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Man sues Apple, wins case over Apple Watch Sport impact resistance

A Welsh man on Tuesday won a small-claims case against Apple, one which accused the company of violating the region's Sale of Goods Act in refusing to honor his Apple Watch warranty.

The company has been ordered to refund the cost of Gareth Cross' Apple Watch Sport — £339 (about $489) — and pay an additional £429 ($618) in expenses, according to BBC News. More significantly the company is altering its marketing for the product to no longer claim it's impact-resistant.

Cross bought the Watch in July, and said he noticed a crack in the cover glass 10 days later. When he tried to get it repaired under warranty he was denied.

"I hadn't even been doing anything strenuous, just sitting around watching TV," he told the BBC. "When I got to work the hairline crack had got bigger and bigger so I called Apple up to get it repaired."

Cross commented that despite the case becoming "stressful," given the prospect of facing one of the world's biggest corporations in court, he will eventually buy another Watch. "But I may wait until the next model is out," he said.

In spite of its name the Sport is actually less rugged that the regular Watch. While the latter features a sapphire screen and a steel body, the Sport uses Apple's "Ion-X" glass and aluminum. It is substantially cheaper however, in the U.S. costing at least $200 less.

29 Comments

cnocbui 18 Years · 3612 comments

sog35 said:
So he got a crack on his Watch by watching TV? 

No, the crack was probably initiated in the factory and was initially hard to see.  It could have grown just through finger pressure.

4 Likes · 0 Dislikes
teejay2012 13 Years · 432 comments

His case was 'stressful' and that he did while watching TV cracked a smile, as I immediately thought he was watching porn. Where were his hands? Time will tell...
Sorry

ceek74 13 Years · 324 comments

No.  The crack was what he was smoking while watching TV.

SpamSandwich 20 Years · 32917 comments

Sound completely legit...  :s

1 Like · 0 Dislikes
multimedia 24 Years · 1033 comments

My WATCH SPORT microphone broke and they sent me a new WATCH SPORT body without question.