Acknowledging good customer service

If I receive shabby service by a business, I'm not backward about coming forward. I will often, if I have time, raise it at the time, and failing that, will write directly to the business management to let them know what happened. If there is no way to contact them privately, I'm also ok posting about my experience on social media and tagging them appropriately.

Having said that, I find that lots of people don't feel the same about acknowledging when a business does something good for them in a customer service capacity. Which is a shame, as if someone does a good job, I think they need to know about it. I'm certainly praising my children every time they do something remotely wonderful.

With that in mind, I wanted to share my recent experience with FitBit.

Back in 2013, I talked about getting my FitBit Flex. I've pretty much worn it fairly regularly ever since, although I have stopped tracking my sleep as it's just depressing with Jimmy.

I had a bit of trouble finding a picture of myself wearing it actually, but here is a sad example focussing on a large bunch of parsley harvested from the garden...

Last weekend I noticed that it wasn't on my wrist. I could pretty much narrow down when I lost it, as I remember trying on a bracelet at a shopping centre, and it was definitely on then. We then went back to the car, I unwrapped Jimmy and put him in the car seat and then we drove home. It wasn't anywhere in the car or at home, and I couldn't find it using my phone to try and sync, which meant I never got into BlueTooth range of it. As a last resort, I emailed FitBit, knowing the device was low on charge, to ask if there was any way to locate it while there was a tiny bit of juice left.

They responded a few hours later saying, well no, not really. But could I please upload a copy of my receipt and a few other details, and they'd see what they could do about "getting me back on track".
Lo and behold, despite my receipt showing that I purchased the device in July 2013, as a gesture of goodwill the company is going to send me a gratis replacement. In fact, it's already been processed and is on it's way to me.

Completely over and above anything I expected for something well over two years old. Well done FitBit - that's outstanding customer service right there and I'm a very happy stepper!

Have you had a great customer service experience lately?

Coincidence?

So every week, my Fitbit sends me a weekly progress summary email with a highlight of achievements and weekly stats. I can also drill down in my dashboard to check specific days and the breakdown of exercise in them.

 

See that lovely big green spike there?  That coincided with high activity minutes - and that occurred as I was sprinting down the mall to find something for lunch as I'd been working feverishly to get a deliverable completed for a client with a mere three hour notice. And let me tell you, I was starving!

 

 

At the same time, I got this email alerting me to a new badge. Yep, since putting on my Fitbit a little over two months ago, I've walked over 250km. And that's just the steps it knows about, because there have been times I've taken it off, or forgotten to change the battery or something. A coincidence that I reached a new milestone while searching for food? Sort of a proverbial carrot/stick?

Woot! Talk about motivation! Tell me, have you kicked any goals, fitness or otherwise, lately?

Review: Fitbit Flex

Anyone who knows me in real life knows a few things about me:

• I'm a competitive sort.
• I'm a bit retentive – if there is a set of things to collect, then I need to have the whole collection.
• I'm an unashamed geek – I love technology and gadgets.

For these reasons, as soon as I learnt about Fitbit, I knew I had to have one. What could be better? A little device that links to my food consumed and exercise apps, counts my steps, monitors my sleep and then, links to my iDevices and provides me with funky dashboards? And achievement badges? And lets me compare myself to friends? Hello! I am in geeky device heaven!

 

"But, you're a sensible sort," I hear you say, "so why did you spend an obscene amount of money on a glorified pedometer Lisa?" I won't lie. Like FourSquare which sucked me into visiting places and checking in to earn badges and free samples, Fitbit has done the same with their achievement badges. That, and I can compare my stats against friends, and what inspires people more than a little real-time friendly competition?

 

I'm not a particularly fit person anymore. I'm not fat by any means, but nor am I fit. Post baby, I just want a little motivation to get moving. I used to be quite active and since Ellie came along, quite active now means "I carried her around and did a few lunges at the same time today" instead of "I cycled 100km today". So I need a push to get moving.

 

I was tossing up between the Flex and the One, and in the end, while the One has more features at the same price point ($119), the Flex won out because I can wear it all the time without having to remember to transfer it between outfits.

