Lessons from Error 53

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. We arose a couple of Saturdays ago to headlines that "Apple blocks all devices that have had a third party repair" so we knew that there would be much confusion in our days at iFix. The news Friday that Apple are releasing a fix may not be met with the same number of headlines. If you are not a third party repairer then you won't see the issue as dramatically as we do but there are lessons to be learnt for any business. 

Not all businesses in a sector are the same.

When a headline reads that "iPhones disabled if Apple detects a third party repair" then to the uninformed eye that means all third party repairs. It doesn't identify a repair such as a replacement battery that has absolutely no impact or a decent third party repairer who would not perform a repair that caused the issue in the first place. It is a poor and misguided headline...in our opinion.

We created iFix to provide the best repairs on the high street. We centrally train our technicians and ensure that they provide the same experience in any of our stores. We provide that service in ESD labs, that we see as the correct environment in which to repair electronic devices. We have never repaired Touch ID's due to possible security issues and have always referred customers to the nearest Apple Store in this instance. 

If you are establishing your business as having a point of difference, this goes for our competitors also, then having the media say that you are all the same damages the ego at the very least and tarnishes a whole industry at its worst. We are registered with the data protection agency, so are legally bound to protect the data integrity of our customers. We provide a warranty for all of our repairs which is why perhaps we are a little more expensive as we have to provide parts that will live up to that warranty. So all things we feel help to set us apart as a company.

Smartphone Security

We have a meeting this afternoon to discuss the repairing of Touch ID's. We have seen pictures this week of phones being scanned on the London Underground, so financial and personal security remain of paramount importance. We have never repaired the Touch ID buttons that were leading to the Error 53 issues as it was our understanding that this would impact the security of the phone. So when Error 53 headlines appeared, we felt justified in our approach. The announcement of a fix in the next IOS update now suggests that it was linked to a 'testing process' when leaving the Apple factory to ensure the touch ID was present and functioning correctly. Please note now that using a third party Touch ID will still not re-enable the Touch ID function.

Informing the customers

As mentioned at iFix we have never repaired the Touch ID but we may offer the service to get customers back up and running as long as the security of the phone is not compromised. We have always informed our customers of why we do not repair these parts to date and have always sent them to Apple in these rare instances.

You cannot guarantee a repair on a water damaged phone. We don't repair water damaged phones simply because we cannot guarantee the repair would have a long term effect. If the initial contact with liquid does not damage the phone then as time goes on and corrosion begins to damage the circuitry of the device chances are you will start seeing this impact the functionality of the phone. This we feel would be offering an attempt at securing money from customers for a service that does not fulfil its primary purpose.

Why would you go to a third party repairer?

This was seen in a lot of blogs and forums over the last couple of weeks with third party repairers being branded as cheap and nasty in many instances. We created iFix to fill a need we ourselves had as customers with Apple Devices. We wanted fast turnaround repairs. We wanted a reliable service that we could trust. In some instances we are more expensive than Apple due to cost of parts but we turnaround the repair in an hour rather than a two week appointment process. Our technicians are centrally trained and are signed off at each stage for repairs that they can undertake. We provide a warranty for our repairs. We are signed up and compliant to the Data Protection Act.

For a professional third party repair contact us at www.ifix.co.uk