The Australian Competition and Comnsumer Commission (ACCC) has put the smack down on Fitbit after the company made representations to buyers about their rights that were contrary to Australian consumer law. From November 2016 to March 2017, Fitbit told customers that its warranty was only available for one year and that faulty products would be only replaced for the remainder of the calendar year or 30 days, whichever was longer.
Under Australian consumer law, your rights under the consumer guarantees do not have a specific expiry date and can apply even after any warranties you’ve got from a business have expired. So, Fitbit’s stipulations about what it would do about warranties, and repairs and replacements are moot if they contravene our consumer protection laws.
That goes for any item being sold. Warranties of a limited length are overwritten by an obligation for a product to work for a reasonable period of time and not just the manufacturer’s warranty period.
As a result of this action by the ACCC, Fitbit has extended its warranty periods in Australia to two years and promised to provide contact details on its website for consumers for warranty issues as well as train customer service staff about consumers’ rights and remedies under the Australian consumer law.
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