How pricing works.
What you are paying for, why Apple comes up so much, and the rules I hold myself to.
Every device, same approach
iPhone or Android, iPad or any other tablet, MacBook or Windows laptop, PlayStation, Xbox or Switch. If it has a board in it, send it over.
Where a manufacturer sells its own parts, I buy from them. Apple sells to me directly. For everything else I use suppliers I trust and have used before, and I tell you what is going in. The way I price a repair is the same whatever the device is.
Why I talk about Apple so much
Because Apple repairs are the expensive ones, and that is where people get burned.
Apple pairs a lot of its parts to the serial number of the device they ship in. A screen, a battery or a camera has to be matched and calibrated after it goes in, or you lose features like True Tone and Face ID and get warnings that never go away. Doing that properly takes Apple’s own parts, the right tools and the training to use them, and none of that is cheap.
That gap between doing it properly and doing it cheaply is widest on Apple devices, so it is the one worth explaining. An Android phone, a Windows laptop or a console works the same way here, and usually costs less.
What you are paying for
I am not the cheapest option, and I would rather tell you that here.
The cheapest repair is usually a shop fitting a part nobody can tell you the origin of, with no calibration afterwards. The manufacturer is the safe option, and often cheaper than me, but you book an appointment, travel there or mail it in, and wait.
With me you get the same quality of part, and three things on top:
An hour or two, not a week
The only wait is for the part to arrive. Once I have it, most repairs take an hour or two, and your device is back in your hands. Aftermarket parts arrive fastest, so at its quickest the whole thing, from your request to walking out with a like-new device, takes one to two days. Genuine parts from Apple take a little longer to reach me. Board-level work and liquid damage can take longer too, and you’ll know that before I start.
I come to you
Your home, your office, or somewhere public if you prefer. It costs the same either way. Coming to you is part of the price, not an extra.
No appointment
There is no booking system. You message me and I answer, usually the same day.
If none of that matters to you, the manufacturer is the better deal and I will say so when you ask.
If the budget is tight
Say so when you send the request. There is almost always a cheaper way.
I can use OEM pulled parts or high quality aftermarket parts instead of new genuine ones, and the price comes down a long way. I pick them myself and I will not fit anything I would not put in my own device.
You do give something up, and you will know what it is before you decide. Sometimes it is nothing you would notice. Sometimes, on an iPhone, it is True Tone or a battery warning that will not clear. Either way it is your call, made with the facts in front of you.
What a price includes
One number, covering parts and labor, before anything starts.
No hourly rate and no diagnostic fee added later. If I find something else wrong in there, I stop and tell you, and you decide whether to carry on.
Coming to you, meeting up, or dropping it off all cost the same.
What happens to your old part
On an Apple repair with genuine parts, it goes back to Apple.
That is how buying genuine parts from Apple works. The damaged part is returned, and Apple gives me a credit for it. That credit is built into my price, so I’m telling you up front. If you want to keep the old part, tell me before the repair. It is usually possible, it changes the price, and I will show you by how much.
On everything else, the old part is yours if you want it. If you don’t, I get rid of it responsibly.
The rules I hold myself to
You hear the price first
Nothing gets ordered and nothing gets opened until you have said yes to a number.
If it isn’t worth fixing, I say so
Even when it costs me the job. A repair that costs more than the device is worth is not a favour to anyone.
You know which part is going in
Genuine, OEM pulled or aftermarket, you choose, and I never pass one off as another.
Nothing I wouldn’t use myself
If I would not put a part in my own phone, it does not go in yours.
Your data stays yours
I need your device, not what is on it. Before the handover you set a temporary passcode, so I can test the repair without ever knowing your real one, and you switch it back afterwards. I don’t go looking through it, and if a repair touches your storage we talk about it first.
You know where the money goes
Including the credit I get back from Apple. Nothing about the price is hidden.
Repair before replace
A fixed device is one that stays out of a landfill. If yours can be saved, I would rather save it than sell you on a new one.