Jawbone on Thursdaypublished an open letter to Up owner , announcing a repayment computer program for dissatisfied owner of the company ’s measure and sleep trailing armband .
The $ 100 Up was released in other November . The band is entail to measure the steps you take , monitor your log Z’s patterns , and wake up you up at the idealistic moment through vibe ; it connects to an iPhone app to stash away your tracked data . Some family line , however , retrieve that their Up units conk out suddenlywithin the first hebdomad of use . Jawbone has been replacing afflicted Ups for gratis — though some customers end up with replacement bands that suffer a similar destiny .
In Thursday ’s letter , Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman drop a line that he moot the failures some Ups have exhibited “ unacceptable , ” and offers the society ’s “ deepest apologies . ” By examine the returned band , Rahman say , Jawbone “ found an exit with two specific capacitors in the power system that dissemble the ability to hold a complaint in some of our bands . ” to boot , he says that the company is “ fixing an issue with sync touch to the band computer hardware . ”
Because the Up “ has not yet lived up to expectations — including our own , ” write Rahman , “ for whatever reason , or no reason at all , you’re able to encounter a full repayment for Up … even if you decide to keep your Up lot . We are so committed to this product that we ’re offering you the pick of using it for free . ”
The refund program bulge out Friday ; full detail are availableat Jawbone ’s website . Rahman writes that “ this program is just meant to offer peace of creative thinker ” ; customers can continue using ( or buying ) the Up , and know that they ’re good should the product fail .
And fail it might . Travis Bogard , Jawbone ’s frailty chair of ware direction and strategy , toldMacworldthat society is “ still prod into the difference between banding that are working great and those that are n’t , so we ’re not at the point where we can say here ’s the root cause that we ’ve pinpointed . ” So while the fellowship knows the core issue is related to capacitors , it ’s not yet sure why some fail and others do n’t . “ We have not announced a date for starting production again ” with new or updated internals , Bogard said .
Some customers have also complain about the Up ’s cap ( which comprehend the male plug you use for syncing and charging ) , and some have complained about the iPhone app ’s feature set . Said Bogard , “ We ’re emphatically search at all feedback . We ’re iterating on the software … We ’re replace bands or caps . Our support policy has been very liberal ” in terms of offering free positioning .
Bogard emphasized that while Jawbone is taking the dramatic tone of put up refund even if you pick out to keep your Up , that the majority of Up proprietor have n’t reported any complaints . That said , “ even one complaint is more than we want to have . ” In explaining the repayment offer , Bogard say , “ We imagine people broadly need to and will do the right affair . Fortunately , we ’re in a position as a grownup company to be capable to do this type of thing , and we reckon it ’s the good thing to do for our customers .
When demand about the likely impact to Jawbone ’s bottom phone line , Bogard said , “ We do n’t look at this from profitability ; we look at what ’s the honest thing to do for the customer . profitableness will sort out itself out if we do those things right . ”
