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Apple disclosed earlier this month that it will charge out-of-warranty service fees of $229, $329 and $2,800 for the Sport, Watch and Edition models respectively for repairs not covered by Apple's limited one-year warranty or AppleCare+ for Apple Watch.
 
The Apple watch 42mm SS BSB I purchased here in Canada was something in the neighbourhood of 870 CDN after taxes. If it arrived with a dint or scratch to the watch before I even used it, I wouldn't accept that. If you're unhappy get it replaced. Would you go pick up a new car and accept a dint in the door because you might get another dint later. I doubt it very much, you'd have them fix it. Just my opinion - I'd get Apple to allow you to keep it and have them replace it when stock is available.
 
Is it worth making a huge deal over it? Its the smallest of dents and is bound to happen sooner or later anyway. If watches were replaceable straight away I would say go for it, but because its not that simple I think you should just live with it. Unless you can wait till June (Earliest?).

Thats not the point, the point is there shouldn't be any defect in a NEW item... thats like you buying a macbook pro and there was a dent on the laptop, would you say it will happen sooner or later and just keep it as is? :rolleyes:
 
If you are not happy about the dent, I think you should return the watch. There is no need to keep something that you are not happy with. It is true that the sport models will be prone to dents, but that doesn't mean you should have one before ever putting it on. If the dents are going to bother you, I suggest that you go with a SS model instead.
 
Is it worth making a huge deal over it? Its the smallest of dents and is bound to happen sooner or later anyway. If watches were replaceable straight away I would say go for it, but because its not that simple I think you should just live with it. Unless you can wait till June (Earliest?).

This is soo wrong to say on sooo many levels. First, do not assume that everyone will damage their watch, ever. Some may use a case, or skin to protect their investment.
Second, would it be okay if you bought a brand new car with a dent in the door? Or a scratch down the side? I mean, it is bound to get dented or scratched sooner or later, right? Why make a big deal out of that with the dealer? If I am gonna spend over $500 on a watch, it better be friggin perfect out of the box.

P.S. This is the iPhone 5 all over again. QA at Foxconn is utter crap these days.
 
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Apple disclosed earlier this month that it will charge out-of-warranty service fees of $229, $329 and $2,800 for the Sport, Watch and Edition models respectively for repairs not covered by Apple's limited one-year warranty or AppleCare+ for Apple Watch.
It's a different deal when it comes out of the box that way.
 
This is soo wrong to say on sooo many levels. First, do not assume that everyone will damage their watch, ever. Some may use a case, or skin to protect their investment.
Second, would it be okay if you bought a brand new car with a dent in the door? Or a scratch down the side? I mean, it is bound to get dented or scratched sooner or later, right? Why make a big deal out of that with the dealer? If I am gonna spend over $500 on a watch, it better be friggin perfect out of the box.

P.S. This is the iPhone 5 all over again. QA at Foxconn is utter crap these days.

totally agree!!
 
Let me tell you this from a "what really happens" scenario where I work.

In the cold had light of reality, Quality is controlled fundamentally by the customer.
If the customer accepts products up to x standard then we will pass items of x standard out the door to ship.

If the customer rejects those items and wants xx standard, then we have to tighten our act up and check to a xx standard.

Whilst the factories that make the products for Apple are vastly larger, I honestly do not expect they are any different.

There will be a level or tolerance on all aspects of every Apple product, as no physical item is perfect, it just depends on how close you look and what you are looking for.

Dust, dead pixels, dents, dimensional accuracy, haptic motor strength, screen brightness, etc, etc, etc. There will be tolerances on everything, even the chips.

Surface finish is no different. You can write, blemish free, but what's blemish free? Who is going to be looking under what light and what magnification?

Some items will slip thru, that's just what happens. Someone is checking something, they get spoken to and interrupted, and they think they looked in an area they did not, and miss something.

Mostly though, esp with the surface/visual finish, it WILL come down to a judgement call.

If a factor is under amazing pressure to get, 5,000 a day out the door, there are going to be time when something will be let go that you hope will be accepted by the customer.

It's worth sending out 100 less than perfect items to your inspectors who are looking for faults, if 75% of these get accepted by customers and you have to replace 25% of them. Than it is for you to reject 100% of them.
 
You're an Apple Store employee? Aren't you prohibited from visiting this site lest you lose your job?

Funny that u mention that. when I had an issue with my retina macbook pro as in error codes he wasn't aware of the genius went on macrumors to search for a solution right at the Apple Store
 
I always like how these bean counter employees think they know everything. We have one in the family and come to find out he really doesn't know anything. Look up the forums and you will see certain stores that have these replacement units. Just because your store does not, there are others that do

I always like how these bean counter forum posters think they know everything. We have a family member who once went into an Apple store and come to find out he doesn't know anything. Look up the forums and you will learn nothing but random crap. Just because you think that is the way it works, doesn't mean it is true.
 
