Our Stripdown & Diagnostics Charge- Proper Service at a Fair Price
In the majority of cases, our repairs are successful- in part because we’re good at what we do, and also because we’re upfront with customers about the chance of success, and what can and can’t be fixed.
However, we can’t always tell if something is repairable simply by looking at it, and it does sometimes happen that some things are impossible, impractical (e.g. non-availability of replacement parts) or simply uneconomic to fix. (Particularly in the last case, the customer themselves might also decide not to proceed with the repair).
In such cases, you don’t pay the full repair charge- only charge a moderate diagnostics/stripdown fee. This is generally £20* at the time of writing– typically a small fraction of the repair charge- and covers the technician’s time and overheads involved in diagnosing your device.
Note that:-
- You won’t be charged for the quick check-over we give all tablets, smartphones, computers etc. before they’re booked in. It’s only if- and when- our technicians have them on the bench for further inspection, disassembly etc. that this applies.
- This is included in the cost of the repair if your device is successfully fixed– i.e. you don’t have to pay any extra.
- We’ll always keep you informed about charges including this one– if we need you to agree to anything, we’ll contact you first to confirm.
* This is subject to change, but you’ll always be kept informed of any possible charges beforehand
“No Fix, No Fee”- Why Doesn’t Repair St Andrews Offer It Too?
How Much Time Are They Actually Going to Spend Investigating Your Repair?
It’s undeniable. “No Fix, No Fee” seems as if it really ought to be a no-brainer, good deal for you, the customer. Doesn’t it?
It’s a great selling point, and many of our rivals offer it. You might think it’s in our own interests to justify why we don’t… but let us try to explain why it’s not such a good deal for you either.
Take an iPad 4 repair that we carried out recently, on behalf of another company. This seemed to be completely dead when they got it, and even they’d figured out it was probably a power-related issue. They took a look at the battery and dock connectors… and when neither of those turned out to be the problem, that was as far as they went.
Following this, we were contracted to see if we could get it fixed in their behalf. We spent a bit longer on it, determined that the fault was related to a damaged chip on the board (the one that controlled charging and USB), and had it back in working order.
Bear in mind that this job was a special case, however. Here, the original company wanted to keep a particular customer happy- otherwise it’s unlikely they’d have paid us to fix it for them when they couldn’t manage themselves.
In almost any other case, the iPad would have been returned to the customer as an “unfixable” write-off after the original connector checks carried out by the original company.
Overview
- The stripdown/diagnostics fee covers our time and overheads if a device turns out not to be repairable.
- This is far less than the cost of the repair itself- typically around £20.*
- We’ll always let you know of potential charges in advance.
- “No fix, no fee” generally means companies are less willing to risk their time diagnosing your device if the problem isn’t obvious.
- This means your device is more likely to be written off as “unrepairable”– which might not have been the case with us.
The view through our microscope of the iPad 4 repair in progress. Not all repair centres will put this much effort in.
They Can’t Afford to Diagnose Some Faults Properly
The main reason they probably didn’t spot the problem is that they couldn’t- and didn’t- spend the time required to diagnose a less-obvious fault like that.
Why? Simple answer- They probably couldn’t afford to. Let’s say they spend an hour or so diagnosing a problem (and believe us, there are some jobs that take longer than that).
Now imagine that it turns out the problem isn’t fixable- something they (or we) couldn’t have known in advance. That means they don’t get paid for the hour of the technician’s time (and associated overheads)- needed just to find that out.
Most companies operating on a “no fix, no fee” basis won’t take that risk, because they can’t afford to. It’s more sensible for them to cut their losses after the basic (and quick) checks and return it to you as “unfixable”. Of course, if (as happened here) it would have been repairable with further work… well, too bad- you’d have never known that before your expensive iPad went in the bin.
(Bear in mind too, that most such companies compete primarily on price, not skill and experience- and they probably don’t have half the dedicated repair equipment that we have either. Even if they knew what the problem was, it’s far from guaranteed that they’d have been able to fix it as we could).
On Average, Our Way Makes More Sense for You
It’s undeniably frustrating to have to pay anything at all if your phone, tablet or computer still hasn’t been repaired. We appreciate that “no fix, no fee” might have saved the customer £20 or so in that case. However, that’s with the benefit of hindsight- in these cases you (and they) don’t know what the problem is in advance, and it doesn’t make sense to write off (e.g.) your expensive iPad simply because a “no fix, no fee” repair centre wasn’t going to give it the amount of time it needed.
Since we know we’ll at least receive some compensation for our time if it doesn’t work out, we can afford to give your device the proper examination it deserves, and a much better chance of being repaired successfully.
If you’ve spend several hundred pounds on a tablet, phone or computer, it’s worth giving it the best chances. Why risk it with a cut-price service that has a vested interest in writing it off if it’s too much work for them? At Repair St Andrews we’ve been in digital repairs for over a decade. Trust us for all your digital needs!
