Half of what comes in here should not be repaired.
So the table below says which half. It is the same answer you would get standing at the counter, and it is free either way.
Drop-off hours| What it is doing | Usually | Typical total | Honest verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| TV, no picture, sound still works | Failed backlight strips | $140 to $210 | Repair on a 55 in or larger |
| TV, dead, no standby light | Power board, often four capacitors | $95 to $150 | Repair |
| TV, cracked panel | The panel is most of the set's cost | Panel alone exceeds a new set | Replace |
| Laptop, very slow, fan loud | Mechanical drive plus dust and dried paste | $130 with an SSD fitted | Repair, biggest gain of anything here |
| Laptop, will not power on at all | Charge port, or the board | $60 port, board is not economic | Depends on the diagnosis |
| Laptop, liquid spilled | Corrosion under the keyboard and board | $45 to attempt, no promise | Rescue the data first |
| Desktop, blue screens or restarts | Memory or the power supply | $110 to $160 | Repair |
| Phone, cracked glass, display fine | Screen assembly | $95 to $180 by model | Repair if the phone is under three years |
| Phone, dies at 40 percent | Battery, and it is a fifteen minute job | $70 to $90 | Repair |
| Anything, pop-ups and toolbars | Adware, not a hardware fault | $85 flat, same day | Repair |
| Drive clicking, files still on it | Failing head, and every power-up costs you | $120 here, clean-room is $700 up | Stop using it now |
| Receiver or amp, one channel dead | Output stage or a relay | $110 to $190 | Repair, these are worth keeping |
The bench fee, and what happens to it
- $45, paid at drop-off
- It buys a real diagnosis: opened, tested, and a written cause. Not a guess from the counter.
- It comes off the repair
- If you go ahead, the $45 is credited against the total. You do not pay it twice.
- If it cannot be fixed, you keep the answer
- The $45 stands, because the work was done, and you leave knowing exactly what failed and what a replacement should cost. Nobody quotes you a repair we would not do ourselves.
- Quotes before parts
- Nothing is ordered and no labour beyond the diagnosis happens until you have the number and say yes.
- Turnaround
- Three to five working days on anything stocked. Boards for televisions run seven to ten because they ship from one supplier and there is no second source.
Not taken, and why
- Microwaves and anything else with a high-voltage capacitor. Not equipped, and not worth your money against a new one.
- Game console disc drives. Parts are unobtainable at any sensible price.
- Smart-TV software and account problems. That is a phone call to the manufacturer, not a bench job, and it is free.
- Tablets under about $150 new. The screen alone costs more than the tablet.
- Anything still inside its manufacturer warranty. Opening it voids the warranty and we will tell you so at the counter.
Sending five jobs a year away is cheaper for everybody than charging for five jobs that were never going to work.
Drop-off hours
- Monday
- 9:00 to 5:30
- Tuesday
- Closed
- Wednesday
- 9:00 to 5:30
- Thursday
- 9:00 to 5:30
- Friday
- 9:00 to 5:30
- Saturday
- 9:00 to 1:30
- Sunday
- Closed
123 Main St, Excelsior Springs, Missouri. No appointment. Bring the power supply and the remote with it, because half of what looks like a dead set is a dead adapter.
Ahead of a drive, call (816) 555-0186 and describe what it is doing. Half the time the answer is a sentence long and costs you nothing.