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Weak Haptic Response - Very weak Apple Support Response

C

Cromer05

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2015
7
1
Singapore
Weak Haptic Response - Very weak Apple Support Response

I have owned a stainless steel Apple Watch for the last 7 months and have always been suspicious that the taptic response was too week. One month ago I decided to have this investigated by the Genius Bar at Southlands in Australia. I was lucky that the guy behind the bar had an identical watch and with a comparison test he identified my watch did have a weak haptic and I was provided with a copy of a report to this effect.
Apple Southlands were not prepared to immediately replace the watch and they suggested I let them send it to their repair centre for evaluation which would take 3 to 5 working days.
As I was to shortly depart to live in Singapore for an extended period I declined and they suggested I seek support from an Apple certified repairer in Singapore as there is no Apple Store there.
On my return to Singapore I have done this and for the last 19 torturous days the following has occurred:-
- I have been provided with 2 replacement watches both with weak haptic responses
- I have been without an Apple Watch for 11 days
- I now have 3 Apple or Certified Apple Repairer service reports stating that all 3
watches have a weak haptic response.
The Apple Support Section in Singapore yesterday (8th Dec 2015) agreed to send me a replacement brand new 4th watch but this required providing a credit card number as they did not trust me to return the defective one. I provided these details
and was told I would be contacted by them to finalise the details.
After no contact for 4 hours I recontacted them only to be informed that the offer of a brand new watch replacement had been withdrawn and that now my options were:-
1.- Be content with a watch (that cost a large amount of money) that is defective.
2.- Lodge the defective watch with a Apple Store or Certified repairer for evaluation.
This would mean being without my watch for another extended period plus if
deemed necessary its replacement would be by a refurbished watch which have
been proven by the last 2 replacements to have a very high probability of a very
weak haptic response.
3.- Accept a refund for the watch but not for accessories I have purchased through
them to support my watch.
I waited 6 months to have this investigated as I was living in Singapore during this period and knew there was no Apple Store there and had no knowledge or confidence in certified repairers there.
To state the obvious I am very unimpressed in Apples response to this case.
 
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um, isn't option 3 basically the same thing as they withdrew anyway?

just take the refund, go out and buy a new watch. they aren't banning you from purchasing another.

if it's faulty when you open it, return it.
 
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No I was not given a reason for the cancellation of the offer to exchange for a brand new watch. The last guy I dealt him with (was after many requests to esculate to a higher staff member )was as he told me; a manager in Public Relations in their Singapore office. He did not say it, but I was left with the impression he thought that senior management in Apple had dealt very harshly with my case.
No option 3 is not the same as a brand new replacement as it could lead to the same crazy merry go round if the replacement is faulty and we start at the beginning again.
After being sent 2 faulty replacements I guess you could say I am a little bit sensitive about this.
 
Cromer05 said:
No option 3 is not the same as a brand new replacement as it could lead to the same crazy merry go round if the replacement is faulty and we start at the beginning again.
After being sent 2 faulty replacements I guess you could say I am a little bit sensitive about this.
Click to expand...

it is exactly the same. what do you expect them to do, open up the new one and test it for you first? because then, well, it wouldn't be new...

i think you're being overly sensitive about this. option 3 really is the same thing. ok, you have to go and get the watch yourself (or order it online) but you can, if you choose, get this before the refund, and therefore have a unit to test it against.

also, in the event you did get another dud somehow (i think it was an early issue thats been fixed, but some made their way back in as refurbs) you'd be able to return a faulty watch and get another, rather than waiting for a service/replacement. that is, of course, as long as you don't wait another 7 months to fix something you've suspected all along...
 
I stopped reading after your first sentence. Why wait six months to have your suspicion investigated??
 
Mildredop said:
I stopped reading after your first sentence. Why wait six months to have your suspicion investigated??
Click to expand...

if you read the second to last sentence, you'd find out why.

Cromer05 said:
I waited 6 months to have this investigated as I was living in Singapore during this period and knew there was no Apple Store there and had no knowledge or confidence in certified repairers there.
Click to expand...


i'm not saying it's a good reason (i don't think it is), but there it is.

