SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) — 7 On Your Side responded to a consumer complaint involving a 90-year-old woman and her Apple Watch. Stephanie Sierra and our team got involved to help her.
The 7 On Your Side viewer tells us she wears her Apple Watch religiously — in part, because it has life-saving features that would alert her children in the event of an emergency. But a few months ago, she says she had to take it off.
There was a mark left behind on 90-year-old Anita De Marais’s wrist, where she wears her year-old Apple Watch.
“I noticed it on October 27th. When I awakened in the morning… my wrist was all red,” she said.
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De Marais says it didn’t hurt, but she found the mark wouldn’t go away.
“A big red spot and it lasted for about a month — it eventually disappeared, but it was there for a long time,” she said.
It’s unclear what caused the irritation on her skin.
De Marais went out to the Stoneridge Apple store in Pleasanton the next day to try to get it sorted. But she says she was only offered a $130 discount to buy a new watch.
“That was it. That was it. No ‘I’m sorry, oh my goodness, I’ve never seen this before,’ nothing,” she said. “I said to one of the technicians — ‘What would you do if this was your mother?’ Same thing, ‘We will give you a new watch with $130 discount.'”
A few weeks later De Marais went back to the store. She said her watch was evaluated again — and got the same offer with no recourse.
“OK… so that’s when I thought, I’m going to call 7 On My Side,” she said.
Our 7 On Your Side team reached out to the Stoneridge Apple store about Anita’s case.
“And by gosh… two days later I got a notification they had a new watch for me, at no cost to me!” De Marais said. “I went up there and very gladly took it! … So thank you very much.”
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According to a support page on Apple’s website: “A great deal of care and research goes into choosing materials for all our devices. In addition to ensuring that all materials adhere to existing regulations, we developed our own specification for Apple Watch that goes beyond those requirements. In fact, every material that touches your skin has gone through extensive evaluation in accordance with our specification. This includes:
- thousands of material composition tests
- more than a thousand prototypes worn for trial studies
- thousands of toxicological assessments
- consultations with board-certified dermatologists.”
The company adds a small number of people may experience reactions to certain materials due to things like allergies or environmental factors. Be aware Apple Watch and some of its bands contain nickel and acrylates, if you have sensitivities to those materials.
“I’m glad I have it back!” De Marais said. “You can track all kinds of things on this thing — it’s amazing!”
She’s glad to have it not only for convenience, but also for its life-saving help.
“Mainly I bought it so 911 would be alerted right away in case I needed it,” De Marais said.
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The Apple Watch SE or later, Apple Watch Series 4 or later, or Apple Watch Ultra or later all have a fall detection feature that’s designed to respond if the watch detects the wearer has fallen. It will tap the wearer’s wrist, sound an alarm, and display an alert; the wearer can then choose to contact emergency services, or dismiss the alert by responding “I’m OK.” If the watch senses movement, it will allow time for the wearer to respond — but if the wearer appears immobilized, it can automatically call services, and notify designated emergency contacts.
If you want to test whether your watch fits correctly, shake your wrist and then turn your palm face up. If the back of your Apple Watch loses contact with your skin, you should tighten your watch band.
Take a look at more stories and videos by 7 On Your Side.
7OYS’s consumer hotline is a free consumer mediation service for those in the San Francisco Bay Area. We assist individuals with consumer-related issues; we cannot assist on cases between businesses, or cases involving family law, criminal matters, landlord/tenant disputes, labor issues, or medical issues. Please review our FAQ here. As a part of our process in assisting you, it is necessary that we contact the company / agency you are writing about. If you do not wish us to contact them, please let us know right away, as it will affect our ability to work on your case. Due to the high volume of emails we receive, please allow 7 to 10 business days for a response.
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