I had the Apple online rep call the local Apple retail store. They don't have any watches for exchanges on site.

I'm in the same boat. My SS is getting picked up in a couple of days and Apple have a replacement ordered up but obviously can't guarantee a ship date at this point although they did stress that replacements take priority. They were really good about it and were apologetic about the fact that no stores near me would have any stock to swap out. It was only a tiny blemish on the case and I feel a bit of a dick for returning it but I knew that I would keep noticing it and it would annoy me. Kinda like one of those "once you see it you can't unsee" things.
 
OP here. I decided to turn it on and use the watch. Can't send it back to fedex till Monday anyways. Might as well use it.

So I found more quality control issues. Lots of paint chips on the right bottom edge. Also my right button has paint chip coming off in the middle of it as well.

i'll send it back tomorrow. I like the watch. Can't stand the imperfections out of the box.
 

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that is an awesome case!!

I agree, I at first thought, "Cases for a watch, thats plain silly". This easy to take on and off case though would be amazing to slip on when doing physical activities like mountain climbing, skating and the like. Doesn't look to bad either. I may just get one actually.
 
Funny that u mention that. when I had an issue with my retina macbook pro as in error codes he wasn't aware of the genius went on macrumors to search for a solution right at the Apple Store

But did he log in as a member? Searching for a solution doesn't necessarily require logging in. There's a reason why we don't see any members here who are currently working for Apple, although a fair number of active members used to tender the Genius Bar (namely former employees).
 
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I always like how these bean counter employees think they know everything. We have one in the family and come to find out he really doesn't know anything. Look up the forums and you will see certain stores that have these replacement units. Just because your store does not, there are others that do

Man these forums have become toxic. I just posted based on information that is on Apple.com, sorry you've had a bad experience and are so bitter.
 
OP here. I decided to turn it on and use the watch. Can't send it back to fedex till Monday anyways. Might as well use it.

So I found more quality control issues. Lots of paint chips on the right bottom edge. Also my right button has paint chip coming off in the middle of it as well.

i'll send it back tomorrow. I like the watch. Can't stand the imperfections out of the box.

Ah, the aluminum anodizing is starting to show its true colors again. Remember the black iP5?
 
Ah, the aluminum anodizing is starting to show its true colors again. Remember the black iP5?

Yes. I had gray/black iPhone 5 as well. But usually the scruffs appeared with the case I was using. Not brand new out of the box like the apple watch I am experiencing.
 
OP here. I decided to turn it on and use the watch. Can't send it back to fedex till Monday anyways. Might as well use it.

So I found more quality control issues. Lots of paint chips on the right bottom edge. Also my right button has paint chip coming off in the middle of it as well.

i'll send it back tomorrow. I like the watch. Can't stand the imperfections out of the box.

While you still have it in hand, if you have an Apple store anywhere near you, I'd try and get a Genius Bar appointment first. Stock of new products gets specifically assigned to them for these sorts of situations. It's possible in this case that they won't have them because they're not yet selling them at retail, but it can't hurt to check online or call to see. This early in the process, anything they give you will be a brand new replacement (as obviously they won't have had any faulty ones in yet to refurbish!).
 
While you still have it in hand, if you have an Apple store anywhere near you, I'd try and get a Genius Bar appointment first. Stock of new products gets specifically assigned to them for these sorts of situations. It's possible in this case that they won't have them because they're not yet selling them at retail, but it can't hurt to check online or call to see. This early in the process, anything they give you will be a brand new replacement (as obviously they won't have had any faulty ones in yet to refurbish!).

Like I said. Apple online tried to call local Apple retail store. No stock.

It's a waste of time to go to Apple Store If not guarantee of replacement in stock. My time is important. If I knew there was stock I would take 20 minutes to drive. Wait 10-15 minutes. Get new after 10 minutes paperwork and drive back. That's about 1 hour of my time. And. Would be a waste if it weren't there.

It's not essentially product.

Now say if you had phone that needed to be repair and Apple didn't keep stock. That would be a bigger issue with customers. And that's why they have stock of replacement phones readily available when new.
 
Like I said. Apple online tried to call local Apple retail store. No stock.

Could easily be the case, but what I meant to say is that Genius Bar replacement stock is distinct from them grabbing a Watch from their actual (obviously hypothetical, at this point!) stock and handing it to you, which is something they've done for me in the past after an iPhone launch when I had a screen that was separating.

Either way, sucks that yours is damaged, but it was bound to happen to someone! You could probably wangle another charger cable or something out of them for your pain and suffering ;)
 
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