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Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

abc.net.au

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Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#31

Post by adamgordonbell »

rout39574 wrote: post #15
adamgordonbell wrote: post #12

So I have an Oura ring, and I find it helpful and able to tell if I'm ill or beat down at a level I wouldn't notice myself. For me, this is useful; it gives me some feedback I previously ignored or wasn't aware of. Ideally, I'll start being able to tell how well I'm doing at the same fidelity the ring can, in a biofeedback sense, and then I won't need it. But one thing I always wonder about is the sleep data. To what…

Anecdote here, but the only place from which you'd get "data" is from FitBit, and that's what you're trying to calibrate. My wife's got a bunch of sleep issues, and she finds her fitbit data correlates really tightly with her sleep experience. When she's had a sucky sleep night, the fitbit reports lots of awake time, and when she wakes feeling great, that's also reflected. Since her experience is volatile, it seems i…

I used to have a Zeo, still have it somewhere, but I think the company collapsed. It was an actual head strap measuring EKG stuff. I wonder if I can compare what it gets to my ring and if its still possible to use it or whether it had some web-service component and is now bricked.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#32

Post by londons_explore »

$11M for a fine about a $200 device for 58 customers... Seems a bit much to me.

The whole legal process should have been done in a day or two, and the fine been $10,000, plus a full refund or new product for every affected customer.

Then the authorities should start to focus on the cases that actually affect lots of people.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#33

Post by i_am_jl »

cosmojg wrote: post #27
RNAlfons wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even the Garmin stuff is problematic. I had a Garmin watch crap out entirely while up a mountain. I switched into the Garmin environment some years ago. Have my second watch now and spread it all over the family. Never had I one person having any kind of issues with it and we have both outdoor and everyday models.

Which model would you recommend for a desk jockey who either runs or lifts weights a few days a week and goes hiking and climbing on weekends?

Garmin's watches have differentiating features, but any Garmin sportswatch will be sufficient for what you're doing. The biggest differences between the watches are the screen.

Venu/Vivoactive is a perfectly fine starting point. Move upwards if you need specific sensors, on-device music playback, etc. Upgrade to the Fenix if you want the better battery life and you're not bothered by the dim screen. Upgrade to the Epix if you want the better battery life of the Fenix and you can't live without a bright screen.

When I got my Fenix I thought the screen would bother me, but I got used to it quickly. If you've got a traditional smartwatch and you're moving to a Garmin, the Fenix might be an adjustment. Readability in direct sun can be problematic, (especially trying to read it on a bike) only you know whether or not that matters for your use case.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#34

Post by tomComb »

ceejayoz wrote: post #2

Australia has very strong consumer protection laws in this regard. It's lovely.

Is Australia like Canada? Canada was involved in an ugly shake-down of Google on behalf of our telecom companies (Bill C-18) and Google was resisting.

So, amongst other threats, Canada got rid of the independence of their Consumer protection agency so the government could use it to go after unfriendly companies. So after they came to an agreement on Bill C-18.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#35

Post by malfist »

londons_explore wrote: post #32

$11M for a fine about a $200 device for 58 customers... Seems a bit much to me. The whole legal process should have been done in a day or two, and the fine been $10,000, plus a full refund or new product for every affected customer. Then the authorities should start to focus on the cases that actually affect lots of people.

$10,000 for deliberately lying to customers? That's a joke.

Other than small mom and pop stores, a $10k fine isn't going to make the business change direction at all. It's barely even noticeable. For a multibillion dollar company, it's the penny that dropped from their pocket that they can't even be bothered to pick up.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#36

Post by Ekaros »

chris_wot wrote: post #22

Fun fact: under Australian Consumer Law you cannot specify a set period of time for warranty purposes. The device must be fit for purpose and be of acceptable quality. That's it. Obviously, if you buy a $10 toaster, the reasonable timeframe is shorter, but there is nowhere in the law where you can specify a particular time frame. HP, Apple and a bunch of other companies have found this out the hard way. Basically, if…

Is this for warranty or for liability for defects. Which in EU are separate concepts. Warranty is something that company offers beyond their normal liability. But devices are still expected to be defect free for reasonable period, like 4 years for TV.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#37

Post by tomComb »

londons_explore wrote: post #32

$11M for a fine about a $200 device for 58 customers... Seems a bit much to me. The whole legal process should have been done in a day or two, and the fine been $10,000, plus a full refund or new product for every affected customer. Then the authorities should start to focus on the cases that actually affect lots of people.

In Ontario Canada the dominant blood testing company lost (got hacked) the health records of millions of customers and almost nothing came of it. Even the civil suit on behalf of the people whose entire health records were lost was going to be about $30 per person.

And yet in this thread people complain that ~$200K per person is too little for telling people the wrong info about their fitbit warranty.

People are so focussed on big tech they miss the egregious stuff happening one or two levels down.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#38

Post by ceejayoz »

londons_explore wrote: post #32

$11M for a fine about a $200 device for 58 customers... Seems a bit much to me. The whole legal process should have been done in a day or two, and the fine been $10,000, plus a full refund or new product for every affected customer. Then the authorities should start to focus on the cases that actually affect lots of people.

> Then the authorities should start to focus on the cases that actually affect lots of people.

They are. These cases carry a "don't fuck around with Australia's consumer protection rules" message to other companies thinking of doing so. If you're selling products like this in Australia, you're committing to a 24+ month warranty/return period. No 90 day fuckery.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#39

Post by sheepshear »

cosmojg wrote: post #27
RNAlfons wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even the Garmin stuff is problematic. I had a Garmin watch crap out entirely while up a mountain. I switched into the Garmin environment some years ago. Have my second watch now and spread it all over the family. Never had I one person having any kind of issues with it and we have both outdoor and everyday models.

Which model would you recommend for a desk jockey who either runs or lifts weights a few days a week and goes hiking and climbing on weekends?

The cheapest one with GPS. If you choose a model with a small watch face but you don't have dainty wrists, make sure you can find a longer after-market band first.

Re: Fitbit fined $11M for misleading consumers about their rights under consumer law

#40

Post by melkor73 »

mrweasel wrote: post #19
calmworm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all the custom faces it can be as little watch or as much watch as you want it to be, plus 4-6 other points of information(depending on the face you choose). Weather, temperature, air quality, wind speed/direction, messages, compass, exercise tracker, calendar, etc… it’s a mini display for many data points at a glance.

That's really my issue, I want to see NONE of those things. Just a much smaller device with a week or two of battery life that sync data to my phone or laptop when its near. I want unobtrusive fitness/sleep/health tracking, not live feedback.

You want a Garmin.
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