Mall iPad repair fail - thoughts on how to proceed??

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#1302565 12-May-2015 10:23

johnr:
Fred99:
tdgeek: If they want tio play this game, play your game. I'd threaten that I've told my friends and we are going to protest outside of the shop with signs saying what happened.

In a mall you'd be very quickly issued with a trespass notice by security staff, then arrested by police if you persisted.

Agree this is a dumb idea

Outside of a mall, I've seen it work.
Someone I know was shafted by a CPA who "forgot" to put about $15k of his money into a trust account, the CPA's business became insolvent and was wound up.
He hired a Santa costume, and waved a placard on the street outside the accountant's house. First day was wasted, as the accountant had shifted house. When the owner or tenant got home, he re-directed him to the ex CPA's new address. Didn't take long to get his money back in full.

timmmay

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#1302575 12-May-2015 10:28

mrtoken: At times like these I like to pay the $45 dollars for the dispute tribunal, fill in the paper work, lodge it and then go and drop the papers off.

This. Even having a bank statement showing you'd paid them would be a good start.

Inphinity

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#1302578 12-May-2015 10:30

They handed over an ipad and $110, with no receipt or any sort? Do you have anything at all to acknowledge they even have the device?

tdgeek

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#1302591 12-May-2015 10:37

Inphinity: They handed over an ipad and $110, with no receipt or any sort?

Thats makes it difficult. They agreed thay caused the fault but will they say that in court? Their business practices show that they probably are not very good technicians, or at running a business, and perhaps paying bills. I dunno how "your word vs theirs" with little or no evidence the Tribunal will go.

Inphinity

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#1302595 12-May-2015 10:40

Even an eftpos receipt or a transaction to their business on a bank statement could be enough, but if it was cash, that will be hard.

trig42

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#1302629 12-May-2015 11:21

I really want to know how this turns out, but I suspect we won't hear as the OP is reporting it second hand to start with.

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sen8or

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#1302632 12-May-2015 11:22

Interesting tale on the risk of repair through mall kiosk, thanks.

I tried recently to get my sons apple Ipad mini repaired, some bright spark at his school stuffed the headphone piece and now the sound is buggered. Clearly not a warranty issue (and its outside any period anyway). I phoned the authorised apple repairer in Christchurch only to be told they don't repair Ipad minis, but I could do an exchange for about $300 for a 2nd hand one (WTF?) - they claimed apple didn't allow repairs on the minis.

Small repairer seems the only way to go, but even then, its pretty marginal if its worth it.

Part seems cheap on trademe, +/- $10.00, but if its $110 just to maybe get something repaired (or not) again, is it worth the hassle?

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#1302637 12-May-2015 11:27

I know a few who have had repairs done by third party repairers, in some case little more than a bedroom business. Some can be pretty good and well priced, its all about
hearing good things and haveing that confidence.

andrew027

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#1302657 12-May-2015 11:42

There's a lot wrong with this story.

I'm assuming that the lady or her daughter didn't pay for AppleCare, which would cover accidental damage as well as any manufacturing-type issues. Fair enough, most people probably don't. I paid for AppleCare for my daughter's iPad because I know she can be a bit rough and not really look after things, so it gave me some additional options for repairs if I needed them. Just my choice.

I'm assuming the lady also didn't contact Apple or look for an authorised service agent (e.g. a YooBee store, or ServicePlus in Auckland and Wellington - I'm sure there are others). I wouldn't expect a kiosk at the local mall to be any more capable of repairing a complicated electronic device any more than I'd expect the salesperson behind the counter at Michael Hill to be able to fix a broken Seiko watch - in fact I wouldn't trust them with anything more complicated than fitting a screen protector. Were any questions asked about their qualifications to do this work, or what guarantees they offered? Any guarantee - or disclaimer - should be able to be provided to the customer in writing.

Handing over a device worth hundreds of dollars, plus $110 in cash, with no receipt etc., is just crazy. Especially as these places close down and disappear before you can say "Where's my iPad?"

I hope this lady can get some leverage with Consumer, or the CGA, or Fair Go, but seriously, she's made a lot of mistakes.

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#1302668 12-May-2015 12:11

sen8or: I phoned the authorised apple repairer in Christchurch only to be told they don't repair Ipad minis, but I could do an exchange for about $300 for a 2nd hand one (WTF?) - they claimed apple didn't allow repairs on the minis.

It's not a second hand unit, it's a refurbished unit that has gone through proper quality control checks. This is really the only way to get a timely and reliable resolution to a damaged or faulty iPhone or iPad - as you say Apple's agent don't repair them in NZ and as this story proves using a cowboy is a very bad idea.

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#1302669 12-May-2015 12:16

andrew027: I'm assuming that the lady or her daughter didn't pay for AppleCare, which would cover accidental damage as well as any manufacturing-type issues. Fair enough, most people probably don't. I paid for AppleCare for my daughter's iPad because I know she can be a bit rough and not really look after things, so it gave me some additional options for repairs if I needed them. Just my choice.

It's my understanding that Applecare+ gives you a discount on the usual steep out of warranty repair fee, but they won't resolve accidental damage for free. Still I agree that it's worth having given how easily these portable devices can be damaged.

I'm assuming the lady also didn't contact Apple or look for an authorised service agent (e.g. a YooBee store, or ServicePlus in Auckland and Wellington - I'm sure there are others). I wouldn't expect a kiosk at the local mall to be any more capable of repairing a complicated electronic device any more than I'd expect the salesperson behind the counter at Michael Hill to be able to fix a broken Seiko watch - in fact I wouldn't trust them with anything more complicated than fitting a screen protector. Were any questions asked about their qualifications to do this work, or what guarantees they offered?

