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.
Class Action Lawsuit: Apple Watches Have Defective Displays That Can Spontaneously Detach
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I’ve had two apple watches and have been wearing them since they first came out - play tennis with it, run with it usual life stuff and never had an issue - in fact no one who I know who wears one has had an issue. What the hell are people doing with their watches?
If they took the time to do it right the first time, there wouldn’t be a problem.
If they didn’t deny known defects and refuse to service the equipment for free, then people wouldn’t need to resort to class action lawsuits.
If they actually honored their warranty, they could avoid these problems.
I can tell you I’ve dealt with this stuff myself on numerous Apple devices and computers. To include burning power supplies that allegedly had no manufacturer defect. As if they’re just meant to burn every once in a while. That’s not a manufacturing defect? Yep took a class action suit to get that fixed.
Or my capacitors that were bad before Apple even installed them. Yeah we just kept getting told there was nothing wrong with the computer. No defect. It’s in our head. We’re imagining that the computer doesn’t work right. Yep, after a class action suit is filed, Apple immediately admits that the capacitors were defective before they even built the computer with them.
I have personally fought their support people to the point of futility. Only to eventually get tired of seeing the dead paperweight and disposed of it. Only to have Apple finally lose a class action suit and initiate a recall two years after the device was dead and buried and rotting in some dump somewhere.
If it didn’t take a class action suit to get Apple to honor their warranty, then they wouldn’t be dealing with so many class action suits.
Sure... sometimes they fix things. But I’ve never had them honor any warranty without a fight.
Even the iPhone 5 battery that was recalled was refused to be serviced by them when mine expanded and pushed the screen off. They claimed that mine was exempt from qualifying for the already active recall. Charged my $129 to replace the battery.
If anything, Apple needs more class action suits. Given their track record, it would probably be beneficial to initiate a class action suit immediately after any new product is announced. Perhaps then we might actually get a settlement before the device has been dead for two years.
My wife’s original 38mm SS did this last year. Owned since launch so out of warranty. Took it to local Apple store (Newcastle UK) who were superb, took a good look at it, determined a swollen battery to be the cause, explained that it’s out of warranty and then give her a replacement unit free of charge. Said it’s out of warranty but clearly a manufacturing defect and that was that. If Apple are willing to replace them like this then why the law suit?
Because others had already fought Apple to get a recall started on series 0 watch. Initially Apple refused to acknowledge a defect. Eventually it became apparent that Apple was covering up an issue of swollen batteries.
It gained a lot of publicity.
They were faced with the choice of a recall or dealing with a class action suit. Often times Apple will deny issues until a class action suit is in process.
There hasn’t been as many occurrences on the more recent watches in scale. But, it still happens.
Unfortunately, swelling batteries is apparently becoming common.
It’s probably time to start rethinking what we’re trying to do with these batteries. And probably time to rethink technology.
Sometimes we have everything in place for a concept to come to market, except one detail. Sometimes that one detail is enough to say that we don’t yet have the technology to make the dream a reality. In the case of battery technology, we are probably (or probably should be) there for many products.
Lithium-ion has been a problematic technology. And it’s probably found it’s way into designs that should have waited for better battery technology.
Last edited:
Because on this side of the pond they're obligated to do so by law. We have pretty good consumer law here.
From what I've heard through the grape vine, in this country the unofficial policy is to repair/replace for a swollen battery as long as there's no obvious user damage (e.g. a big chip in the screen which could have caused it to detach).
I would not say it is a defect but an issue when the battery swells due to age as all do as a sign they need to be changed, but due to the design and very little gap between the screen and battery something will give and the screen will pop off, solutions is to make more of a gap and have a thicker watch.
This will happen to iPhone, iPad, MacBook etc, products are just too thin and not allowing for when the battery swells and none removable that also needs to change in design
A removable battery and thicker device is the solution, as not allowing battery enough room could result it in a puncher as it trying to expand resulting in a fire, a potential fire hazard that is just waiting to happen.
This will happen to iPhone, iPad, MacBook etc, products are just too thin and not allowing for when the battery swells and none removable that also needs to change in design
A removable battery and thicker device is the solution, as not allowing battery enough room could result it in a puncher as it trying to expand resulting in a fire, a potential fire hazard that is just waiting to happen.
So how many are impacted and what is reasonable since there never will be zero cases of failure?
As much as I like Apple, I support people taking such issues to the court.
It is the only way to make Apple to start paying attention, otherwise, they will keep being lazy with quality control, and do whatever they want, as long as they think they can get away with it.
It is the only way to make Apple to start paying attention, otherwise, they will keep being lazy with quality control, and do whatever they want, as long as they think they can get away with it.
