Speakers’ Corner: Three reasons why broken devices go unfixed

Wahaj Khan, chief financial officer at GadgetWiz explains where the repairers are going wrong

Despite the latest gadgets from Apple and Samsung costing the best part of £1,000, users’ attempts to protect their devices are often lacking.

According to research in 2017, around 7.5 million consumers in the UK alone were using devices that were damaged.

Although the fix is simple enough, the process in which devices are returned to their original form involves sending devices through the post and being without them for up to a week. An awkward and time consuming solution.

It’s understandable that high street repair shops are appealing but there are two factors that go into a phone repair; the quality of the parts that are used, and the quality of the technician who’s about to carry out the work, both of which are largely omitted by the high street.

Importance of process and parts

Obviously, parts need to be the highest quality and the best will have the added benefit of a guarantee too.

Take screens for example, as we use premium screens, we can guarantee that if there’s any faults with your screen, or any software issues within a certain period of time, we will have it collected, replaced and returned back to you.

It’s not just the quality of the parts and service that make for a successful repair either. Repairers have to make sure that they’re using the correct equipment, from certified tools to an electrostatics strap which protects the device from lasting damage.

But once you have the parts, having the trained people to carry out the repair is also a challenge. In many ways the technicians are more important because they understand the full ins and outs of all devices.

That means that if we’re in a situation where a customer has booked in a phone repair because the screen isn’t working properly, but in fact they dropped water on it so it’s actually an issue with liquid damage inside the device, a certified technician can identify the problem and repair it for you.

Speed and efficiency

Not a lot of repair companies offer that sort of service, and even though there are repairers able to fix people’s devices to a high quality, the process of getting the phone fixed in the first place is still arduous.

Whether it’s a high street repairer, recognised name or a repair through the post, we are still sacrificing either time or quality to get the device fixed, sometimes being without their phone for days.

But using a service that will come to the consumer, take the device away and repair it all within a day, such as GadgetWiz, the problem is dramatically reduced.

To guarantee a device will be repaired and collected on the same day is a service not a lot of repairers provide, unless the owner takes the time to go into the store. In fact, most of the time the device is posted to the repair company, they’ll fix it and send it back to you in two days.

Instead, by coming to the device, drivers can collect in the morning and return back in the evening. Although this is generally for screen repairs and batteries, which are much easier to do, if a device requires a diagnostic, the time frame can be two days or three days. That is still shorter than if a customer would have to post their device.

At every stage, it is important to communicate with the customer. People’s iPhones, MacBooks and Tablets are the most precious thing they have, so to hand that to someone and then see them drive off, it is a bit daunting because they’re kind of unsure whether they’ve made the right decision.

Wahaj Khan is chief financial officer at mobile phone repair shop GadgetWiz