Despite latest gadgets from Apple and Samsung costing the best part of £1,000, customers’ 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 by which we get our devices back to their original form can be difficult or time consuming. Often ending in sending devices through the post and being without for up to a week. As a result, a lot of consumers will resort to going to their local high street repairer to get the job done as quickly as possible.

However, Mo Daryoush, Chief Operating Officer at GadgetWiz said that, although the high street repairers might be cheaper, there is a lot more value in the service consumers receive from a certified repairer, drawing comparisons to getting your car fixed.

“Typically in the UK, over 7 million people use devices that are broken. The main issue they don’t have a gadget repairer that they feel comfortable giving their device to. Most of them have had a bad experience, which is why they’ve been coming to us.

“There’s 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. It’s just like when you book your car in for a service, you can go to the local mechanic, who may be a good mechanic, however the parts he uses might be cheaper. The alternative is going to a bigger established company who has a standard technician but uses the best parts and will charge more.

“It’s about getting the right balance of technicians and parts. 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 keyboard repair for a MacBook, but in fact they dropped water on it so it’s actually a logic board issue with liquid damage, a certified technician can repair it for you.

“That is the balance we try to strike. Not only do we use the highest quality parts, but all our technicians are certified by Apple and Samsung. This ensures our repair is done to the highest standard.”

Importance of process and parts

It’s not just the quality of the parts and service that make for a successful iPhone repair cost. Daryoush said that the equipment used also has a huge effect, adding: “Repairers have to make sure that they’re using the correct equipment, from certified tools to an ESD strap which is the electrostatics strap that you wear when opening up the device. That protects the device from creating a spark in the which could do lasting damage.

“We also make sure that our parts are the highest premium quality parts that we use on devices, and we also offer a guarantee on our parts. If we take screens for example, they’re not the standard cheap screens which you would typically get from high street repairers, it’s a premium screen. With that, we 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.

“Not a lot of repair companies offer that sort of service because they know the screens they are using are not the same quality.”

GadgetWiz

But even though there are repairers able to fix people’s devices, the process of getting your smartphone, laptop or iPad fixed is still arduous.

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

That’s where GadgetWiz changes the market. Using their service, once a repair is booked GadgetWiz will come to the consumer’s home or work address, take the device away and repair it, according to Mo, often all done within a day.

“We try to guarantee your device will be repaired and collected on the same day, which is a service not a lot of people do unless you actually got to physically go into the store and take time out. In some cases, it is on the same day, but most cases you’re either going to post your device out to the repair company, they’ll fix it, look at it and send it back to you in two days.

“We do all on the same day, our drivers will collect in the morning and return back in the evening. This is generally for screen repairs and batteries, which is much easier to do, if your device requires a diagnostic because you’re not sure what’s happened to it, we do say that the timeframe is two days or three days. We give you a timeframe based on what you booked in, so the customer will understand when they will get their phone back.

“Before we get the device we run a full report covering what’s damaged, whether it’s been repaired somewhere else, whether the fault that you booked it in for is correct and it’s not something else.

“Then we do a diagnostic after the repair which we send out showing what we’ve done during the repair so, throughout the whole process, the customer is always informed. From the moment our driver collects the device, we stay in touch with the consumer so they’re constantly being informed and updated because it is worrying to just hand over a device to someone else.

“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. Based on our TrustPilot reviews, we do a great job interacting with the customer to reassure them that we know what we are doing and we are doing it in the right way.”