I bought a series 5 watch from T-Mobile and it came with a black sports band( all still un-opened) Can the apple store let me swap the band for another one in the store ?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple watch Band swap at apple store?
- Thread starter coachbrady79
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Doesn’t appear to be the case anymore because of the band personalization. There is a thread floating around here that Apple is saying you can do just that. You just can’t swap an online order at the store because of different ordering processes.
Per the Apple Store rep on Thursday this week:
You can swap just the band *if* you bought the watch & band in-store.
If you bought it online from Apple, even for in-store pickup, you have to do a return of the watch&band, then buy a new watch&band.
Since @coachbrady79 bought from T-Mobile, any changes will need to be handled through T-Mobile. Although Apple would handle warranty work, they're not the seller in this case.
If you can buy outright vs finance, I’d say return at TMO and buy from Apple.
FWIW I’m also on TMO and moving the cell plan to a new watch is easy peasy. Unpair old old watch and keep plan. Pair new watch, setup cellular, select Transfer, and it does it. No having to call or any of the other horsehooey I’ve heard with other carriers.
You’re going hear different views on this, and some will contradict you and others will tell you that you can. All you need to know, is it varies on the store and the store manager _if_ they allow it. Some stores might make the ‘exception, but it’s not the rule’. The reality is, the reason they don’t do this anymore with the band swapping, is because it throws off their inventory. Apple was allowing this originally when the 2015 Apple Watch launched, but that has since changed primarily.
All in all, the worst they can tell you is ‘no’. So go ahead and ask them.
If you bought your watch from T-Mobile or another vendor ain't nothing the Apple Store can do for you. You should check out T-mobile's return policy in this case. On a side note, the black sport band is classic you should keep it.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Since AW S5 if you got it from the Apple Store you can definitely exchange - but not return - the band you bought with the watch. I did that couple times without hassle and the boxes were open.
Were these watches you'd bought online or in-store? See my previous post about the difference in how those are handled per the Apple Store folks I dealt with.
The first time was from an online order - sport band (my dumb ass ordered ceramic with white strap only to realize later it already included a white strap ...) exchanged in-store for Milanese loop. The Apple employee helped me top up the difference with a gift card and swapped the bands.
The second time was from an in-store purchase - SS link exchanged in-store for a sport band.
I ordered online for in-store pick up on Launch Day. I had to return and re-buy it with the band I wanted. They tried to exchange the band, but apparently the manager told them it couldn't be done that way.
FYI. I purchased an Apple Watch in-store, but still told by a manager that a band exchange required exchanging the whole thing (Watch, band, charger). He told me it was a custom SKU and thus unable to partially exchange. This was at a flagship store (Michigan Ave).
This is contrary to what the employees told me at check-in (and other reports in this thread), but so be it. I was on the fence anyway...
This is contrary to what the employees told me at check-in (and other reports in this thread), but so be it. I was on the fence anyway...