Systems and Operations

Trying to determine if a repair you performed is in warranty, or out-of-warranty can be difficult. I've outlined some steps to help in this situation.

1. Determine if it's within your stated warranty period. Example 90 days.

2. Determine if it's an issue with the repair you performed and not another component.

   • The device might be having an unrelated issue separate from the component you fixed.

3. Determine if the issue is within the scope of your warranty offering. Examples:

   • Most warranties don't cover incidental damage meaning if the customer drops their phone, or breaks the display you fixed, that is not something covered under most warranties.

   • Water damage typically voids most warranties as the water damage could be affecting the part you replaced, through no fault of your installation or part failing.

4. If the repair meets the criteria of being in warranty, replace the faulty part. If the part does not fall under warranty, present the options to the customer as to why, and try and pinpoint the source and let them know the options. That might be a paid-for repair, a software fix, or it may be an unrepairable issue, which happens.

A specific warranty offering might sound something like "Our parts and installation are covered for up to 90 days from the purchase date. The warranty does not cover incidental damage meaning if the repair part gets dropped and damaged. Water coverage, frame damage (forcing more damage to the repaired component), and tampering voids the warranty. If the device is free of any incidental damage, water damage, and frame damage, the repaired component will be replaced for free within 90 days should it be found by a technician to be faulty or defective.

You'll want to contact your legal professional to omit/add more terms and conditions to this.

There are several scenarios where you'll have either defective parts or damaged displays/parts from when you replaced them in customers' devices. These are valuable!

Defective parts

You may find you have defective parts typically in one of two scenarios. First, you are installing the part in a customer's device and find that it's not functioning. Next, you might have a customer come back days or weeks later describing a defective part. If you replace that part, you'll have a defective part in your inventory.

All of the vendors (MS, MD, IG) I have described in the Parts and Tools section will give you a 100% refund on any defective parts you send back. They'll verify that there is no incidental damage to the part, just like your store's warranty as well. You'll log in to your account, create what's called an RMA (return merchandise authorization) and they'll either refund or give you a credit on your account. Check with your vendor of choice to keep up with their policies.

Broken or cracked displays

Broken and/or damaged displays are actually quite valuable. The vendors we have listed will actually give you credit or reimbursement for a qualifying damaged screen that you send back. An example is if you send an iPhone 12 cracked screen back to Mobilesentrix, they'll give you $65. Each site will list what qualifies for what price. In the iPhone 12 example, that would mean it needs to be an OEM display, with a fully-intact non-damaged OLED display. A lot of companies will refurbish and salvage these expensive components, rebuild them, and sell them as refurbished parts.

Each vendor I've presented has an LCD buyback program. There are many in the industry that might offer more money, or suit your needs better however if you use the same vendor for purchasing as you do for LCD return, you might benefit from the internal credits they can provide.