Beats Studio 3 Cracking

$199 to fix inside housing panel, which is cracked due a defect in design. $199 to fix headphones which now cost $239 on Amazon. Ridiculous!!!

It's clearly a defect in the design. You can feel the adjustable part of the headband under the plastic, when they're on their smallest sizing the pressure as you widen the overall aperture of the band to put them on is distributed across a wide surface area and the plastic barely moves, but when you extend them to their largest sizing the pressure is clearly on a very small area and you can feel them bowing. Mine have cracked on both sides and it's a matter of time before they fall apart, they're out of warranty but time owned doesn't really equate well to time used as I have them to watch movies when my partner wants to go to bed early and they sit in their case the whole time they're not on my head, so they're pretty lightly used. I paid £220 against an RRP of £300 and thought I had a bargain at the time on something that would last for many years but they're a total waste of money. This thread gives me no hope I'll get any joy from Apple about it and I certainly won't be buying another pair, of this design or any other in the future.

Yeah they keep wanting to cover it under my AppleCare Warranty, which I have to argue.... You can clearly see that the metal band pushes against the plastic which causes the plastic to crack when putting them on your head... unfortunately I have to extend them with my bigger head...lol... Which is makes the metal press harder against the plastic...

So 5 months after the plastic covering the hinges started cracking (posted here in september) and 'fixing' those with tape when Apple a) blamed it on the user and b) wanted €200 to repair it, the cover popped off. Only worn in the house, sitting behind a desk, perhaps 15 - 20 times since September. So all in all my beats, worn in the house occasionally for about a year, have two cracked hinges and one cracked cover (which also distorts the sound).

@Apple, @Tim Cook, either I don't understand how to wear headphones, or you sold subpar junk. This product is obviously flawed from a design and durability standpoint. These are not just cosmetic defects, the thing is literally falling apart when being used as intended. To then have multiple Apple Support Staffers blame it on the user is astounding. It is clear from the AirPods Max-design that Apple learned from the beats failures. Pretending nothing is wrong with your Beats 3 product is not a good look.

LATENT DEFECT! After several phone calls over three weeks Apple finally did the right thing and agreed to provide a replacement pair. Mind you I only had my first pair for ) months before they began to crack on either side above the ear. Sent my beloved Camo Rose colored pattered beats back for repair and they replaced it with a standard black pair. I assumed they were going to replace with the same model/design so I was a bit upset. Fast forward three weeks later, not wanting to deal with the aggravating phone support process again I decided to keep the black pair. Big mistake! Just two days after receiving my replacement pair they cracked in exactly the same locations. WTF! I wrapped them up in gorilla tape and didn’t even bother contacting Apple again. Don’t waste your money in these ****** headphones.

Duct taping works - I fixed two pairs that I thought were beyond repair. I fillled up the cracks with some type of plastic glue and then duct taped over it to keep it in place. They’re usable again now, but look absolutely horrendous. Still happy to have them as a backup option. Also, I’m sure that someone more crafty would be able to do a better job than I did.

Still good enough for me workouts and family use and such, but definitely not for online work meetings in front of clients. For those I got Bose QuietComfort 35 II which can conmect to two devices at once and switch between devices using a switch on the headphones. Once I got the hang of it, it actually switches way faster than with the Beats as it keep the connection to both devices active.

I also tried Sony XM 4 which promises similar functionality but really doesn’t play nice with Apple hardware.

I can post some pics of what my Beats look like now, should someone express interest.

beats are rubbish . cheaply made . they replaced mine twice under warranty but oc they don’t last . i had 2 pairs of sennheisers that lasted over 10 years

They suggested it should be covered under warranty (which expired) b/c it seems like a product defect, and based on other consumer complaints. It seems to be a "big head" issue. which isn't really an excuse. poor engineering / quality.

that’s ridiculous. it isn’t “accidental” when you look at this thread, when it happens in the same place on both sides, when the issue seems to be worse for folks with big heads. Ultimately, the design is beautiful, as all things apple are, but in this case, it simply is not functional.

[Edited by Moderator]

Yup, it isn't "accidental". Especially in my case, I had Bose headphones (which were over 3-4 years old and still working great, I've just had to replace worn out ear pads, which is normal wear and tear) that I had prior to the Beats ones, and so I really rarely used the Beats, and this still happened. At this point, I would just like a pair of working headphones. I don't know of a group or something where this can be escalated too, but it's obviously a problem at this point.

The same problem. This is ridiculous and disappointing, I just contacted them and they said it's accidental damage and not covered by the warranty. I am 100% sure that is a design issue. You pay 350$ and no one is responsible for their fault. I did not make any pressure on headphone. I wasted my money. Never buy an apple product again.

I've had this happen 3 times to me with the Beats Studio 3 Headphones...... Definitely a product defect..... I use mine Daily to watch TV with my AppleTV, I get maybe 2 or 3 months before they crack each time so far..

I had both hinges break and the plastic cracked as well. Mine are under warranty so they sent by FedEx an empty box to ship back to them, again overnight. Once it arrived today I was told the cost was $199. I requested a call back by a "Supervisor" who said there was nothing she could do. Apparently Apple would rather spend money on shipping than just fixing the customers headphones. It's obviously a design flaw and one they wont stand behind. I also think the cost is outrageous. The electronics of the headphones works fine it's just the band and associated hinges. What a shame, they lost me as a customer with this.

I have owned THREE Beats Studio 3. Why three? Because it all cracked above the ear parts but I loved this model. So I just kept wasting my money on this low quality item.

I never dropped any of them but all three got cracks same place.

Apple denied my warranty claim because of the tiny crack I was not aware of (and could not even see because it was locates right inside the ear cup), although the headphone had issue with sound and other issues.

The headphones look nice but the durability is a joke!

Figured I should add my voice to this issue, as I discovered mine were cracked last week, despite taking exceptional care of them (they haven't even been outside my house). They were a birthday gift from my mom last year, and the warranty was expired. As she used her credit card which carries extended warranty coverage, we're trying to get them repaired through that (they approve it, you pay Apple for it and then they take it off your bill).

Here's my photo. Not a shock - it's the same place as everyone else's. Also, I don't have a very big head.