Uber is putting on another promotion today in Seattle called “UberResolution,” which includes a fitness kit that people can have delivered via the Uber app.
The deal, available through the app from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., includes some juice, a month of Fitmob for $1, a water bottle, and a 15-minute fitness class from a local Seattle trainer who will ride in the Uber, arrive at your door, and teach you on the spot.
The $30 package — all proceeds go to a non-profit called Hope Heart — also includes a fitness tracker from Pivotal Living, a new Seattle startup that launched late last year. This caught my eye because Pivotal Living has had a rather rough debut, with a bevy of device issues that have caused some serious customer uproar.
In an interview with GeekWire last month, Pivotal Living CEO and co-founder David Donovick said that his company is dealing with significant scaling issues related to server and bandwidth problems after customer orders exceeded expectations.
“We’re just as frustrated as our users,” Donovick said last month. “We’re fixing a lot of stuff behind-the-scenes and are trying to address the problems.”
More recently, Donovick sent an email to customers this past Friday noting how his “engineering team has fine-tuned our database and web service settings to address the service outages,” although the company said Android users may not see improvements for 2-to-4 weeks. Pivotal Living also expanded its warranty coverage for band reset issues related to static electricity after users complained of the issue.
Pivotal Living is using a unique business model as it tries to position itself in a crowded wearable fitness space. The company is giving away its wristbands for free and charging a yearly $12 subscription plan for full access to its mobile app, which shows data from the tracker like calories burned, steps, distance, percentage of step goals, and the time.
As customer complaints have piled up — half of the product reviews on Amazon are 1-star — Pivotal Living has offered customers an extra year of membership, free of charge as a “gesture of goodwill.” Those who register on Pivotal Living’s system on or before Jan. 15 are eligible to receive the 12-month membership extension.
“There is uncertainty around how quickly we will be able to stabilize the service for you,” Donovick wrote in an email to customers. “Regardless of whether you are using the product successfully or not, we want to do the right thing.”
When asked about potential problems with the tracker, an Uber spokesperson did not have comment.
