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Apple watch charger melted and burned my wife!
- Thread starter lordhamster
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Thanks! actually the sleeve is from a Metallica shirt. And yes, that is the Metallica "A" on my hand....the "M" is on my right hand.
Update: Bad news.
I got a call back finally and they are saying that they think the charger is at fault (duh). They are refusing to look at or repair the watch saying any repair will be out of pocket.
Again, I realize this is an out of warranty unit, but I have to say I'm extremely dissapointed at how they handled this. I'd have at the very least expected they ask for the charger and watch back to investigate / repair.
They are at least sending me a replacement charger. I guess I'll write an email to Tim Apple next. 😠
I got a call back finally and they are saying that they think the charger is at fault (duh). They are refusing to look at or repair the watch saying any repair will be out of pocket.
Again, I realize this is an out of warranty unit, but I have to say I'm extremely dissapointed at how they handled this. I'd have at the very least expected they ask for the charger and watch back to investigate / repair.
They are at least sending me a replacement charger. I guess I'll write an email to Tim Apple next. 😠
Not replacing or repairing the watch is unacceptable. I agree with contacting Tim at tcook@apple.com Any time I have contacted his office, I have gotten A+ service. You should be made whole, even if the watch is out of warranty.
Do we know the watch is dead for good yet? In other words, did you try charging it? If not, try maybe charging it under supervision and for the love of Tim Apple, not next to anything flammable. Lol. If it happens again, document it and it will be proof that it’s the watch at fault.
This is what I suspected they would say. Even if you sent both the watch and cable back to be examined, it would likely have resulted in the same outcome. They can claim the watch “appears to have damage indicative of abuse or neglect”, or the cable was used with a non-MFi charger, etc. The MO seems to be to create friction and hope the customer gives up and moves on. This is Apple minding its nickels and dimes. Email Tim if for no other reason than to vent your disappointment with what is their current sorry state of customer service.
Why’s it unacceptable when we don’t even know if the watch is actually dead. I mentioned this earlier as well, it could just be out of juice. The minute people know about some back door they try to exploit that. Tim Cook is not going to help if someone’s trying to take advantage of their good service.
This, in my opinion, is the best course of action as well.
Unless we have definitive proof that the watch is busted, there’s no point as I see it. I mean I don’t know why people are assuming a company will choose to replace a more expensive item without definitive proof. Would you give out free stuff just because someone threw a hissy fit about something you’ve sold, especially after the warranty period has expired? Apple / any company will go bankrupt if that was the policy.
The reason the watch needs to be checked out is because it could have created a unique charging fault that causes the charger to draw more and more amps (current), thereby causing the overheating problem. Chargers are meant to have internal safety cut outs to prevent such a thing from occuring. If the amp (current) draw is too much, a component in the charger, usually a fuse or a protection diode should blow thereby preventing the charger from overheating and melting. In the OP's case, this never happened and the charger was allowed to continue to draw power from the wall socket to the point where it got so hot it melted the plastic on the charger.
The original wall socket plug for an Apple watch is 5W at 1A (1 amps). Now, if the charging circuit on the watch is faulty, the maximum ampage the charger can draw from the wall socket plug is 1amp which is not enough to melt the plastic. Yes the charger would get warm drawing it's full ampage but certainly not melt it at 1amp. Now the question has to be asked of the OP, what wall socket plug was the charger plugged into? because to me, from my experience, the charger was not plugged into the correct wall socket plug because for the chargers plastic to melt and be so hot that it burns a humans finger it would have to have been plugged into a 10W or even 20W wall socket plug which would have allowed the charger to continue to draw power from the wall socket to the point where it melts the plastic on the charger. In my opinion, if the correct 5W wall socket plug was being used, the wall sock plug would have failed first and not the charger.
I wonder if this is something the Apple techs were thinking when the OP's issue kept getting escalated up the chain of command.
