Over the past week or so I’ve been asked about Right To Repair and what it means. I’m not sure why I’ve been asked more frequently this week than any other, but a couple customers have brought it to my attention so I figured it would be a good topic.
Right To Repair is legislature that is supposed to give consumers more choice how and by whom repairs are done. In theory it takes the monopolistic repair away from the manufacturer and gives smaller shops and individuals the information and tools necessary to do the same job as the OEM. Right To Repair aims to level the playing field by providing the OEM’s proprietary documentation to smaller shops and consumers. To dumb it down, it’s supposed to allow us to more easily compete.
My opinion is Right To Repair is commonly used by independent shops as an excuse for not being able to compete or succeed in their trade. We’ve always had the right to repair our own devices. Most of the time information from the manufacturer hasn’t been available. For the few of us who are fortunate enough to last more than a couple years we’ve had to make do and be creative. Sometimes repairing stuff requires breaking rules – even if none exist.
I’ve talked before about my hate of phone repair and how it’s a commodity business. New iPhones require more than just a few screws to replace the screen. Cell phone people throw around fancy words like microsoldering. My spell check even flagged it. In any event, someone figured out that to make the cheap aftermarket screens work on newer phones a semiconductor chip needs to be soldered from the old screen to the new. I think they call it microsoldering to make it seem more difficult than it is.
A few years back I brought my truck to my longtime mechanic to have a starting issue repaired. Rather than tell me to bring it to the GM dealer, he figured out a way to make the new module work without programming it. There was no manual because GMC held that tight to their vest to keep their repair bays full. Four years later and my truck still runs like new.
With the exception of the short time I worked as a contractor for Dell, I was never given repair manuals or proprietary tools. For more than 20 years I’ve created processes based on the issues at hand. If I have never seen an issue before I may do a 5 minute skim of Google, but for the most part I’m on my own. Many of the repairs I currently perform are my own design. If I don’t have the proper tool I’ve been known to create one.
On the flip side, the Apple formula for licensed shops was to allow them to do the repairs in-house. Apple Authorized stores were given proprietary tools and the technicians were trained for specific repairs. Over the past few years it seems like Apple has pulled in the reigns and now requires many repairs be sent to their repair depot. The shops that still perform hardware repairs seem to be limited to older equipment that Apple no longer supports. Kind of the reverse of Right To Repair.
As a consumer and a repair shop owner I have always believed I have the right to repair (without capitalizing those three words). I don’t need the government telling me I now have this amazing power to repair something. More importantly I don’t need to wait for laws to change so I suddenly have the right to repair.
The reason I do what I do is so I can create my own rules. Because of that I don’t rely on others for success and excuses when I fail.
Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. He can be reached my cell or text at (978) 413-2840