watchOS 5.1 - I think my watch is bricked

[ecschwarz]

I received my replacement this morning - shipped from Nevada (mine went to Pennsylvania) and they wasted no time shipping the new one after the old one was received. I decided to go ahead with AppleCare+ on the replacement and it showed the purchase date as 11/5.

Based on what everyone's said, it's been very inconsistent, but at least for me, I was only without for 3 business days (and I fell back to my original one, but had to keep an eye on the battery). While it wasn't ideal, Apple seemed to handle things fairly well.

(Obviously, I'll be curious to hear about the ones that were returned without any "issues" and anyone with AppleCare+ doing the express option.)

 

[SPNBaby]

I plugged my apple watch series 2 to charge Wednesday night, it lit up green and everything seemed ok. I didn't wear it Thursday. When I went to put it on Friday, nothing. No display, just a blank watch face. I tried pressing the crown and button to force a restart. Nothing happened. I spoke to someone on apple chat who has made me an appointment in my local store.

Could this be what happened to my watch?

 

[dh4736]

(Obviously, I'll be curious to hear about the ones that were returned without any "issues" and anyone with AppleCare+ doing the express option.)

Lucky you - have got AppleCare+ and an express replacement was setup for me on October 31st. Replacement watch still pending / not shipped yet. Called support today and they could not give me an indication yet on when to expect the watch to be shipped. Most likely there is no stock in the repair facility - customer relation agent will try to sort things but expect this to take another couple of days....so all in all 1 week without a working watch and at least another week to be expected - that's really not how this should be handled....

 

[honkmaster]

So, I talked to Apple. My status stuck in "empty return box shipped", even though I already returned the device. Now, they told me, they received it but processing will take some additional time. For this information I waited 25 minutes on phone. I kindly asked for some kind of compensation, they said no. If they would offer this to me, they have to offer it to everyone, which is unfeasible.

 

[Bazooka-joe]

So, I talked to Apple. My status stuck in "empty return box shipped", even though I already returned the device. Now, they told me, they received it but processing will take some additional time. For this information I waited 25 minutes on phone. I kindly asked for some kind of compensation, they said no. If they would offer this to me, they have to offer it to everyone, which is unfeasible.

There has been no consistency with resolution as so many customers have received different responses. Where was the leadership from Apple and why did a single message not go out to frontline services so that everyone received the same level of care

 

[bandrews]

There has been no consistency with resolution as so many customers have received different responses. Where was the leadership from Apple and why did a single message not go out to frontline services so that everyone received the same level of care

Yeah it all seems a bit fragmented. Even though I had Apple Care I was never offered the express replacement and shipped it in for service. Currently on "diagnosis in progress". Hopefully be fixed by tomorrow and shipped back. I'm not one of those who feels entitled to compensation and not bothered about getting a new watch unit but a "Sorry" and a decent, coherent worldwide response would have made the whole debacle more palatable.

 

[kgkuntryluvr]

My watch was received by Apple yesterday, and the repair status was updated today to "could not duplicate issue" then "original product returned". Anyone else? I don't even want my original watch back at this point as the logo was on the screen for at least 24 hours.
[doublepost=1541531101][/doublepost]

Yeah it all seems a bit fragmented. Even though I had Apple Care I was never offered the express replacement and shipped it in for service. Currently on "diagnosis in progress". Hopefully be fixed by tomorrow and shipped back. I'm not one of those who feels entitled to compensation and not bothered about getting a new watch unit but a "Sorry" and a decent, coherent worldwide response would have made the whole debacle more palatable.

Yes. I was told to send my watch back, and that a replacement would be shipped out as soon as they received it. Now, they're telling me that they could not duplicate the issue and are sending back my original watch that had an apple logo glowing on it for at least 24 hours, and probably has screen burn-in. I'm furious. They didn't even keep their word about sending a replacement immediately, as they took a day to attempt to "repair" my watch before trying to say that there was nothing wrong with it. It was literally bricked with the Apple logo still on when I sent it to them. I went through all of the steps with Apple support over the phone to try to fix it twice! How can they just say it's fine and send it back? Clearly, something had to be done to get it working again. I'm escalating this as high as I can.

