Hi all,
Let's get down to the story first. 3 weeks ago, I purchased a Sony Xperia Z Ultra outright for work purposes as it means I get a phone and tablet in one. On tuesday, the glass on the phone screen cracked. Please note that the phone was in a case and in my pocket when the magnetic clasp pushed on it and cracked the glass. I took it back to the retailer to see whether Sony would be able to fix it but the retailer mentioned that I would have to get it fixed privately as Sony does not have repair centres in Australia. So after searching online and making a few calls, I took it to a repair shop on Broadway who had competitive but not the lowest prices. As promised, they returned the phone the next day with the new screen installed and charged me $295.80. However, when I got home, the Wifi, Bluetooth, and headset were not working. This was surprising as before giving the phone in for repairs, I had connected the phone with a mouse using an OTG cable and synced the company data off it, printed the cards using the bluetooth printer and factory reset the phone.
I went back today and told the repairer about the problem. They took the phone back in and said they would call me shortly when it was fixed. They close at 7pm and when I hadn't received a call till 6pm, I called them. The guy on the other end said that I can come pick up the phone as the wifi/bluetooth module was broken and there is nothing he could do about it. I went to pick up the phone and the guy showed me the open phone and said the part was missing. I asked him where was the part if it was broken. He said he didn't have it as it could have fallen somewhere when he opened the phone. He also kept saying that I had dropped the phone and the soldered part came off. This is not true as I know tat the phone was in my pocket when the screen cracked. It was not dropped. I treated the phone very carefully by putting it in a case and taking really good care of it. My mistake was being careless about not realising it was in my pocket and applying pressure on the screen as a result.
I told him that I had used the wifi and bluetooth the night before to sync the data off it and he kept saying that I was lying. I asked him to give me the part, which he said he did not have. The phone had never been opened and the repairer was the first one to open the phone. I said if the part was broken then give me the broken piece. He was getting verbally abusive at this point and kept fluctuating between his statements saying that the part was never there and that it might have fallen out when they opened the phone. I then told him that I was going to be forced to report him to the ACCC and I needed his business card. He refused to give that to me and when I asked him politely to borrow a pen to write the name of the repairer on the invoice, he snatched the invoice from me and destroyed it. He then said "get out of my f*****g shop. This is my private property, get the f**k out." He also tried charging me by coming out from behind the counter. If his girlfriend wasn't holding him back, he was sure to have physically assaulted me. I then again asked him, politely, if he could give me the receipt as I needed that as I had paid him for the service. At this point he got really worked up and started pushing his girlfriend away and being verbally abusive. I then left the shop as I did not want to get in a brawl with him.
I can get my hands on a copy of the invoice as I made a photocopy to give in to the office.
Also apart from the cracks on the glass the phone is in absolutely pristine condition. There are no dents, marks or cracks on the phone. If something had in fact broken, it would have stayed inside the casing and well that particular module would not be working.
Now I need your advice as to how to deal with this situation. I haven't had any experience with this before. I am sure that the phone was working fine before I gave it in for repairs as I had used it via an OTG cable and a mouse. The only thing I can't vouch for is the speaker headset as I did not make or receive any calls after the screen was cracked. Also the guy being so violent is pretty shocking.
This is a serious matter so I would really appreciate some useful answers.
Thanks in advance guys!
TLDR Section:
Had my phone screen repaired at a local repair shop. The repairer caused more damage and is refusing to fix it. Instead he is be aggressive verbally and was threateningly charging me out of his shop. If I had stayed a second longer, he would have assaulted me. He also snatched my invoice that was paid for and destroyed it.
This is one of the reasons why I will never really trust a repair shop. They are providing a service with which there are really no real skills or qualifications required.
The first thing I would do is to report it to the police. He has scammed you and damaged your property and that's the first port of call. I would also suggest getting legal advice as well as reporting him to the relevant authorities to get his business shut down.
My advice is to do it yourself next time. All of the parts are available on eBay and these crooks literally have no more skill than anybody with repairing phones. All they do is rip you off and charge you for what is essentially manual labor.