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Swapping out S5 bands at Apple Store?

R

RChav

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 18, 2014
32
33
Hi everyone,

I didn’t realize until after I had ordered that the series 5 Edition watches have a sports band included, so I paired my watch with another sport band. Now I’m wondering if it’s possible to take the additional band (not the special edition band) and swap it out for a sport loop or equivalent at my local Apple store. Has anyone had success or experience with this? My Watch was originally ordered direct from Apple.com.

thanks!!
 
My understanding is that if you bought it at the store, including ordering for pickup, you can do that. If ordered for delivery though you'll need to return/exchange.
 
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I was able to return a band in the store that I had ordered online. No muss, no fuss. They just took it back.
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I was able to return a band in the store that I had ordered online. No muss, no fuss. They just took it back.
 
deeddawg said:
My understanding is that if you bought it at the store, including ordering for pickup, you can do that. If ordered for delivery though you'll need to return/exchange.
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If you got your watch via the online store, you can take the strap to a retail store for a swop out. I checked with Apple today.
 
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Bazooka-joe said:
If you got your watch via the online store, you can take the strap to a retail store for a swop out. I checked with Apple today.
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Awesome. I seen someone report they were told otherwise when they contacted Apple, so good to hear it's otherwise.
 
scmill said:
I just ordered the band.
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Oh, that be no problem to return or exchange at the store then. The complication seems to be when you use the design feature and choose a band with your new watch, and then want to exchange for something different.

When ordered for delivery, the box label shows the watch & band combination. When buying in store, including online order for pick up, the box contains a placeholder for the band, and they bring a retail band out separately. I suspect that may be the basis for the different treatment.
 
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deeddawg said:
Oh, that be no problem to return or exchange at the store then. The complication seems to be when you use the design feature and choose a band with your new watch, and then want to exchange for something different.

When ordered for delivery, the box label shows the watch & band combination. When buying in store, including online order for pick up, the box contains a placeholder for the band, and they bring a retail band out separately. I suspect that may be the basis for the different treatment.
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That’s what I checked with Apple. I have a S5 on order with a leather loop and I am worried that the medium size may not be large enough so I rang apple and asked if the band could be exchanged for a larger size without having to send the watch back and they told me that I could go to a retail and swop the band out
 
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Bazooka-joe said:
That’s what I checked with Apple. I have a S5 on order with a leather loop and I am worried that the medium size may not be large enough so I rang apple and asked if the band could be exchanged for a larger size without having to send the watch back and they told me that I could go to a retail and swop the band out
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Good info. Do let us know how it works out when you do that. Here's the post I based my reply on, so perhaps your experience will be different than theirs.

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Werewolf said:
Just tried the exchange. They said, if you bought it online, you will have to exchange the whole package (watch + band) and they will give you a new watch/band. If you bought it in store, they can exchange the band without the watch.​
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​
 
deeddawg said:
Good info. Do let us know how it works out when you do that. Here's the post I based my reply on, so perhaps your experience will be different than theirs.

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​
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Will do. My watch is still preparing to ship so might be a week or so yet. My watch is coming with a
medium leather loop for wrists up to 85mm and my wrist is 83mm so may need the bigger loop. If I do then I will call Apple again and confirm and ask them to send me a confirmation email so that I can take it to my retail store top exchange for the large loop.
 
Bazooka-joe said:
Will do. My watch is still preparing to ship so might be a week or so yet. My watch is coming with a
medium leather loop for wrists up to 85mm and my wrist is 83mm so may need the bigger loop. If I do then I will call Apple again and confirm and ask them to send me a confirmation email so that I can take it to my retail store top exchange for the large loop.
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How'd the loop exchange turn out?
 
Bazooka-joe said:
Hi I didn't t have to exchange it as when my watch arrived on Monday, the medium band loop fitted fine. Sorry that i cant give you more information about the exchange but if you give apple sales a call they should give you the same info that i received.
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Good to hear you were saved the trouble.

Perhaps I'm cynical but over the years I've had too many phone support folks tell me one thing and the in-store people say differently. Unless what I need to do can be accomplished by the phone support folks I don't even bother calling.

I'll be near a store later on anyway, I'll just be prepared for either eventuality.

Thanks
 
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deeddawg said:
Good to hear you were saved the trouble.

Perhaps I'm cynical but over the years I've had too many phone support folks tell me one thing and the in-store people say differently. Unless what I need to do can be accomplished by the phone support folks I don't even bother calling.

I'll be near a store later on anyway, I'll just be prepared for either eventuality.

Thanks
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OK good luck with it. If you pop ion the the store, you could say that you spoke to Apple After sales and they said that it would be ok to exchange the band in the store and see what they say
 
Bazooka-joe said:
OK good luck with it. If you pop ion the the store, you could say that you spoke to Apple After sales and they said that it would be ok to exchange the band in the store and see what they say
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Following up -- as expected, if purchased online, it's a return/buy-another transaction. In-store purchase they can swap bands, but not an option in their POS software even though they tried to do it that way.

No matter, unpairing and repairing to a new watch is not a big deal for me as I let it do the pair and sync during my drive home -- though I set up as since new since the new S5 was on 6.0 and (unsurprisingly) won't restore from a backup of a 6.0.1 watch.
 
deeddawg said:
Following up -- as expected, if purchased online, it's a return/buy-another transaction. In-store purchase they can swap bands, but not an option in their POS software even though they tried to do it that way.

No matter, unpairing and repairing to a new watch is not a big deal for me as I let it do the pair and sync during my drive home -- though I set up as since new since the new S5 was on 6.0 and (unsurprisingly) won't restore from a backup of a 6.0.1 watch.
Click to expand...
OK thanks for the heads up. Its a shame that Apple support give different messages. Consistency would be good.
 
deeddawg said:
Following up -- as expected, if purchased online, it's a return/buy-another transaction. In-store purchase they can swap bands, but not an option in their POS software even though they tried to do it that way.

No matter, unpairing and repairing to a new watch is not a big deal for me as I let it do the pair and sync during my drive home -- though I set up as since new since the new S5 was on 6.0 and (unsurprisingly) won't restore from a backup of a 6.0.1 watch.
Click to expand...

To clarify, if I walked into the store and bought the Series 5 (I did), then I can exchange the band only?
 
James.K.Polk said:
To clarify, if I walked into the store and bought the Series 5 (I did), then I can exchange the band only?
Click to expand...
That is what they told me yesterday, yes.

Since I'd ordered online for in-store pickup, that apparently made it a different sort of transaction.

The associate I worked with made it all very smooth and easy.

I like sport loops but found I really don't like the two-tone ones in person. Switched out to the black sport band. Found an openbox black sport band on BestBuy and ordered it. Too bad they couldn't just change the band and had to do a full watch return. Seems wasteful, I'd have been perfectly happy with just a band swap.
 
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