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Original watch now has a defect- what would you do?

U

uwdude

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 16, 2014
922
469
Well, I just received my series 2 watch, and went to pull out my original series 0 watch after not using it for 6 months or so to sell it. I find it and the screen has popped out of the casing. I gently look underneath the screen and see the battery has expanded and popped the screen up and out of the case.

I've had it since the week it was released, so I'm sure the warranty is gone. What would you do? Is it just trash now? Otherwise it is in perfect condition with not a scratch on it.

I can post a picture, but not sure how.
 
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Was your Series 0 the aluminum or Stainless? I have read the aluminum Watch has had issues with the backs popping off.

Was the Watch stored in room temperature? I'm assuming it was.

Your definitely out of your warranty. You could create a Genious appointment at Your nearest Apple Store, in which they could look at it and make a recommendation on costs or a replacement.

If the Watch results in repairing more than it's worth, you could sell it broken as is.
 
uwdude said:
Well, I just received my series 2 watch, and went to pull out my original series 0 watch after not using it for 6 months or so to sell it. I find it and the screen has popped out of the casing. I gently look underneath the screen and see the battery has expanded and popped the screen up and out of the case.

I've had it since the week it was released, so I'm sure the warranty is gone. What would you do? Is it just trash now? Otherwise it is in perfect condition with not a scratch on it.

I can post a picture, but not sure how.
Click to expand...
If the battery expanded, I'd get it to an Apple store. You could junk it, but I'm guessing a battery replacement won't cost that much (and you may be able to convince them to do it for free because it's a catastrophic failure).
 
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I had the same issue with my Series 0. The screen popped off and it was clearly a problem with defective glue. I took it to an Apple Store, and even though it was past the 1 year standard warranty mark, they replaced it as it was defective. They don't keep replacement Watches in stock at the Apple Store, so they had to ship it to me in the end. I just handed them the defective Watch (without the band or charger) and they sent a replacement for bandless Watch.
 
superflush said:
I had the same issue with my Series 0. The screen popped off and it was clearly a problem with defective glue. I took it to an Apple Store, and even though it was past the 1 year standard warranty mark, they replaced it as it was defective. They don't keep replacement Watches in stock at the Apple Store, so they had to ship it to me in the end. I just handed them the defective Watch (without the band or charger) and they sent a replacement for bandless Watch.
Click to expand...

I don't know about your Apple stores in your location, but the Apple stores in my area all have replacement Apple Watches on hand and in store. They originally didn't when the Apple Watch launched, until about eight months ago.
 
There is a big difference with 'defective' against 'general wear'.
With General wear & tear goods, if an item should fail at any stage due to prolonged usage and is outside of a warranty period the goods are deemed the responsibility of the owner in getting said item repaired.
With defective goods however it does not matter if the item is new or old ~ under a court of law it should be repaired at the cost of the manufacturer.

Goods sold should always be of merchantable quality. If that quality is breached as in 'defective' then they are no longer of merchantable quality.

Case example:- A man drives a second-hand car which is already 7 years old and it develops a failure. If after inspection it is found the failure is the result of a faulty part or said parts where not of merchantable quality then the car must be recalled for work to be carried out at the expense of the car manufacturer.

In other words ~ take the watch to you nearest Apple Store and get them to replace or repair it at their charge.
 
Relentless Power said:
I don't know about your Apple stores in your location, but the Apple stores in my area all have replacement Apple Watches on hand and in store. They originally didn't when the Apple Watch launched, until about eight months ago.
Click to expand...

This was in August, and I went to stores in both Chicago and New York City, and I spoke with Apple over the phone several times. They were pretty adamant about the fact that they couldn't swap it out in the store.
 
superflush said:
This was in August, and I went to stores in both Chicago and New York City, and I spoke with Apple over the phone several times. They were pretty adamant about the fact that they couldn't swap it out in the store.
Click to expand...

With a high-volume stores like Chicago and New York City, I can see why they would not have any Apple Watch replacements in store. I think location has a lot to contribute to available stock.
 
Relentless Power said:
With a high-volume stores like Chicago and New York City, I can see why they would not have any Apple Watch replacements in store. I think location has a lot to contribute to available stock.
Click to expand...

I was told by multiple people that they no longer have replacements in the Store.
 
superflush said:
I was told by multiple people that they no longer have replacements in the Store.
Click to expand...

Then those multiple people that told you that are incorrect or or specifically speaking for certain stores. Because I have two stores in my area they both have replacement Apple Watches on hand. I was just there a week ago with a colleague and he had his watch replaced.
 
Relentless Power said:
Then those multiple people that told you that are incorrect or or specifically speaking for certain stores. Because I have two stores in my area they both have replacement Apple Watches on hand. I was just there a week ago with a colleague and he had his watch replaced.
Click to expand...

Okay. Then maybe they started carrying them in the store again.
 
Yes it's an aluminum model. And you can clearly see where the battery has swollen. But I don't know if they will do it out of warranty here in the US like they do in some other countries. I was only planning on selling it for $100 or so, so yea I wouldn't care about doing an expensive battery replacement.
 
uwdude said:
Yes it's an aluminum model. And you can clearly see where the battery has swollen. But I don't know if they will do it out of warranty here in the US like they do in some other countries. I was only planning on selling it for $100 or so, so yea I wouldn't care about doing an expensive battery replacement.
Click to expand...

They should replace it, as long as it is a defect and not due to your use of it, which it clearly sounds like it is. And hopefully they can swap it out at your store, since it seems like that is presently possible.
 
Ok let's see if this iCloud album link works. I don't currently have a Flickr account or something like that.

Apple Watch
 
uwdude said:
Ok let's see if this iCloud album link works. I don't currently have a Flickr account or something like that.

Apple Watch
Click to expand...

That is definately not fair wear and tear:- That is clearly defective.

As I mentioned before, take it to your Apple Store and explain to them if a battery gets used over time it simply fails to recharge so that means you would have a difficult case to put forward.
However, here we see the battery has become defective, it has expanded and that should not happen with batteries unless they are defective.
 
My screen popped off just like that, but the battery didn't expand. They replaced it after I owned it for over 1 year (by shipping a new one to me). Definitely take it to the Store, and try to make an appointment if you can.
 
uwdude said:
Ok I made a Genius Bar appointment for Tuesday. Thank you everyone for your opinions. We'll see what they say!
Click to expand...

Good luck. Let us know how it goes. I'm particularly curious if they will swap it out in the store or not.
 
Im curious to how this turns out. I would think this is too soon for a battery to swell and Apple will take care of you. Hell I have some 2006 Macbooks that the original batteries still haven't swole on them.
 
Yes I will post what happens on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see what they say when presented with a battery like that. I've never had something similar happen to an Apple product before.
 
I had it happen with an unused MB Pro battery I had laying around. I had already given the computer itself to a coworker (he had an iPhone and was planning to buy an AW, yet still didn't have a Mac), so I was going through my stash and noticed the extra battery had swollen and opened its casing.

I took it to an Apple Store with no appointment and said, basically, "I think you guys would want to get rid of this." They asked if I wanted a replacement, I said no, and they took it. I might have gotten a receipt for it, too, but I can't remember.
 
I can confirm that Apple has a BUNCH of info in their system regarding irregularities that are still covered outside of the warranty. My wife's heart rate sensor got left behind when removing the Watch from the charger a few days ago, and despite being over 4 months out of warranty, it's a COVERED issue, 100%. It's noted as a "back case separation" in the Apple system the Genius Bar has access to.
 
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