The original wall socket plug for an Apple watch is 5W at 1A (1 amps). Now, if the charging circuit on the watch is faulty, the maximum ampage the charger can draw from the wall socket plug is 1amp which is not enough to melt the plastic. Yes the charger would get warm drawing it's full ampage but certainly not melt it at 1amp. Now the question has to be asked of the OP, what wall socket plug was the charger plugged into? because to me, from my experience, the charger was not plugged into the correct wall socket plug because for the chargers plastic to melt and be so hot that it burns a humans finger it would have to have been plugged into a 10W or even 20W wall socket plug which would have allowed the charger to continue to draw power from the wall socket to the point where it melts the plastic on the charger. In my opinion, if the correct 5W wall socket plug was being used, the wall sock plug would have failed first and not the charger.
I wonder if this is something the Apple techs were thinking when the OP's issue kept getting escalated up the chain of command.
Personally I would email tim and stress that all you would like is for them to take both the watch and cable back to check for defects, after all it’s burned you wife. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request in this situation.
I don’t know how you came to the conclusion that I think he deserves a replacement anything. My assertion, based on my experience of in warranty claims, is Apple is intransigent unless one has AC+ on said device. Didn’t used to be that way. A company that has a $2 trillion valuation that acquired that with good customer service now appears to be more concerned with their bottom line than actually standing behind their products. As a good faith effort, they should have requested the watch and cable back for inspection. Whereupon, they could have decided that they don’t want to cover it out of warranty. Instead, they are leaving a solid customer to figure it out for themselves. That’s bad business.
To be clear. I've never said I want them to replace it. I want them to inspect and if needed... repair it. There is a difference. Until I heard back from Apple directly on the correct course of action, I did not want to be "fiddling" or experimenting with it. If I had plugged it into another charger and caused another fault, I'm sure armchair quarterbacks would be telling me I should have waited for instructions from Apple.
On the call last night, the senior advisor told me engineering feel it should be safe to try to charge it on another charger. I'm busy with work today, this weekend, I'll take it to my garage and charge it on the concrete (under supervision)... to make sure nothing flammable is nearby.
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That's a bit cowardly done; as I'm sure you will be told by others in this thread real hardcore Apple fans would charge the watch while having it in their pocket.
Like, seriously, can't you do anything right? 😉
in your pocket? how's he going to walk around while its charging. place it in a nice pile of gas soaked rags, next to some candles and turn off all the smoke detectors. thats how id make sure it charges up fully after something like this!
Thanks for clarifying your view point on this. Apologies for misinterpretation on my part. Apple used to be better in customer service as we all know but some people started taking advantage and then at some point they said - it’s not worth it. But yes I do agree that their attitude has changed in the recent years.
On your part you’ve done the right thing, I agree. Also it’s good that you waited for the official advice.
Not trying to hijack the thread, but I purchased a 16” MacBook Pro 7 months ago, from Apple.com. A month ago, it died. After returning it to Apple (through support) they replied with a picture of burnt out (literally a hole melted through one) chips (which turned out to be the USB-C Power Management chips) telling me it was “Accidental Damage” to the logic Board, not covered by warranty and they wanted £1432(+ tax) to repair it!! A month later it is sitting in my drawer unrepaired and I am waiting for a response from their legal Dept. I have spoken to two certified Apple Repair Technicians who both say it should have been repaired under warranty. (One is aware of this problem with the chips) Absolute joke. I have had Apple products for 10yrs+ but in this case their support is diabolical.
That can’t be counted as accidental damage! Someone’s clearly smoking herbal cigarettes
I hope your legal battle works out.
Think I will do the same today. I have been continuously using my Series 0 puck that came with my SS watch even though I have 3 unused pucks that came with my 3, 5 and 6.
Mine has always gotten hot though as long as I can remember. It came with my S0 SS as well.
I also have been waitin to see if the OP tried charging the watch. Or did I miss that?
