Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky says buyers of its new e-paper smartwatches should know what they’re signing up for and trust Pebble to make things right if they run into issues, despite the short warranty. “I think the most important thing is trust,” Migicovsky told me in an interview this week. “Do people trust the product that we’re making and do they trust the company and the people behind it?”
Migicovsky revived Pebble early last year, after the original company shut down in 2016. The new generation of Pebbles has the same aesthetic, but with updated tech, including larger e-paper displays. I was excited about Pebble’s return after missing out on the originals, but hesitated after noticing their 30-day warranty. That’s about as long as the Pebble Time 2’s battery life, so you might not even need to charge it before it’s no longer covered. While I ended up ordering a Pebble Round 2 that I’m still waiting for, others have also raised concerns about the watches’ warranty.
People have also reported running into hardware issues early on, like the front glass cracking on the Pebble Time 2. Earlier this week, Migicovsky addressed the issues in a blog post, saying Pebble has replaced 330 Time 2 watches for free so far, out of over 19,000 watches “in the field.”
Pebble’s blog says it will “continue replacing reasonable reports of glass cracking for free as long as we can. At some point, we will shift to offering a replacement at a highly discounted amount.” Additionally, Pebble is “looking into” offering replacement parts so people can do DIY repairs on their watches.
While Migicovsky hasn’t offered a timeline for when a shift might happen, he emphasized to The Verge that “an immensely small percentage” of watches have had this issue, adding, “It’s, for all intents and purposes, no skin off our back whatsoever to just offer straight up free replacements for anyone who has a problem.”
There’s just certain things that we could sign up to do, and there’s certain things that we couldn’t.
“At every step of the way we’ve communicated, over-communicated about what to expect [and] what the product’s going to be like.” Pebble warned customers in its announcement for the Pebble 2 Duo and Pebble Time 2 that they shouldn’t buy one if they need a “perfectly polished smartwatch,” noting that “Things could not last as long as you’d like.”
“This is effectively a grassroots, bottoms-up relaunch of something that we love, and really wanted to see exist in the world,” Migicovsky told me. “In terms of how we support the product, there’s just certain things that we could sign up to do, and there’s certain things that we couldn’t.”
“You can expect a product that’s going to work great, and something that will make you smile, but we can’t guarantee it for maybe the length that other companies or other consumer product companies could with their supply chains and networks of stores all around the world to help with replacements. We just don’t have that.”
“It’s a Pebble, through and through,” Migicovsky says. “If you enjoyed the first go around, you’re going to love the second go around. But that having been said, it’s not exactly the same as the first era.”