OP, where did you buy the watch?
 
@Mildredop - Indeed if you had of put yourself out and read to the end of my posting you would have seen the reason I took 6 months to investigate this issue. Tad rude of you to make this uninformed comment.
It is not the same having to go through the procedure to buy a new one. Yes I do expect them to open up a new one to make sure what they deliver works properly as 2 replacements clearly did not.
There should be alarm bell ringing in Apple to prevent this happening again.
 
Cromer05 said:
Yes I do expect them to open up a new one to make sure what they deliver works properly as 2 replacements clearly did not.
There should be alarm bell ringing in Apple to prevent this happening again.
Click to expand...

In many countries this would not be allowed - they wouldn't be legally allowed to call it new if that happened. I hope you can understand this. The best option really would be to buy a new one in the store where you could open it with the sales assistant and do those sorts of checks?

However you've also written

Cromer05 said:
And another issue with a refund. It will take 6 weeks for the funds to clear.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? It seems an awfully long time and much longer than it should take. Did they give you any indication as to why it takes so long, and can you press them to make it any faster? (if you'd written that in the first place, i probably wouldn't have equated the two)
 
Yep it will take 6 weeks to clear the check -no negotiation. The fact that it was 6 months before I investigated the problem is irrelevant as don't forget the watch has at least a 12 month warranty.
I don't care if the watch is new I just want a watch that functions like it should and is in new order as mine is but for the haptic problem
 
Cromer05 said:
Yep it will take 6 weeks to clear the check -no negotiation. The fact that it was 6 months before I investigated the problem is irrelevant as don't forget the watch has at least a 12 month warranty.
I don't care if the watch is new I just want a watch that functions like it should and is in new order as mine is but for the haptic problem
Click to expand...

It has some relevance (to now) in that within the 14 day return window you can return a faulty watch and buy a new one, no waiting, rather than go through the support process. However you said you've had it 7 months, so since launch? I guess this wasn't a possibility then. Where did you buy it?
 
nicho said:
It has some relevance (to now) in that within the 14 day return window you can return a faulty watch and buy a new one, no waiting, rather than go through the support process. However you said you've had it 7 months, so since launch? I guess this wasn't a possibility then. Where did you buy it?
Click to expand...
Pre ordered and delivered to Australia.
 
Cromer05 said:
And what about the 6 weeks wait for the funds to clear.
Click to expand...

i still don't understand the 6 week wait for the funds to clear. have they told you why?

what currency have they offered the refund in - is that part of the reason why it's going to take so long?
 
I believe the policy for refunds is 4-6 weeks and you usually get it sooner than that, that's the experience I had with an AppleCare + refund. One of them I got back in the original payment method, that hit about 3 weeks later. The other I got quicker in the form of an emailed Apple Store Credit. That was received in less than a week. Good thing about buying now if you want is the longer holiday return period.
 
I am not sure if my Sport has a weak Haptic response or not since it is the only one I have had on my arm. I guess I should try my Wife's Gold Sport to see if her Haptic is the same as mine.

I occasionally miss messages on my wrist, so I turned the Prominent feature on. This has cut down on the misses, but they still happen when I am active. Obviously, you have had yours tested repeatedly, so I wonder why you keep getting defective Watches? Was the issue Nicho reported only for SS models?

TxWatch
 
TxWatch said:
I am not sure if my Sport has a weak Haptic response or not since it is the only one I have had on my arm. I guess I should try my Wife's Gold Sport to see if her Haptic is the same as mine.

I occasionally miss messages on my wrist, so I turned the Prominent feature on. This has cut down on the misses, but they still happen when I am active. Obviously, you have had yours tested repeatedly, so I wonder why you keep getting defective Watches? Was the issue Nicho reported only for SS models?

TxWatch
Click to expand...

i think it was all of them. it was rumoured to be the reason that there were supply issues to begin with, and some still made it through to customers it seemed.
 
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