According to an announcement posted on the company site by Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman, the Jawbone UP fitness accessory is being pulled from the market and the company is offering a refund to anyone that has a malfunctioning UP device. All UP devices are eligible for the refund, even UP wristbands that were given as gifts. The “No Questions Asked” program uses the serial number on the device to register for the refund and doesn’t require a physical return of the faulty hardware. Owners of the UP wristband within the United States will receive a cash refund of $109.43 or they can opt for $150 in Jawbone store credit to redeem for other devices made by Jawbone. The refund must be claimed between December 9 and December 31 2011. Once the refund is verified and approved by Jawbone, UP owners can expect to see the money or credit within four to six weeks.
Current owners of the UP device should go to the main refund page if their device is malfunctioning. Jawbone has pulled all UP devices from retail outlets and the company doesn’t plan to release the UP device again until all faulty electronics are fixed. Specifically, Rahman indicated that the bands lose the ability to hold a charge due to two specific capacitors within the device. There’s also a second issue with the band’s hardware that makes syncing the band problematic. Jawbone was quick to emphasis that there’s no safety issue with the bands, only performance related problems.
The company did not release a date when the Jawbone UP would be available again. The Jawbone UP is designed to be wore on a wrist at all times and works together with a smartphone application to track fitness goals. The device tracks motion and it able to differentiate between exercise and sleep. Users can join other Jawbone UP owners in tracking fitness goals and encourage each other along the way. The device retailed for approximately $100 before being pulled from the market.
