Apple Warranty - Fantastic!

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I've been noticing for a while that the Sport Loop band that came with my Apple Watch has been getting discoloured in places. It's not fading, it's not had anything spilt on it, it's not dirty because I wash it every now and then.

On Sunday evening, I contacted Apple using the online chat to see if it's covered under warranty (I have AppleCare+). The person took the details, looked at the pictures I sent and told me they'd need to refer it to a senior. They booked me to get a phone call on Monday morning.

On Monday morning, I received the call at the pre-arranged time and after discussing it for a while, the person said she'd have to check exactly what the process is and that she'd contact me on Tuesday.

She called back on Tuesday and said that because the Apple Watch and the strap were bought as a single package, the quickest and easiest way to replace the strap was to swap the entire combination, so not just the strap but the strap and the watch. This would be done as an Express Replacement.

I received a package from Apple yesterday (Wednesday) with just a watch, no strap. I contacted support and after a while they confirmed that I would be getting the strap as well, it was just being sent from a different location.

UPS have now delivered me a replacement band.

This is a bit bonkers. They told me that they had to replace them both as a unit but in the end, they were both shipped from different places.

I'm not unhappy with this, I have a new Apple Watch Series 7 Stainless Steel and a new strap. It's actually a refurb watch, not a brand spanking new one but there's nothing wrong with Apple refurbs, they're like new. I checked and my old watch had 219 charge cycles, the replacement has just ten. Result

 

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I think it's their 3rd party repair centres which give them the bad name.

I agree, I just don't like using them. My local store is well over an hour away, the next closest one is another five miles further than that but I'd much rather go to either of them than to the closest ASP. Plus, the same as you, the proper ones are in big shopping centres (Bluewater and Lakeside) with free parking.

 

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@dirtybeatfreak I know what you're saying and I agree, the experience should be no different to an actual Apple Store but it just doesn't seem that way. I've been in a few and with one notable exception, I've never had confidence in the staff. I appreciate this is a huge generalisation but I've never felt they're as knowledgable as staff in a real Apple store, they don't have the enthusiasm for the products and contrary to what you say, they just seem like box shifters.

 

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I'm really sorry if that comes across as me trying to diminish what you have clearly experienced first hand, but it certainly shouldn't be the norm purely by the way their relationship with Apple works (or should work).

It doesn’t, not at all. I fully understand where you’re coming from and I do appreciate your reply.

it occurred to me that your experience might be referring to the larger 'chain' ASPs such as

Exactly that, the ones I’ve dealt with are box shifters.

The two large Apple stores I’ve been to regularly have certain members of staff who are very recognisable and who have been there for years. Perhaps I’m lucky in that whenever I go there, I end up being dealt with staff I recognise and who really do seem to care about the customer and getting their issues sorted as quickly and painlessly as possible.

/edit - more than once I’ve been in a situation where they’ve said “this is what we should do” which would have involved me leaving kit there for a repair but when I’ve explained how far away I live, they’ve found a work around. Last time that happened, it was for a phone that had lost a high percentage of battery very quickly. Their workaround was to give me a full refund for the phone, despite it being nine months old and for me to buy a replacement. I got a brand new phone, not a refurb. What they were originally proposing was to replace the battery but because it was towards the end of the day, there was no way it’d be done before closing time so I’d have had to go back the next day to collect it.

I’m not sure a third party box shifter would have been able to do that as it took store manager authorisation plus what seemed like a lot of paperwork to process. Would an ASP have been prepared to do it? I don’t know but it just seemed like a step above normal service. Having experienced that level of customer care multiple times when dealing direct with Apple, you can see why I’m not keen on the third parties who (whenever I’ve been in one of their shops) don’t fill me with confidence.