So I received my 42mm Space Grey Apple Watch Sport in the first week of May and wore it every day until mid-July, when, after a busy day of not really noticing anything wrong I noticed an itching/burning sensation in my wrist.
I took off the watch and noticed it had caused a massive blister and had somewhat burnt my skin, the rubber strap had reacted with my skin in some way.
Shocked I rang Apple immediately, they answered instantly and the lovely lady at the end of the phone (Irish, as I was calling from the UK) asked what the problem was. I informed her that my watch had caused a rash on my skin and actually exposed raw skin below. Shocked and somewhat speechless, she asked if I didn't mind holding for a minute. True to her word, a minute later she was back and told me that she was transferring me to the safety support team in Cork. They answered and took me through a process of questions...
1) What happened?
2) Did I wear the watch in a different way that day (any tighter etc)?
3) Did it hurt?
4) Did the rash have any yellow mucus?
Along with a few more questions I can't remember! They had obviously seen this before as the questions that followed were very specific. They also asked me to email the photos of my wrist, there are several but I only attached one above! Here's the culprit watch!
The very nice lady then informed me that they were going to go away and assess the information and the photos overnight (I rang at 7pm) and that they'd get back to me the next morning.
Sure to their word, the next day, I got a phone call from the same nice lady. Apple had looked at my information and also the same model in their lab and had come to the conclusion that my watch strap had most likely got a high level of nickel in it, more then there should be as it caused such a bad reaction. They told me that they would like to 'capture' the watch and that they were going to send a 'capture kit' out to me so they could assess my watch. I was absolutely fine with this and was extremely happy with how it had been handled so far, efficiently and apologetically! I understood that on a massive supply chain, things like this unfortunately happen! What happened next however was simply amazing!
The lovely lady informed me that they'd love to get a new watch out to me, but to ensure I didn't have the same problem and to apologise for what had happened, they would love to send me a stainless steel model of my choice (excluding the link bracelet as that also contained nickel)! I was shocked and also over the moon! I chose the milinase loop and was told it would take a week to get to me and that they were so sorry and they'd keep me up to date on the delivery of my new watch and what was happening with the old one (as I was interested!)
I then went away for smooth on an expedition to Malaysia & Borneo to complete volunteer work with endangered animals so just missed the delivery of my new watch! However a month later when I returned, there it was! & here I am wearing it!
I was so impressed by the way apple handled everything, it was so professional and the good will gesture shows how Apple's customer service is second to none! A UK newspaper 'The Sun' contacted me asking if they could use the story and offered me money to do so, I declined this as I knew that a publication like 'The Sun' (anyone from the UK will know this) is not likely to show how well handled this was by Apple and would just make it out to be a horrendous experience, where as if this does come to light here on MacRumours, you guys will mention how well the handled it!
All images used in this post must have my permission to be used before they are published anywhere else. (I don't want certain publications using them if this is found, although unlikely!)
I took off the watch and noticed it had caused a massive blister and had somewhat burnt my skin, the rubber strap had reacted with my skin in some way.
Shocked I rang Apple immediately, they answered instantly and the lovely lady at the end of the phone (Irish, as I was calling from the UK) asked what the problem was. I informed her that my watch had caused a rash on my skin and actually exposed raw skin below. Shocked and somewhat speechless, she asked if I didn't mind holding for a minute. True to her word, a minute later she was back and told me that she was transferring me to the safety support team in Cork. They answered and took me through a process of questions...
1) What happened?
2) Did I wear the watch in a different way that day (any tighter etc)?
3) Did it hurt?
4) Did the rash have any yellow mucus?
Along with a few more questions I can't remember! They had obviously seen this before as the questions that followed were very specific. They also asked me to email the photos of my wrist, there are several but I only attached one above! Here's the culprit watch!
The very nice lady then informed me that they were going to go away and assess the information and the photos overnight (I rang at 7pm) and that they'd get back to me the next morning.
Sure to their word, the next day, I got a phone call from the same nice lady. Apple had looked at my information and also the same model in their lab and had come to the conclusion that my watch strap had most likely got a high level of nickel in it, more then there should be as it caused such a bad reaction. They told me that they would like to 'capture' the watch and that they were going to send a 'capture kit' out to me so they could assess my watch. I was absolutely fine with this and was extremely happy with how it had been handled so far, efficiently and apologetically! I understood that on a massive supply chain, things like this unfortunately happen! What happened next however was simply amazing!
The lovely lady informed me that they'd love to get a new watch out to me, but to ensure I didn't have the same problem and to apologise for what had happened, they would love to send me a stainless steel model of my choice (excluding the link bracelet as that also contained nickel)! I was shocked and also over the moon! I chose the milinase loop and was told it would take a week to get to me and that they were so sorry and they'd keep me up to date on the delivery of my new watch and what was happening with the old one (as I was interested!)
I then went away for smooth on an expedition to Malaysia & Borneo to complete volunteer work with endangered animals so just missed the delivery of my new watch! However a month later when I returned, there it was! & here I am wearing it!
I was so impressed by the way apple handled everything, it was so professional and the good will gesture shows how Apple's customer service is second to none! A UK newspaper 'The Sun' contacted me asking if they could use the story and offered me money to do so, I declined this as I knew that a publication like 'The Sun' (anyone from the UK will know this) is not likely to show how well handled this was by Apple and would just make it out to be a horrendous experience, where as if this does come to light here on MacRumours, you guys will mention how well the handled it!
All images used in this post must have my permission to be used before they are published anywhere else. (I don't want certain publications using them if this is found, although unlikely!)
