Mobile Care

Phone counters inside shopping centres handle the small emergencies of modern life: a screen that cracked in a parking lot, a battery that no longer lasts the afternoon, a charging port full of lint, a case and a cable to replace the ones that finally gave up. The convenience is the point, since you can leave a device and finish the rest of your shopping while the work happens.

Back up your device before you hand it to anyone, ideally the night before rather than in the parking lot. Then ask the questions that decide whether a repair is worth doing: whether the work happens on site or gets sent away, roughly how long you will be without the phone, what kind of parts are used, and what warranty comes with the job. Expect to provide a passcode or to unlock the device yourself, and ask what happens to your data if the repair goes badly. For an older handset it is always worth asking whether the fix makes sense at all, or whether the money is better put toward a replacement.