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Applecare service with minor scratch - will they charge me due to the scratch if the issue for the repair something else that is covered under?

V

vanhalen26

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 14, 2018
78
17
Hello. I have an Apple Watch Series 4 that I’ve maintained month to month apple care plus on. I guess they’ve made a profit on me.

Anyways - the Digital Crown is now unresponsive and I’ve set up a repair. They asked me if it has any accidental damage on the watch to which I said no, but it’s had a half inch small thin scratch on the face that I’ve ignored for a few years as it’s pretty minor.

Anyone have experience as to whether they’ll classify it as ‘accidental damage’ and in turn assess a repair fee for that vs deal with the crown?

I’ve set up an express replacement - worst case they charge me for the repair but that’s still half the price of what they go for on marketplace.

I took a bunch of pictures to show them if they try to charge, I’ve ignored it for years as it’s pretty minor. I figure they’ll let it go, but others might have experience with this with more pronounced scratches so I was curious.
 

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In my experience, the express replacement is much more lenient than taking it into a store. I would be surprised if they tried to deny coverage and assess a replacement fee.

Several years ago I tried taking an iPhone in that had accidental damage and a manufacturer defect and they wouldn’t let me get it replaced under warranty. That was in store where they could evaluate it before making the decision.

I used to use the express replacement for the old wired headphones and they never actually checked to see if the headphones were actually faulty. Probably just threw them in the garbage.
 
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TitsLegendary said:
In my experience, the express replacement is much more lenient than taking it into a store. I would be surprised if they tried to deny coverage and assess a replacement fee.

Several years ago I tried taking an iPhone in that had accidental damage and a manufacturer defect and they wouldn’t let me get it replaced under warranty. That was in store where they could evaluate it before making the decision.

I used to use the express replacement for the old wired headphones and they never actually checked to see if the headphones were actually faulty. Probably just threw them in the garbage.
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Good to hear. Thanks for the feedback, that’s what I hoped for.
 
vanhalen26 said:
Hello. I have an Apple Watch Series 4 that I’ve maintained month to month apple care plus on. I guess they’ve made a profit on me.

Anyways - the Digital Crown is now unresponsive and I’ve set up a repair. They asked me if it has any accidental damage on the watch to which I said no, but it’s had a half inch small thin scratch on the face that I’ve ignored for a few years as it’s pretty minor.

Anyone have experience as to whether they’ll classify it as ‘accidental damage’ and in turn assess a repair fee for that vs deal with the crown?

I’ve set up an express replacement - worst case they charge me for the repair but that’s still half the price of what they go for on marketplace.

I took a bunch of pictures to show them if they try to charge, I’ve ignored it for years as it’s pretty minor. I figure they’ll let it go, but others might have experience with this with more pronounced scratches so I was curious.
Click to expand...
I did an express replacement for my SBSS S4 cause the speaker stopped working, it has a minor scratch on the display (it was a scratch as I could feel it with my fingernails), got a replacement and never heard anything about the old watch.
 
Yea, I’m hoping it’s fine. For a 5 year old watch I think they’d anticipate some wear and tear but it was never something I could make an apple care claim on.
 
Whilst others have said to the contrary, because there is accidental damage to the screen of the watch which you have explained in detail in here but you told the express replacement team that the watch did not have any accidental damage on it, but upon receiving the watch and they notice it has a scratch on the screen, they could refuse to repair it because in their minds eye, if they fix the crown and return it working with the scratch on the screen, because you said there was no accidental damaged (even though there is), you could claim that they damaged the screen and thus try to get a free screen replacement repair. Whilst you may not do it I am sure there are others that have.
 
laptech said:
Whilst others have said to the contrary, because there is accidental damage to the screen of the watch which you have explained in detail in here but you told the express replacement team that the watch did not have any accidental damage on it, but upon receiving the watch and they notice it has a scratch on the screen, they could refuse to repair it because in their minds eye, if they fix the crown and return it working with the scratch on the screen, because you said there was no accidental damaged (even though there is), you could claim that they damaged the screen and thus try to get a free screen replacement repair. Whilst you may not do it I am sure there are others that have.
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Well, we’ll see what happens. I’d categorize that as wear and tear on a 5 year old watch vs damage but I’ll see what they think. It’s not a big deal either way since I still pay monthly for apple care.

When I took a phone in a few years ago for a somewhat significant scratch, I tried to get it repaired by using an applecare incident and they refused saying they don’t repair scratches on the screen and I’d have to pay the full price for a replacement screen if I wanted.

So I guess it can go either way but it’s a minor mark from wear and tear.

Ok, I’ll update in a week or two when they close out the return.
 
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jz0309 said:
can you still take an ECG?
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Yea. We also have an ultra 1 tho, and the ultra 1 responds every time we push the crown. It’s hit and miss on the defective one, sometimes it respond and sometimes it doesn’t. And it just feels mushy too. So it’s probably dirty but as above I won’t run it under hot water and risk doing the water damage myself.
 
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vanhalen26 said:
Yea. We also have an ultra 1 tho, and the ultra 1 responds every time we push the crown. It’s hit and miss on the defective one, sometimes it respond and sometimes it doesn’t. And it just feels mushy too. So it’s probably dirty but as above I won’t run it under hot water and risk doing the water damage myself.
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I do believe that there is an Apple support document that states to run it under warm (not hot) water if the crown is "stuck", but I can appreciate you not wanting to do that.
IF they determine that the crown is indeed not functioning anymore, the scratch won't matter (I think).
Keep us posted please
 
laptech said:
\[I\]f they fix the crown and return it working with the scratch on the screen […]
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That they most emphatically will not do.

They do not send you back the same watch. They send you a refurbished watch. Your old watch gets salvaged for parts to refurbish to become part of somebody else’s repair replacement.

b&

Edit: fix formatting. (Hopefully …)
 
all screen damage is cosmetic anyway. it shouldn't make a difference.

you will receive back a totally different watch.
 
Question. I too have a SS4 that I am still paying AppleCare on. If I need something fixed will they send me another SS4?
 
No resolution yet. It’s two weeks and they haven’t even shipped the express replacement. It’s a series 4 Nike cellular and they are having a hard time finding one.

They say it’s on back order but that doesn’t make sense since they stopped producing them long ago.
 
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