Just found my six month old S3 Apple Watch on the charger red hot and cracked all the way round the screen. Battery looked like a pillow ( rather than flat). Took it to an Apple approved repair centre and they agreed swollen battery. Sent to Apple and they said I must have dropped it. I tried hard to convince them that it had never been dropped, but they wouldn’t budge. Their own forum is full of people with the same problem ( literally thousands) and yet they refuse to acknowledge the problem. I posted an identical statement to this on the Apple forum and it was removed within 12 hours ( apparently it was a “rant”, you be the judge). Something is amiss and needs to be sorted. They have finally backed down over the series1 and 2. Maybe they’ll come to their senses over the 3. There is a class action lawsuit pending in the USA over this very problem.
Similar scenario.
My Wife encountered a detached screen with crack along the top edge. I was in the kitchen with my wife and it just ominously detached. No obvious reason surrounding the circumstances and historically my Wife's care for watches and jewellery etc. is the polar opposite to mine.
Contacted customer care and after explanation and uploaded picture was instructed to post back the watch. I received a really impressive customer care approach. This underpinned decisions made to buy a recognised brand with quality as its backbone.
Unfortunately this soon fell apart.Once the watch was returned the verdict received back was customer damage. I challenged this as the screen popped out without obvious impact, which indicated that an internal pressure may have been present either from battery swell or checked in pressure. From there on in I received total radio silence from the person involved with the case. The watch was returned and has remained in the returned box ever since.
I am more disappointed by the customer care than the watch. The intention started well but close out of the customer complaint and rapid route cause analysis that took place could be nothing short of superficial.
The watch is not suitable for normal daily use and certainly not designed for foreseable misuse. Its eluded that the watch is suitable for sports use this cannot be the case. design flaw, production process flaw or material flaw is the route cause. The relationship between Apple and its customers is based on trust, honesty and integrity. There is a known and foreseable weakness in the product delivered to the customer and this should be addressed directly and in a positive manner. VOC