 

[bandrews]

My watch was received by Apple yesterday, and the repair status was updated today to "could not duplicate issue" then "original product returned". Anyone else? I don't even want my original watch back at this point as the logo was on the screen for at least 24 hours.
[doublepost=1541531101][/doublepost]
Yes. I was told to send my watch back, and that a replacement would be shipped out as soon as they received it. Now, they're telling me that they could not duplicate the issue and are sending back my original watch that had an apple logo glowing on it for at least 24 hours, and probably has screen burn-in. I'm furious. They didn't even keep their word about sending a replacement immediately, as they took a day to attempt to "repair" my watch before trying to say that there was nothing wrong with it. It was literally bricked with the Apple logo still on when I sent it to them. I went through all of the steps with Apple support over the phone to try to fix it twice! How can they just say it's fine and send it back? Clearly, something had to be done to get it working again. I'm escalating this as high as I can.

I just got an email saying the same. I’m hoping this is an automated response or maybe as soon as they plugged it into the diagnostic port it was enough to kick it into life.
I’ll give them benefit of the doubt until I get it back. If it’s still bricked then I’ll start getting angry.

Has anyone else received theirs back after receiving an email saying there wasn’t a problem with the watch?

 

[Bazooka-joe]

Yeah it all seems a bit fragmented. Even though I had Apple Care I was never offered the express replacement and shipped it in for service. Currently on "diagnosis in progress". Hopefully be fixed by tomorrow and shipped back. I'm not one of those who feels entitled to compensation and not bothered about getting a new watch unit but a "Sorry" and a decent, coherent worldwide response would have made the whole debacle more palatable.

You are right. I sent my watch - which was outside the 14 day return period - back to Apple on the Wednesday and after a couple of phone calls, i had my brand new one by Monday so just 5 days. If they can do that for me then why not for everyone else. Just seems unfair.

Reading back on some of the posts where people haven't received replacements or Apple are insistent on inspection and repairs, I am wondering if you went through down the tech support/Apple Care support route. It seems that there are different routes.
What i did was speak to After Sales. I did speak initially to tech support and Apple care who said they would set up a return. I then spoke to After Sales and explained my situation and they cancelled my logged call with tech support and arranged an return with a replacement watch to be sent out once my bricked watch had been registered as returned. Ten minutes after the call my replacement watch showed up as processing on my order page.

 

[bandrews]

You are right. I sent my watch - which was outside the 14 day return period - back to Apple on the Wednesday and after a couple of phone calls, i had my brand new one by Monday so just 5 days. If they can do that for me then why not for everyone else. Just seems unfair.

Reading back on some of the posts where people haven't received replacements or Apple are insistent on inspection and repairs, I am wondering if you went through down the tech support/Apple Care support route. It seems that there are different routes.
What i did was speak to After Sales. I did speak initially to tech support and Apple care who said they would set up a return. I then spoke to After Sales and explained my situation and they cancelled my logged call with tech support and arranged an return followed by a replacement once my bricked watch had been registered as returned

Interesting. Yeah, I went through support.

 

[kgkuntryluvr]

I just got an email saying the same. I’m hoping this is an automated response or maybe as soon as they plugged it into the diagnostic port it was enough to kick it into life.
I’ll give them benefit of the doubt until I get it back. If it’s still bricked then I’ll start getting angry.

Has anyone else received theirs back after receiving an email saying there wasn’t a problem with the watch?

I'm hoping you're right, and it's fixed with no screen burn in. For the amount of time that the Apple logo was burning on that screen, I want one with a new screen or either the screen replaced on my old one. I'm also frustrated that I was told that a watch would be automatically shipped out when my old watch was registered as received. So I'm confused as to why they took an extra day to diagnose it instead of sending me a replacement.

 

[Bazooka-joe]

Interesting. Yeah, I went through support.

Yep i think that if i had gone via support, I would have had the same challenges as you. It does seem as if after sales care is a different department to AppleCare and seem to have the authority to issue replacements

 

[wlow3]

My experience:

It took 2 days (not including the weekend) for them to go from Apple receiving it from FedEx to changing the My Support page to reflect that they had it. So it stayed on the “We sent you a box” message all that time. I’m guessing till the technician gets close to working on it, the My Support page is not updated.

