Apple Watch Sport - Screen Damage

[Arty Tales]

My Apple Watch Sport started having a screen problem 3 days ago. It started with a small black dot on the top centre and is progressively getting larger and larger. The top left the screen also stopped displaying anything.

The watch has a few dings and scratches (which I imagine are typical for 14 months of daily use) but to my knowledge hasn't suffered any hard impacts.

Has anyone experienced this?

The watch is 14 months old, bought in Germany, so the full 1 year warranty is over. I am left with the more limited 2nd year warranty and Apple's mercy.

 

[Julien]

It is a fairly common problem that likely effected a batch of Watch's. It is a manufacture defect in the screen assumably gluing process in the top right corner that allows water ingress. Since it is a known problem you may have some recourse.

You have had it for 14 months and is this the first time you have exposed it to water?

 

[ladytonya]

It looks like water damage, there have been several threads on here with very similar pictures. It seems that the glue in that upper corner tends to fail with a lot of exposure to water.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

It seems that the glue in that upper corner tends to fail with a lot of exposure to water.

It doesn't even have to involve a lot of exposure to water. This manufacturing defect could have been there since the beginning and the OP simply subject it to a water source for the first time.

OP, many major credit cards offer extended warranty protection in the 2nd year, in which case you can file a claim with the CC company to get reimbursed the $199 out of warranty cost. However, I don't know if you have this in Germany.

 

[WarHeadz]

It doesn't even have to involve a lot of exposure to water. This manufacturing defect could have been there since the beginning and the OP simply subject it to a water source for the first time.

OP, many major credit cards offer extended warranty protection in the 2nd year, in which case you can file a claim with the CC company to get reimbursed the $199 out of warranty cost. However, I don't know if you have this in Germany.

Germans tend to not use credit cards from what I understand. But they have stronger warranty laws than we do.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Hope Apple does the right thing and fixes this!

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Hope Apple does the right thing and fixes this!

"Doing the right thing" unfortunately tends to be more of a problem in countries with stronger customer protection/warranty laws. I've noticed that retailers tend to be more hard-nosed in countries with excessive customer protection laws, compared to the U.S.

 

[Arty Tales]

Thanks for replies .

I am away for a few months and won't be able to take it to a Genius Bar in Germany until September but I'll try one in Spain next week to see what they say.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Thanks for replies .

I am away for a few months and won't be able to take it to a Genius Bar in Germany until September but I'll try one in Spain next week to see what they say.

Can not hurt to try. Even out of warranty a few months the watch should remain water tight under normal conditions.

 

[Nell]

It looks like a fault and that shouldn't happen after such a short time; I'd be amazed if they don't replace it (though returning it in a different country, albeit within the EU, may make a difference).

 

[Newtons Apple]

Maybe the OP will come back and tell uS.

 

[ehaugk]

The same exact thing happened to my Apple Watch stainless steel after 13 months of ownership. I never abused and in fact took very good care of it. After going back and forth with the Genius Bar, they agreed to put it through as a warranty repair to the screen no charge. This is absolutely a defect in the screen - don't let them tell you different.

 

[willmtaylor]

My Apple Watch Sport started having a screen problem 3 days ago. It started with a small black dot on the top centre and is progressively getting larger and larger. The top left the screen also stopped displaying anything.
View attachment 637337
View attachment 637338


The watch has a few dings and scratches (which I imagine are typical for 14 months of daily use) but to my knowledge hasn't suffered any hard impacts.

Has anyone experienced this?

The watch 14 months old, bought in Germany, so the full 1 year warranty is over. I am left with the more limited 2nd year warranty and Apple's mercy.

Unfortunately, not uncommon:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/black-spot-on-screen.1925245/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/black-spot.1912002/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dead-spot-of-black-mass-appears-on-oled-watch-screen.1903214/

 

[naasrd]

Germans tend to not use credit cards from what I understand. But they have stronger warranty laws than we do.

You understand wrongly. What an astonishingly crass generalisation of a country with 80 million citizens. Let me take a wild guess...you're an American?

 

[willmtaylor]

You understand wrongly. What an astonishingly crass generalisation of a country with 80 million citizens. Let me take a wild guess...you're an American?

Oh, get your knickers out of your arse.

Germans' preference of cash over credit is well-documented. FWIW, your "American" assumption puts you on level with anyone else you're making assumptions about.

https://number26.eu/german-angst-credit-cards/
http://www.german-way.com/germanys-cash-culture-geld-stinkt-nicht/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...arge-5000-cash-transactions-fierce-resistance
http://qz.com/262595/why-germans-pay-cash-for-almost-everything/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ve-cash-and-suspicious--credit-debt/30230061/

 

[WarHeadz]

You understand wrongly. What an astonishingly crass generalisation of a country with 80 million citizens. Let me take a wild guess...you're an American?

80% of transactions in Germany are cash transactions, only 33% of Germans have credit cards. Many stores in Germany don't even accept credit cards (I was just there 3 years ago). Furthermore, my initial remark wasn't meant to be negative, it was just stating a fact. Yes, I am American, not sure what that has to do with it. Perhaps next time if you do your research before posting "crass" comments you'll avoid embarrassing yourself.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

You understand wrongly. What an astonishingly crass generalisation of a country with 80 million citizens. Let me take a wild guess...you're an American?

To be fair, the member you responded to did qualify his/her statement with "tend not to." It doesn't mean none of the 80 million German citizens use credit cards.

 

[Arty Tales]

Well I finally got around to bringing the watch to an Apple Store (had been travelling non-stop for the past few months. The first time I brought it a few weeks ago they wouldn't look at it because I didn't have an appointment).

Got told it is "probably my fault" but they will send it off and see....

The "water" my watch got exposed to pretty was was splashes when hand washing so I will be a bit disappointed if they refuse to fix it.

 

[Arty Tales]

So I should not have been so negative.

They sent me out a replacement watch today!

 

[racingbull]

Glad to hear that.

In fact, in Europe we have a warranty timeframe of 2 years for electronics.

As for cash vs credit card: in Europe we have a fairly mixed use of both, cash and credit card/wireless payments, with a tendency of credit card and wireless payment in the north and cash in the south. For instance, in Italy we timidly started wireless payments only recently (since 1 year or so) well behind of UK or Denmark or Sweden and with a threshold of 25 Euros... (still fingers crossed for Pay someday in 2017)

 

[atiznadov]

Hello

I had the same issue with my Apple Watch, and apple told me that was my fault. I didn´t have applecare and I could not apply the extension warranty for my credit card.

Best regards

 

[Julien]

Hello

I had the same issue with my Apple Watch, and apple told me that was my fault. I didn´t have applecare and I could not apply the extension warranty for my credit card.
Best regards

Actually that is a known manufacture defect. Get it escalated to a higher level. It may still be covered but you should have exposed it to water LONG before now since it was an early production problem effecting a run of watches were the glue was not applied (properly or missed) to the top right crystal.

 

[atiznadov]

Hello

Thanks so much, in fact it's supposed that the case was escalated to Apple's engineers, but the answered was the same. I used to clean my watch once a month, suddenly it appears that screen damage. I went to an Applestore in Mexico City and they believed that I had hitted the screen.

Best regards

 

[Arty Tales]

How old is the watch?

 

[atiznadov]

Hello,

It's a year and a half (June 26th 2015) and it failed on December 5th 2016,

Kind regards