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*I found this blog post lurking in draft mode from Feb 2022, I read it and wondered why I hadn’t posted it.
All of this is simply my opinion based on conversations with my customers, techs that claimed to have worked at the organizations I am speaking of and my own personal observations of items brought to me that had visited these places first. It is all just my opinion. There are several Chain “Repair” Shops in my area and I’m not referring to all of them. Just one in particular.
Things haven’t changed much from the time I wrote this. The Chain “Repair” Shops simply get worse in my opinion every year that passes. If it’s not grift to check in a product that you know you don’t give your technicians proper time to tear down diagnose and repair and that it is simply going to be listed as a “no-fix”, it is unethical to even check it in and doubly unethical to charge the bench/diagnostic fee after not properly diagnosing it to begin with.
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As the months drag by there is hardly a week that passes without someone calling me with a device that has been at a Chain “Repair” Shop. Each time I am left dumbfounded by the caller’s version of events.
The most recent call was someone that had a liquid damaged top end iPad. She took it to a local Chain “Repair” Shop the day the water was spilled on it. The iPad still powered on and was usable, but the customer knew it should be seen by a repair shop.
The Chain “Repair” Shop told her they could put it in their “dehydrator” and that would dry out the iPad. They also told the customer that if the product failed within a month of them “working ” on it (I don’t consider placing it in a “dehydrator” working on it) they would cover it’s repair or replacement under warranty.
To achieve this they told the customer they needed to sign onto the Chain “Repair” Shop Device Protection Plan, or some name similar to this and perhaps aptly reminiscent of something the mob used to sell. But I digress. The plan would cost $25/month and the customer would have to pay $99 for the “dehydrator” service (oh, and an additional $99 for every repair they brought in under “The Proctection” racket, I mean plan)
I interrupted the story at this point. I asked her did Chain “Repair” Shop do anything besides stick her $800-$900 tablet in a dehydrator? She said, “No.” Sigh.
I explained to the customer that drying the electronics was only part of the process of dealing with water damage. One of the most important things is to FIRST disconnect the battery. Chain “Repair” Shop never mentioned this to the customer and never bothered to do this. Probably because it takes considerable more time than sticking the tablet in a “dehydrator”.
To disconnect batteries on most iPads requires removing the glued on screen. A time consuming process that is fraught with the possibility of cracking the screen, overheating the screen and damaging the LCD or marring the tablet, or accidentally slicing delicate ribbon cables near to where you are trying to cut away the screen adhesive. And did I mention it takes time? Oh I did.
I explained that the there is always current flowing inside some circuits of almost all modern electronic devices even when the device has been turned off. This electric current can cause electrolysis of the whisper thin copper circuits inside the laptop that have water on them. Copper sulfate crystals begin sprouting from the copper and converting this super thin, microscopic, film of copper traces into basically dust. Each affected trace no longer transmits the signals it was intended to and this over time, as the electrolysis continues, causes the device to become faulty or fail all together.
The problem with just placing a well sealed tablet inside a dehydrator is two fold. One, it it hasn’t had the screen removed so the ability of the dehydrator to thoroughly dry the device is limited. Especially when the water is inside snap together flat ribbon connectors of which there are many. Second even once “dry” any electrolysis of the traces that began will continue. The already formed crystals/corrosion have to be removed or they will eat away at the copper they are in contact with. It is very important to completely disassemble the device and examine it under a microscope and remove all traces of corrosion. But again, this takes time. Something large corporate owned repair facilities do not like to expend. At all. Well unless discussing selling you a Protection Plan…..
Dehydrator only “repair” most often leads to a device “mysteriously” failing weeks or months later as the electrolysis continues to slowly progress until it destroys the device. (Side note this is why you should NEVER purchase a flood damaged automobile, it might be perfect the day you buy it, but this same corrosion is slowly taking place in all of the dozens of sensitive electronics that power modern cars.)
This is exactly what happened to this person. The tablet failed 31 days after it had been “dehydrated”, Chain “Repair” Shop told her she would have to pay another $99 and it would be treated as new problem.
She now would have paid the initial $99, plus the $25/month ($300/yr), plus an additional $99. So realistically $500 to fix her tablet. She asked what it would cost for me to fix it.
I charge $125 to fix water damaged on this device plus parts. When I opened her tablet the corrosion from now 2 months of ongoing electrolysis was extensive. It was all concentrated in one corner of the device as had destroyed the screen connector on the inverter of the screen and also severely damaged the inverter to main board connector. I Was able to rebuild the traces, remove and replace the tiny inverter FPC connector and get the tablet running again. Unfortunately the screen itself had water damage between the digitizer and the LCD panel. It was usable, but there would always be about 20% of the screen that would appear discolored. And as for the “dehydrator” process, there was literally still visible water sandwiched in the screen. So much for the almighty “dehydrator”.
If this tablet had been brought directly to iFixOrFree it would have been immediately opened and had the battery disconnected. The tablet would have been completely disassembled and each component inspected under a microscope for the initial corrosion. Corrosion begins almost immediately, but takes time to actually fully eat away the copper it got started on. Quite possibly had this process been done immediately the only repair needed might have been the screen replacement. Not cheap for this expensive tablet. But well under the $500 the customer was being asked to spend.
In general, and by that I mean almost always, businesses that start selling monthly service plans or warranties are more concerned with that end of their business than what supposedly their primary job is. Chain “Repair” Shop, in my opinion, seems to be less a repair shop, then a warranty sale generator. One of their techs that called looking for a job with me told me he was given 10 to 15 minutes to diagnose and repair a device and if that wasn’t possible deem it a no fix. Lots of money to be made off the basic no fix fees at many shops.
Again, just MY OPINION, but it seems that many of these shops want to charge $100 for no more than 10 minutes of work. Lawyers don’t make this. I have fixed several devices that owners were told were “no fixes” by these chains. It did take me considerably longer than 10-15 minutes. And if I can’t fix it, I don’t charge. Kinda customer motivated incentive, as opposed to get it done fast get the easy cash incentive. Oh, and I don’t sell monthly protection plans. As much as many consumers think they want one. They don’t, they just don’t know it. Yet.
I mean if up to this point in your life you can look back and say, “Yep I’ve spent $400 each and every year I’ve been alive on fixing electronic devices” then these plans are for you. And yes $400 as the plan itself is $300 a year and they charge an additional $99 for every repair under that plan. 95% of people never spend that EVERY year. But people buy this overpriced ridiculous package and then lock themselves into the idiotic advice that spews from these companies.