This is about Fitbit telling customers that their devices don’t qualify for a refund on their defective product and has nothing to do with the trackers or the app as the sensationalist headline would have you assume.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Federal Court issued the penalty against the US firm on Tuesday after it admitted making false, misleading or deceptive claims to 58 customers between 2020 and 2022.

The ACCC launched its latest case against the billion-dollar firm, now owned by Google, in October last year saying it had misled customers about their rights under Australian Consumer Law.

Acting ACCC chairwoman Catriona Lowe said all goods sold in Australia must be of acceptable quality and fit for purpose, and retailers had to provide a repair, replacement or refund if this standard was not met.

“Consumers may have incurred additional expense and inconvenience paying for repairs or replacement products because they were told false and misleading information.”

As part of the case, Fitbit admitted its staff told 18 customers they could not receive a refund unless they returned a faulty product within 45 days of its purchase.

Fitbit staff also denied refunds to another 40 customers due to the expiry of a two-year warranty, even though 39 had contacted the company about problems with replacement products.

The original article contains 402 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 56%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

Another reason why I trust no company or anything they say/claim unless I can prove it’s true myself.