather the poor communication from the company. For the SECOND time, it took them nearly two weeks, completely cut off from their customers, to mention anything. In the three and a half months I've spent on the backorder, I've now spent a total of four weeks staring at a shipping estimate that never changes. Again, it's not even necessarily that the date doesn't change. I understand that it's probably tied to their inventory system or something. It's the fact that I've spent those four weeks without any word from the company. Presumably they knew two weeks ago, when my unit didn't ship, that they weren't going to get it to me, so where was this email then?
Sorry, I realize I'm coming off as very negative. It just irritates me when customer service is botched in ways that are so easily avoidable.
Once again, I'm not disappointed in the product or the delay per se, but rather the poor communication from the company. For the SECOND time, it took them nearly two weeks, completely cut off from their customers, to mention anything. In the three and a half months I've spent on the backorder, I've now spent a total of four weeks staring at a shipping estimate that never changes. Again, it's not even necessarily that the date doesn't change. I understand that it's probably tied to their inventory system or something. It's the fact that I've spent those four weeks without any word from the company. Presumably they knew two weeks ago, when my unit didn't ship, that they weren't going to get it to me, so where was this email then?
Sorry, I realize I'm coming off as very negative. It just irritates me when customer service is botched in ways that are so easily avoidable.
I got the same email re: the May shipping date. On the bright side, people still seem excited about this product despite the frustrations with meeting demand. At the time of this post, it has 40 likes and only 3 dislikes. It also has 49 have its, 192 want its, and only 3 had its.