Totally agree. In theory the CGA requires services to be performed with due skill and care, but there are plenty of business willing to blatently flout the law and worry about the consequences later.

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#1302673 12-May-2015 12:24

Thank you to the person that copied my post to here as all help is appreciated.
My niece was given this iPad a few years ago as a Christmas present and no no other care or Warrenty would have been purchased. Yes every thing in my original post is word for word correct and I only got involved last night as my niece is very independent and tried her best to sort this. She is a high school student with a part time job in the same mall and trusted these people. Why shouldn't she? She's a kid!! This place has offered to get the iPad back for us but no refund as they replaced the screen which is why it was dropped off. My question is do we have a leg to stand on that the iPad went in working but had a cracked screen and now is not working and beyond repair because they tell me the Mother board was damaged when removing the screen. I am no IT person so don't even know if it's possible for the mother board to be damaged that way but the short of it is this girl has been mucked around for 3 months, works part time after school to say her way through life and trusted this store and did as asked which was to say up front. Yes she has learnt her lesson regarding this so no need to bleat on about the fact she paid cash up front with no receipt as that isn't the issue and the store don't even deny this. The issue is she dropped something off working and now it is not working and they are saying too bad. They still replaced the screen which is why it was there so can keep the money if they want as they did the job - they just damaged it to beyond it being able to work which they admit but say that's too bad for her. The very original question if you read it without skimming it is can they do that or do we have a leg to stand on?

Inphinity

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#1302681 12-May-2015 12:39

Aunty:Yes she has learnt her lesson regarding this so no need to bleat on about the fact she paid cash up front with no receipt as that isn't the issue and the store don't even deny this. The issue is she dropped something off working and now it is not working and they are saying too bad. They still replaced the screen which is why it was there so can keep the money if they want as they did the job - they just damaged it to beyond it being able to work which they admit but say that's too bad for her. The very original question if you read it without skimming it is can they do that or do we have a leg to stand on?

That may very well be the issue, in fact. Great she's learned the lesson, but after the fact it makes it much harder for any claim.

If you had, for example, a job sheet/receipt of some sort saying you'd dropped the device off in working order with a broken screen only, you'd have an easy claim. You don't, and while the shop may say to you while you're standing there that is what's happened, will they say that in front of a disputes tribunal hearing?

You can try it, and see, but if they stand there and say "It was dropped off to fix a broken screen, but we determined there was more damage than that. We replaced the screen anyway as directed but we don't do the necessary repairs to address the other damage as it is beyond the originally agreed screen replacement service." what are you going to do?

You could try to get something in writing, or recorded in some other way, from them, acknowledging fault, to have a solid claim. If not, you can try it anyway, and they may just cave and stump up something in exchange for not being dragged through a tribunal, but it could become a crap shoot. Typically disputes tribunals and similar favour the consumer, but they generally require some semblence of evidence beyond he-said-she-said. However, there have been instances where that's enough. So, yes, you have a leg to stand on, but it's a bit of a wobbly leg at the moment.

nitrotech

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#1302685 12-May-2015 12:50

Aunty: Thank you to the person that copied my post to here as all help is appreciated.
My niece was given this iPad a few years ago as a Christmas present and no no other care or Warrenty would have been purchased. Yes every thing in my original post is word for word correct and I only got involved last night as my niece is very independent and tried her best to sort this. She is a high school student with a part time job in the same mall and trusted these people. Why shouldn't she? She's a kid!! This place has offered to get the iPad back for us but no refund as they replaced the screen which is why it was dropped off. My question is do we have a leg to stand on that the iPad went in working but had a cracked screen and now is not working and beyond repair because they tell me the Mother board was damaged when removing the screen. I am no IT person so don't even know if it's possible for the mother board to be damaged that way but the short of it is this girl has been mucked around for 3 months, works part time after school to say her way through life and trusted this store and did as asked which was to say up front. Yes she has learnt her lesson regarding this so no need to bleat on about the fact she paid cash up front with no receipt as that isn't the issue and the store don't even deny this. The issue is she dropped something off working and now it is not working and they are saying too bad. They still replaced the screen which is why it was there so can keep the money if they want as they did the job - they just damaged it to beyond it being able to work which they admit but say that's too bad for her. The very original question if you read it without skimming it is can they do that or do we have a leg to stand on?

I suggest you take a measured approach to this and leave all options open, first thing is to get the device back and get it assessed by another repairer as 'beyond repair' is an odd statement - they possibly blew the backlight chip or broke the digitizer clip but until someone competent opens it up you'll never know.

You could take it to the disputes tribunal but you really need the facts first - happy to help you out assessing the device but i don't know which part of the country you're in we have stores in Tauranga and Rotorua - if you're in Auckland I could suggest a couple of places.

CYaBro

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#1302709 12-May-2015 12:57

johnr:
sbiddle: Getting devices repaired by the many small stores opening up is always risky. I know somebody else who had 2 phones repaired using fake parts a few weeks ago.

Yes these places are cheaper, but in some cases there are reasons for that.

Not when you ask if genuine parts are going to be used, After I confronted the owner of the business here in Takapuna they refunded me very fast

Warning don't trust thsee mall repair places or little shops about the place like on Huron Street in Takapuna, The quality of the parts used are so poor

Well that part's easy as Apple don't supply replacement parts for iPads or iPhones unless you are an Apple Authorised Service Provider. (You can see the AASPs on the Apple website)
Even then they don't replace screens, you would get a whole replacement unit.

All parts that any of these repair stores are selling are not genuine.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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