Once they acknowledged it, it was only a matter of hours till I got the “we couldn’t find anything wrong so we’re sending it back.”

I believe the first thing they do is wipe it and install the latest OS before they work on it. This is why they then “don’t find anything wrong” because the wipe and reinstall fixes this issue. The note that comes in the return box pretty much says this.

They overnighted it back to me and I got it today.

It is the Watch I sent in. I verified this by the serial number. They repacked it in a new box. No burn in, but I did turn it off before I sent it in.

They say to set it up as new to check it and then wipe it and restore from backup but I skipped that and just restored from backup. (I still had the Series 0 Watch and I wore it for these past few days; I restored from its most recent backup.)

I didn’t think to check which version it came back with but I immediately updated to 5.1.1. (That was available in software update on the iPhone.) That went without a hitch.

Now I have a fully functional watch on 5.1.1 three business days after I sent it in. All in all I’m satisfied.

 

[newellj]

24 hours is not going to permanently damage an OLED display. You need to be talking about weeks or more in most cases.

My watch was received by Apple yesterday, and the repair status was updated today to "could not duplicate issue" then "original product returned". Anyone else? I don't even want my original watch back at this point as the logo was on the screen for at least 24 hours.
[doublepost=1541531101][/doublepost]
Yes. I was told to send my watch back, and that a replacement would be shipped out as soon as they received it. Now, they're telling me that they could not duplicate the issue and are sending back my original watch that had an apple logo glowing on it for at least 24 hours, and probably has screen burn-in. I'm furious. They didn't even keep their word about sending a replacement immediately, as they took a day to attempt to "repair" my watch before trying to say that there was nothing wrong with it. It was literally bricked with the Apple logo still on when I sent it to them. I went through all of the steps with Apple support over the phone to try to fix it twice! How can they just say it's fine and send it back? Clearly, something had to be done to get it working again. I'm escalating this as high as I can.

I'm hoping you're right, and it's fixed with no screen burn in. For the amount of time that the Apple logo was burning on that screen, I want one with a new screen or either the screen replaced on my old one. I'm also frustrated that I was told that a watch would be automatically shipped out when my old watch was registered as received. So I'm confused as to why they took an extra day to diagnose it instead of sending me a replacement.

 

[kgkuntryluvr]

My experience:

It took 2 days (not including the weekend) for them to go from Apple receiving it from FedEx to changing the My Support page to reflect that they had it. So it stayed on the “We sent you a box” message all that time. I’m guessing till the technician gets close to working on it, the My Support page is not updated.

Once they acknowledged it, it was only a matter of hours till I got the “we couldn’t find anything wrong so we’re sending it back.”

I believe the first thing they do is wipe it and install the latest OS before they work on it. This is why they then “don’t find anything wrong” because the wipe and reinstall fixes this issue. The note that comes in the return box pretty much says this.

They overnighted it back to me and I got it today.

It is the Watch I sent in. I verified this by the serial number. They repacked it in a new box. No burn in, but I did turn it off before I sent it in.

They say to set it up as new to check it and then wipe it and restore from backup but I skipped that and just restored from backup. (I still had the Series 0 Watch and I wore it for these past few days; I restored from its most recent backup.)

I didn’t think to check which version it came back with but I immediately updated to 5.1.1. (That was available in software update on the iPhone.) That went without a hitch.

Now I have a fully functional watch on 5.1.1 three business days after I sent it in. All in all I’m satisfied.

Yeah, I agree with you. They would have had to installed the latest update because there is no way that it magically started working again when it arrived to them. They should have still verified my issue before updating it, and noted that there was indeed an issue that they fixed, instead of sending it back saying that there was nothing wrong with it. I didn't just decide to part with my watch for a week for no reason. It's like they still don't want to fully acknowledge that the problem is as widespread as it actually is.

 

[Barbs]

my watch that was sent out for "repair" one week ago from today, was just delivered to the apple store. They ended up giving me a brand new replacement unit.

To further compound my issues, the new watch is installing like its brand new and I've lost all my settings. arggghhh.

