A 'limited number' of urBeats 3 customers denied service due to serial number mixup

urBeats 3 (Image credit: Beats)

What you need to know

Apple has told repair centers that some urBeats 3 earbuds have incorrect serial numbers.
Anyone with such an issue wishing to have their earbuds repaired may have been refused.
Apple now says that repair centers can try replacing a character in the serial to allow service.

Apple has told its Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASP) that a "limited number" of urBeats 3 earbuds have incorrect and invalid serial numbers on them. As a result, users may find that they are refused service on the $60 buds.

As noted by MacRumors, AASPs have been told that if they substitute a particular character with another when checking the serial numbers, they may be able to create a repair in their system.

A limited number of urBeats3 devices have the incorrect serial number printed on them that results in a 'Serial Number Unrecognized' error when looking up a device.When faced with this issue, check whether the fifth digit of the serial number is an 'E'. If so, validate proof of purchase and attempt to create the repair by substituting the fifth digit 'E' in the serial number with a 'Y'.

If you're someone who has a pair of urBeats 3 with an invalid serial number, make sure that you have proof of purchase before trying to get service on them if and when required. You shouldn't have any issues if you do.

The Beats urBeats3 earbuds have been around since the latter end of 2017 and at around $60 (opens in new tab) they're the most affordable beats available. There are tons of them in circulation as a result.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.