Really not impressed with FitBit right now...

Over a month ago, my father bought me a FitBit Flex, because he's had some good luck using his to help me exercise more and lose weight. I was really happy to get one, and I was looking forward to using it.

Only when it arrived, it didn't work. Not only was the device itself too small for the charging station (a common problem with that design, apparently), but it wouldn't charge even when help down in the charger. Bugger.

So I emailed their support team and explained the situation, and asked for a replacement charger that would fit the device. The first person to email me back walked me through some basic troubleshooting, but in that email, we determined that nope, it won't fit in the charger properly. I figured that would be enough, but then another support person emailed me back, wanting me to go through more troubleshooting. Okaaaay... Rinse and repeat. For about a week. After we'd already identified the problem. Troubleshooting step after troubleshooting step, all with different people, all asking me to do things that made no difference because we identified what was wrong in the very first email.

I snapped a bit after one member of the support team emailed me and said they couldn't find any FitBit info connected to my account, and could I please try plugging the device into the charger and letting it charge for a bit so things could synch. I told them, kind of forcefully, that no, I couldn't, because the device wouldn't charge. Which I'd already told them. Repeatedly!

Someone much more apologetic emailed me back and said they'd replace the device and charger for me. I just had to FedEx it back to them, and they provided me the shipping info and FedEx tracking number and all that. The replacement would be sent out once they received things on their end Okay. Progress!

It took me a little while to find somewhere I could actually FedEx things around here (I don't have a car, so anywhere not within walking distance in this city causes a bit of a problem, and anything outside the city is pretty much inaccessible to me), but I did find one. So I sent everything off. I kept tabs on the package via the tracking number, and it was received at their warehouse on September 21.

I haven't heard anything back from them. I haven't received a replacement. I figured I'd give them a little while to send it out; I didn't expect a replacement to be sent out the next day or anything, because that's expecting too much and I'm not that kind of customer. But it's been almost 2 weeks since I can confirm FedEx delivered it to their warehouse, and I've got absolutely nothing to show for it.

So today, I emailed them back using the original email thread I was doing all the troubleshooting in, essentially saying, "Uh, you've had this back for almost 2 weeks, I was promised a replacement, and I've not squat. BTW, this has been an ongoing thing for over a month now so you guys aren't exactly in my good graces at the moment!"

I wonder what their response will be. But I've got to say, unless it's along the lines of, "Ohshit, I'm sorry, things got weird here and this got lost along the way but I just mailed your replacement, here's the tracking number," I'm going to go from annoyed to royally pissed off. This has been shit customer service no matter how you look at it.

Here's hoping they actually do something about it soon.

The Daily Grind

~ I caught up on episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, watched the newest Equestria Girls movie (which was awesome, by the way!), and once I was done with those, I started watching season 4 of Once Upon a Time, which has recently appeared on Netflix. So, last night wasn't exactly a productive night, if you count productivity as making things or fixing things or what have you, but I did catch up on more of my TV-watching, and it was nice to just take a night and relax with happy things like that.

~ I woke up early to meet with a friend so we could go see Hotel Transylvania 2. It was a slow walk, because my lungs are extra twitchy these days now that the weather's turning colder and I don't have my proper asthma medication (I'm waiting for my provincial health card to arrive before I make a clinic appointment to get refills, because otherwise an appointment is likely to cost me at least $50 on top of what the medication will cost, and that's money I just don't have right now), but at least I'm still able to walk, and even if it's slow I like getting out and getting fresh air because soon it'll get too cold and snowy for the outside world to hold any appeal at all!

It was a pretty good movie, too. Not as good as the first movie, I think, but I still enjoyed it.

We also stopped at Pita Pit for supper, and I tried their chicken caesar pita. Very tasty! I want to try their gyro pita next time, or possibly the falafel one!

~ I found a drug trial for asthma that I submitted my info for. They're not currently accepting new patients for the study, but they've got my info in case anything opens up, which excites me a bit because I might get to be part of something that could, at the very least, provide some research data, and in a best case scenario might contribute to making things easier for me and other people with asthma.

~ I did enough surveys through MintVine this past week that once my points clear, I should be able to get $10 into my PayPal account, which will be a nice little boost, especially considering that it took me less than a week to get that many surveys done. It's not much, but even a little bit of extra money here and there makes me happy and gives me a little more freedom to buy silly things that I can't justify from the rest of my income.

~ My mother surprised me with a subscription to Humble Monthly, so now I'll have plenty of new video games to play around with on a regular basis! If anyone wants to add me on Steam, I'll be giving away codes to any duplicate games I get, and friends get first priority.

The first batch of games doesn't release until November, but I'm already excited to see which ones are there!

~ Took a trip to the Dollarama and I found a package of chocolate cookies with tiramisu filling for $1.50. When I paid for them, the cashier said she tried them and they were so good, so now I can't wait to try them!