I'm about as sedentary as you can get. Other than a bit of walking I don't take part in any sports or physical activities. I also baby my electronics. Guess what happened to me twice? That's right, the face came off. And both times Apple tried as hard as they could to deny me service saying I must have done something wrong. I literally argued with the store manager for a half hour after receiving the 1st repair. She basically told me "we went ahead and repaired it under warranty this time but clearly you must have done something to cause this issue and we won't repair it again." 3 months later it happened again. An another round of arguments before getting it repaired under warranty again.
I'm sick of everyone dog piling on Apple but there are issues the company isn't addressing.
Most expensive one?
Going to assume the ceramic.
To me $99 for Apple care, 3 years of coverage, was a no brainer for me.
Not sure why anyone would not get it considering the cost to replace if damaged
I dont know can a non-american like me come to New York and file a class suit ? I almost have no idea what a class suit is tbh as over here in the UK it is virtually impossible to sue anyone for anything as trivial as the suits I frequently see filed here and other news sites. Most of the time I view that as a really good thing.
A new class action lawsuit filed against Apple this week alleges that all Apple Watch models suffer from a defect that causes the display to "crack, shatter, or detach from the body of the watch, through no fault of the wearer."
The proposed class is all current and former owners of all models, sizes, and variants of the Apple Watch, including the original, Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 generations, purchased in the United States between April 2015 and present, according to court documents obtained by MacRumors.
The complaint, filed in Northern California district court, alleges that Apple has sold millions of watches with the defect throughout the United States, and "either knew, or should have known," about the display issues. Apple is said to have "actively concealed" and "failed to disclose" the defect to customers.
The complaint adds that Apple's internal policy is to "deny the existence of the defect, claim the defect is the result of accidental damage caused by consumers, and then refuse to honor its limited warranty on those grounds," resulting in customers facing expensive fees to repair or replace their defective watches.
Apple Watch out-of-warranty service fees range from $229 to $329 in the United States, excluding high-end Edition models.
The lawsuit was brought against Apple by Colorado resident Kenneth Sciacca, who purchased an Apple Watch Series 2 in December 2016. In or around March 2018, the screen on Sciacca's watch is said to have "unexpectedly detached from the watch's body shortly after he removed the watch from its charger."
The complaint cites a handful of comments from the Apple Support Communities, and similar complaints can be found scattered across the MacRumors forums, Reddit, Twitter, and other discussion platforms.
Apple has acknowledged issues with swollen batteries in select original and Series 2 models, which can cause the display to pop off, and offered free repairs up to three years after purchase, according to internal guidelines previously obtained by MacRumors. However, the complaint alleges that Apple refuses to extend the free repairs to watches with detached displays but no swollen battery.
Apple is accused of unlawful business acts and practices, in violation of California's Business and Professions Code, in addition to violating California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act and the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, breaching express and implied warranties, and unjust enrichment.
The complaint is seeking damages to fully compensate affected Apple Watch owners for all losses sustained as a result of the alleged defect, plus further relief as seen fit by the court. A jury trial has been demanded.
Article Link: Class Action Lawsuit: Apple Watches Have Defective Displays That Can Spontaneously Detach
Yes this happened to me too about 2 months ago.. the face just completely came off. they repaired it at no cost.
Might not be completely related but i bought several apple products over the christmas season. They've had to repair the watch, replace the iPhone x screen twice. Seems like a quality issue probably due to over production.
First off, now you've jinxed yourself by saying it hasn't happened to you (yet)
As for the problem, it has nothing to do with how the watch is treated, but is caused by the battery swelling... often during or after being recharged. Attempting to blame the user is so Apple-like, though.
Reading the thread, there are quite a few posts which have said that Apple refused or wanted money.
There was also glue strip failure, which happened to mine. They just fall right off. Apple doesn't give a rip unless you're John Gruber's girlfriend.
[doublepost=1528479198][/doublepost]
They acknowledge the swollen battery issue reason now. They still do not acknowledge the fell off for no good reason issue.
They still can try to deny the swollen battery issue too. They did with my second watch. It took me quite a bit of effort and multiple people on different levels at Apple.
They wanted me to pay $79.99.
Even with quite a few as you say you’ve seen here. That’s still a minor issue in the scope of The amount of Apple watched sold. My OG Apple Watch is still going. No popped screen or back and battery is still going strong.
They made me pay $249. It was almost enough to turn me off to the Apple Watch forever, but I happened to have purchase protection on the credit card I used so the card company covered it.
Happened to my original Apple Watch. Battery become swollen, display popped off. No misuse or anything crazy. Never been dropped, no water damage. Called Apple. Said there was nothing they could do since it was out of warranty and AppleCare ran out. They only thing they could do was take some money off a new one (around $20-$30) off. In the meantime I would have to check back on Apple.com to see if they update their Exchange + Repair Extension programs to include Apple Watch since it is a known issue.
