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    Jawbone Up owners eligible for full refund, can keep the troubled band

    Jawbone Up owners eligible for full refund, can keep the troubled band

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    Jawbone finds issue with Up bands, offers full refund.

    By Thomas Ricker, a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for almost 20 years.

    Source Jawbone and (2)

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    Jawbone Up wet
    Jawbone Up wet

    Jawbone's been having some trouble with its Up fitness band. Trouble that we've seen personally, as have those around us. While Up classifies the issue as affecting "some" people, the issue appears to be much larger in our opinion based upon our own failed unit, the Up bands that have failed in the hands of our fellow reviewers, and anecdotally through reports on Twitter and the Jawbone support forums.

    Now Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman has issued a formal statement on the matter. Notably, they now know the cause:

    We've found an issue with two specific capacitors in the power system that affects the ability to hold a charge in some of our bands. We’re also fixing an issue with syncing related to the band hardware.

    As a result, Jawbone is instituting a "no questions asked guarantee" that lets any Up owner receive a full refund of $109.43. In fact, Jawbone will refund your money even if you decide to keep your Up, letting you use it for free. You don't even need a receipt or original packaging — Jawbone only needs the serial number from your band for verification purposes. Alternatively, Jawbone's offering the option of $150 to be spent on Jawbone.com instead of the refund. Refunds or credit amounts vary by country of purchase.

    Curiously, the refund FAQ states that all pending Up orders from Jawbone.com have been canceled leaving us to wonder when Ups with the new hardware will be available. The refund program starts tomorrow.

    Update: Jawbone responded saying the new Up hardware is not available to purchase and is not ready to share timing for when it will be on sale. "We'll be taking new orders once these issues are sorted out," a spokeswoman told us over email.