 

Recording

 

It records a bunch of cool stuff: distance travelled, number of steps, calories burned, and sleep quality. It's extremely minimalist. It looks like one of those charity wristbands and 5 little lights tell you how you're tracking along against your daily step goal. I've had the device a week now and I've only needed to charge it the once, so I'm getting well within the stated 5-7 days of battery life from mine.

 

I can see when I walked to and from the bus and did a lunch time walk

 

It even syncs in nicely with apps I already use such as myfitnesspal and runkeeper. So although it doesn't have the best food tracking system or a GPS onboard, I can use other apps to do that, and it accepts the data onto the dashboard when I sync.

 

Sleeping

 

I have to remember to turn it over to sleep mode but even that isn't too much of a hassle, just tapping a few times on the band. It doesn't bother me to wear it while I'm sleeping, and that data collected is pretty neat really – I can see when I went to bed versus when I woke up, and also how many times I was restless each night. The silent alarm gets a round of applause from me – it's a nifty concept that it awakens me by vibrating quietly. Mr Fork appreciates it I'm sure, as I generally wake before him and now he can actually sleep in until his own alarm goes off.

 

Apparently I sleep more efficiently than I think I do

 

Statistics

 

I am curious about the statistics. I mean, what constitutes "very active minutes" and "restless" while sleeping? If I roll over, or scratch my nose, is that restless? If I jog on the spot, does that count as a step? What about if I wave my arm up and down? Despite my questions, once I'd calibrated the device, I have found it to be relatively accurate. I compared by counting steps manually and then comparing the results to the measured statistics. I can see where I walked to the bus stop and went to get lunch, and even when I stirred at night when Ellie cried out.

Although, when I set my daily goal, I added an extra 10% to what I wanted to achieve as I figure it tracks an awful lot of erroneous gestures when I wave my arms around.

 

Achievements

 

It's an encouraging and friendly little device. When I sync to my phone and I'm close to a goal, it lets me know. It tells me when friends are catching up (or I'm catching up to them) and the allure of badges is pretty sweet, such as the 5000 and 10000 steps, or 50km.

 

Badge achievements

I find if I'm close to hitting a big number like 10000 for example or nearly caught up with the person in front of me, after Ellie is in bed I'll pace around the house trying to get my count up. I make sure I go for a stroll around the office so I don't get told off for inactivity. It's sneaky the way I have made exercise more a part of my day simply by wearing my Fitbit!

 

Friend leaderboard

 

Summary

 

So I think it was a good investment for me. Sure, it's a glorified pedometer. Do I wish it had more features? Absolutely. In the future, I can see that this little device is going to be fantastic. It's going to be a completely ubiquitous fitness tool that everyone wonders how we ever did without it. But now, I'm addicted to the badges and the friendly competition. Had it not been for those friends, sure I mightn't have been walking laps around the veranda while I checked my Facebook updates but on the other side of the coin, I walk a lot more steps than I thought I did!

 

Improvements

 

Being a nerdy sort, I have a wish-list of features I'd love to see included in future Fitbit iterations:

• For me, a fitness band should be ubiquitous. If it senses when I'm moving, why do I need to tell it when I go to sleep and wake up? The Fitbit should detect this and record appropriately.
• Borrow some features from the Jawbone Up. If it can tell when I'm restless, then wake me at the appropriate spot in my REM cycle if it's within say, a 10 minute window either side of my programmed silent alarm.
• Add a better display on the band. As it's taking up valuable permanent wrist space, the least it could do would be include a time display
• I'd love to be able to count my stairs as well, so is there any way to fit an altimeter in?
• The designers missed a golden opportunity to use the charging cable to also sync the device. I mean it's plugged into the computer already, why not sync then too?
• Why can't I export my statistics from the dashboard?
• Please bring in some decorative accessories! A black plastic band doesn't go with a cocktail dress really, but why should it be one or the other?
• I'd love to see a dedicated iPad app instead of having to use my iPhone one.

Do you have a Fitbit? If so, add me and we can be fitness friends!