Pebble Watch

DannyKudos

Hello Folks

Quick Consumer Rights query. I bought a Pebble watch earlier in the year (March) from Amazon. As you may have seen in the news, Pebble has now been bought by Fitbit. They are closing down pebble (purchase was for IP only) and are only committing to support the pebble through 2017, so there is a good chance that by 2018 my watch will no longer work.

Where will I stand when this happens ? You would expect a watch to last more than 2 years. Should I be able to return once its no longer working ? Anything I should do now, or will I have to wait until it no longer functions ?

Cheers

powerful_Rogue

DannyKudos wrote: »

Hello Folks

Quick Consumer Rights query. I bought a Pebble watch earlier in the year (March) from Amazon. As you may have seen in the news, Pebble has now been bought by Fitbit. They are closing down pebble (purchase was for IP only) and are only committing to support the pebble through 2017, so there is a good chance that by 2018 my watch will no longer work.

Where will I stand when this happens ? You would expect a watch to last more than 2 years. Should I be able to return once its no longer working ? Anything I should do now, or will I have to wait until it no longer functions ?

Cheers

The watch will still work, ie tell the time, receive notifications after 2017. It's just that some of the cloud services are being turned off.

Pebble's apps, app store, firmware and API, among other services, will remain accessible next year. While it sounds like Fitbit will no longer support those services after that, Barlow and his team are already taking steps to make sure they'll still work in 2018. Pebble's developers are tweaking the system's mobile apps so they can function even if their cloud services are discontinued. They're planning to release updates in the coming months that'll allow those apps to work on their own, just like Pebble Health, which isn't dependent on the cloud.

Fosterdog

Actually 2 years for a budget brand relatively new technology (smart watches) would be all I would expect before they become obsolete. Chances are you'll upgrade your mobile at some point which may render an outdated smart watch useless

[Deleted User]

I bought a pebble watch (thank god, for half price) and it was a bit of a waste of money. I've hardly used it, it seems a bit clunky and useless to me. Hopefully you'll find a better one before they become completely and utterly useless. For me, its just been a learning experience (don't buy online, go and try it on first lol).

Fosterdog

deannatrois wrote: »

I bought a pebble watch (thank god, for half price) and it was a bit of a waste of money. I've hardly used it, it seems a bit clunky and useless to me. Hopefully you'll find a better one before they become completely and utterly useless. For me, its just been a learning experience (don't buy online, go and try it on first lol).

I looked into quite a few of them and the only one I could find worth using was the pretty expensive Samsung Gear 2 but I use an iPhone and it only works with android and I'm not fussed on the Apple Watch. In the end considering one of my main uses was going to be a fitness tracker I got the Fitbit charge 2 which does all of the fitness tracking I want and shows up a simple view of phone calls, calendar events and texts which is all I really wanted.

Three months down the line I still wear it everyday, only have to charge it roughly every 5 days and it gives me enough info about calls, texts and calendar for me to quickly see if I need to bother to get my phone out or if it's something that can wait.

NYGiants

Fosterdog wrote: »

I looked into quite a few of them and the only one I could find worth using was the pretty expensive Samsung Gear 2 but I use an iPhone and it only works with android and I'm not fussed on the Apple Watch. In the end considering one of my main uses was going to be a fitness tracker I got the Fitbit charge 2 which does all of the fitness tracking I want and shows up a simple view of phone calls, calendar events and texts which is all I really wanted.

Three months down the line I still wear it everyday, only have to charge it roughly every 5 days and it gives me enough info about calls, texts and calendar for me to quickly see if I need to bother to get my phone out or if it's something that can wait.

I currently use a Microsoft Band 2 with my iPhone and it does all that you want, see if you can get one in the Christmas sales or a second hand one on eBay.

Link for Comparison (US Site but still valid)

Fosterdog

NYGiants wrote: »

I currently use a Microsoft Band 2 with my iPhone and it does all that you want, see if you can get one in the Christmas sales or a second hand one on eBay.

Link for Comparison (US Site but still valid)

I was actually given one through work by Miscrosoft to use and demo and while it does most of the things I want it to I just didn't like the feel of it when on and wasn't to fussed on the usability, I passed it on to a colleague when I changed to the Fitbit and he loves it but it's not for me.

powerful_Rogue

Sony Smartwatch 3.

Available for a good price now and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

Also works with iOS, but has certain limitations.

boo_star

I'm not sure where the contract between you and Pebble was formed but I would guess it'll be the US which means the CRA won't apply.

That would mean that you're at the mercy of their warranty or consumer law in the state they operate from.

Fosterdog

boo_star wrote: »

I'm not sure where the contract between you and Pebble was formed but I would guess it'll be the US which means the CRA won't apply.

That would mean that you're at the mercy of their warranty or consumer law in the state they operate from.

There was no mention at all of a contract with Pebble, it was purchased through Amazon (I'm assuming UK because they have been available over here since launch). Any contract would be with Amazon, but as has already been pointed out ending support doesn't automatically give rights to a refund or replacement when the device will continue to work but after 2017 the supporting may no longer work or if it does it won't have any further updates and bug fixes.

At this moment there are no issues at all, it will be 2018 before this potential problem will even come to light and by then the device will be pretty much obsolete in technology terms anyway.

pulliptears

We had 3 Pebbles in the house last year. One by one all 3 have failed with screen corruption issues. The irony being the one on display in Currys also had the same problem.
Currys were really good about it actually and refunded them as we took them back, but it seemed to be very common in older models.