Jawbone offers 'no questions asked' refund on Up wristbands
In November, Jawbone released the Up band, a plastic bracelet that monitors a range of biorhythms, from sleeping patterns to eating habits. The Up, Jawbone executives , was intended to听"make people consumers of their own health, so that health becomes a topic of conversation, like the TV show from last night or that new app that you downloaded."
But late last month, Up users began reporting strange quirks 鈥� bugs, syncing problems, battery problems. In some cases, the band ; in others, the band would . This week, under heavy fire from critics, Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman took to the company site to apologize for the malfunctions, and to offer a "no questions asked" refund for consumers affected by the problems.听
"We鈥檝e temporarily paused production of UP bands and will begin taking new orders once these issues have been sorted out. In the meantime, we鈥檒l continue to release app updates for existing users," Mr. Rahman . "We regret any disappointment we鈥檝e created for our community of users and appreciate the trust you鈥檝e put in us....听Please know that we鈥檙e doing 鈥� and will continue to do 鈥� everything we can to make things right."听
Founded in 2006, Jawbone is best known for its fashionable Bluetooth headpieces. The release of the Up band was intended to mark a new direction for the company, into the burgeoning fitness tech market. But the Up received mixed reviews from critics, who liked the feel of the bracelet, but not the constant plugging and unplugging required to upload data from the device.听
Writing in the New York Times, David Pogue the design of the Up a "crushing disappointment."
"[S]everal times a day, you鈥檙e supposed to take the band off your arm, remove its cap, insert the plug into your phone鈥檚 headphone jack, open the app, tap a Sync button to open the Sync screen, tap another Sync button to start the sync, and wait while the latest activity data gets sent from the bracelet to your phone. Then, after the sync, put everything back together and back on your arm," Pogue . "The plugging-in business just feels ancient and wrong."听
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