Having your handheld device repaired can be better and more cost effective than having to pay your mobile phone insurance deductible. If you take a look at the price of a mobile device out of contract you’ll see that these little devices aren’t cheap at all, and in fact many of them cost over $500 USD! That isn’t the price that you paid for your phone though, is it? That is because the stores that sell mobile phones get paid for every contract that they sign you up for, and if you terminate your contract early they’ll still get their money. handheld device insurance can be a good investment if you lose your device, but with sites like eBay, Craigslist, and amazon it can be cheaper to get a new handheld device than making an insurance claim. So, is cell phone repair worth it?
Did you break you digitizer by dropping your phone? Many people every day drop their phones on the pavement, in the toilet, and places that are way beyond me. Now, to get your digitizer repaired by a cell phone repair specialist this will cost you under $120 USD on an iPhone 4. The cost to have your insurance replace your iPhone with a refurbished device is $180 for an iPhone 4 if you have your insurance through Assurion. This does not include your monthly deductible that you have been paying every month through your carrier, and they make money off of that too. I’ve found that the average monthly premium price is around $10 USD even for your iPhone 4. A little bit of elementary math will show you that having your digitizer replaced by a mobile device repair specialist is cheaper, and a broken screen is something that Apple will not cover under their warranty.
I know you must be thinking that having mobile device insurance is a rip-off, and it can be depending on your view of the situation. These phone insurance companies buy broken phones in bulk, and repair them. Then they ship one of those mobile phones to you. I have taken apart a couple of those refurbished phones, and some are missing screws, show signs of water damage, and the list could go on and on. If you lost your cell phone you could get a used one off of one of the sites stated above for about the same price as your deductible. With handheld device repair becoming more prominent in larger cities, it will become easier for you to find a cell phone repair center near you. I’ve seen a lot of these device repair agencies pop up over night it seems, and you may want to be careful about who you choose.
I would do my research before I need this type of service, so that way you aren’t scrambling to make a decision on a company. I would follow these rules when choosing a mobile device repair company: Do they list their prices on their website? If they do they are more likely not to change their pricing on a regular basis, and they should know their market. Do they offer a warranty? Most of the handheld device repair companies that I have found offer a warranty of at least 90 days. Do they have parts in stock? Any one of these companies that has been around for a while is going to have parts in stock for the more popular phones that they service, because no one wants to wait. Do they take mail in phones? The strongest of these companies are ready to accept phones from anywhere in the world. Most of the time they can get your phone back to you in less time than your insurance can.
We can all hope that we never drop our phones, run them over, or take them for a swim. Honestly the chances of this happening are greater than you finding $5 dollars on the sidewalk. We all may need a great cell phone repair service one day, but we all don’t need cell phone insurance. It is a great waste of money, and although it is only $10 a month. Ten dollars a month over a year is the same price of having your screen replaced, and if your a habitual cell phone fumble and miss offender, get an Otter Box!
