Recently had my black sports band replaced, and the replacement is even worse. It has worn much quicker and has white patches on it that on closer inspection look like the start of peeling.
I really like the black band but i don't know what to do. Do I keep on replacing and hope that Apple eventually refine the process and it will stop happening?
Just to add, I really look after my stuff and so this watch gets no abuse whatsoever.
Here's my story:
My BSB started peeling about a month of wearing it. After seeing this happening to others on this forum, I called Apple about it, got transferred to a "senior adviser", who listened to my story and told me it's "wear and tear", and it wasn't covered under a defect.
She then explained as a consolation that she would credit me $150 which could be used for accessories (but not watch/bands), and I'd have to use one of my two AppleCare+ service events + $69 deductible.
I told her "why would I do that for a $50 band?", to which she had no answer for.
I kept telling her my wife's 38mm space gray band (bought at same time) isn't peeling and she wears it every day and exercises every day with it. In comparison, I didn't wear mine every day (I have several other sport bands, which none exhibit peeling) or exercise every day.
She told me she would show the engineers my pics and get back to me. A day later she emails me that they said it was not a defect.
I was mad. They were fighting me on a product that costs them $5 to make. I was really disappointed in Apple as a company.
Weeks later, I'm in Vegas on vacation, and there's an Apple Store where we stayed (Caesar's Palace). We go in and tell the employee my black band is peeling. He looks at it, and tells me, "yeah, it's common. We'll replace it, but Apple is going to stop replacing these soon for this issue". This guy restored my faith in Apple and took my old band and exchanged it there on the spot.
Long story short: don't waste your time with Apple on the phone, go into the store, exchange it, then do like it did, buy a MOKO aftermarket band for working out or at work and save your OEM black band for special occasions that doesn't involve anything "sport".
Or, wipe off your coating and deal with the lint and dust. That's one reason that coating is on there IMO.
BTW, the MOKO band attracts some dust, but for $12 it's not a problem.
And shout out to Apple Store @ Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas for great customer service!