I sent an email to Tim Cooks email address 2 days ago, no response yet. Would be nice if they gave me a apple store gift card to make up for this giant frustration and inconvenience they caused me.

 

[kgkuntryluvr]

FedEx dropped off my watch today. It was in a white box, so I got excited thinking that they sent me a new one like they originally promised me on the phone. But no-just my old one with a fancy folded repair note stating that it passed inspections with no details as to what was wrong with it nor what they did to fix it. Online support still shows that there was nothing wrong with it, so they returned it. It looks like they wiped the software and reinstalled 5.0, and then claimed that they "could not duplicate issue". I don't see how because all they would have had to do was turn it on when they received it to see the issue. It's abundantly clear that Apple doesn't want to acknowledge or accept responsibility for their update bricking my watch, presumably so that they can artificially minimize the number of affected users.

 

[Jetfire]

Just picked up my Apple Watch from the Apple store (was ready yesterday). It was sent out for repair after being bricked by 5.1. I check the serial number it and it's the same one. They said nothing was wrong with it but updated the software.
Waiting for it to restore. May have to call Verizon to get Cellular to work again since it failed during setup. This is going to be fun.
Finally got loaded. Software version is 5.0.1 Fudge, looks like I will have to call Verizon tomorrow to get cellular working again.

 

[theonekcrow]

This is pretty much how mine went. My purchase date is still reading September 25th though on my AppleCare+

I received my replacement this morning - shipped from Nevada (mine went to Pennsylvania) and they wasted no time shipping the new one after the old one was received. I decided to go ahead with AppleCare+ on the replacement and it showed the purchase date as 11/5.

Based on what everyone's said, it's been very inconsistent, but at least for me, I was only without for 3 business days (and I fell back to my original one, but had to keep an eye on the battery). While it wasn't ideal, Apple seemed to handle things fairly well.

(Obviously, I'll be curious to hear about the ones that were returned without any "issues" and anyone with AppleCare+ doing the express option.)

 

[dh4736]

There seems to be now more and more post of lucky people out there who got their watch back in their hands. Here in Germany still waiting for a replacement watch. More than a week now....

 

[honkmaster]

Same here, they checked my watch and said they could not duplicate the issue. They original Watch is back on the road with UPS. I am slightly worried about burn-in as I did not turn off the watch. However, I hope the have some kind of quality control in place... (Sarcasm on) But ... hmm. When I think about it, if they would have quality control, this issue would never ever have happened. (Sarcasm off)

 

[kgkuntryluvr]

Same here, they checked my watch and said they could not duplicate the issue. They original Watch is back on the road with UPS. I am slightly worried about burn-in as I did not turn off the watch. However, I hope the have some kind of quality control in place... (Sarcasm on) But ... hmm. When I think about it, if they would have quality control, this issue would never ever have happened. (Sarcasm off)

I was worried about the same. There appears to be no burn in on mine, and I've been actively looking for it. The Apple logo was probably on the screen while in my care for at least 16 hours, plus I recharged it and shipped it to Apple with the logo still on (I didn't care at that point because they told me that they were replacing it, even though they ended up not doing so). I'm still unhappy with how my case was handled, but I've got mine back in working order with a 7 day turnaround. I still feel like some sort of compensation should be offered for all of the time and trouble wasted on this problem that they caused.

 

[famoussasjohn]

Just got my watch back after the bricking update. They noted they couldn't replicate the issue, but same as everyone else, all is fine with my watch. Was updated to 5.1.1 so I'm good to go again. Quick turnaround too, sent it in on Tuesday, they got it on and diagnosed it Wednesday, and I got it at 10:15 today.

 

[valenrandy]

My S4 SS shipped out last Thursday/Friday from the local apple store and I got it back Tuesday in working condition. Its the same one I sent in and with the same notes many here are stating "no issue found".

As long as it works i'm good with it.

Regarding screen burn in I have not noticed any.

 

[jwlbel]

I just checked my new watch and it is a different serial number than what I shipped to them. I sent mine in for repair the next day (wed) after it was bricked and I had it back on Friday. The Apple senior advisor I was working with sent me a free band for all the inconvenience I was caused. I got it yesterday and I am wearing it right now