Here's Why We Need Independent Tech Repair People Now More Than Ever
I've said it before and I'll say again and again - Independent Tech Repair People are some of the best and brightest people I know! We need them now more than ever!!
A couple of months ago I posted in the Tech Care Association blog about how I know that "Tech Repair People Are Amazing - All Tech Can/Should Be Fixed". Allow me to drill down on that point and show you how independent tech repair allows for creative independent thought that should be welcome by the OEMs and other big tech companies because it makes your product better. Not only does it make your product better, it will certainly make your customer happier.
Christmas Day 2021 - A Personal Story
Both of them had previously purchased unlocked Nokia phones that they had certainly gotten their money out of over the years. Both were hoping to get more advanced phones this year and I wanted to surprise them with something I knew they both would love.
We don't buy Apple product in our home (the Mac pictured above was a school issued device) which is a long story (Apple hurt my small business multiple times in years past) that I've shared before. It was time to find the best deal on the latest tech for my family. New phones for three of my family members and a conversion of my factory unlocked (always buy unlocked if you can) Samsung.
To get the best deal we needed to switch to Verizon Wireless this year from T-Mobile (thanks for the memories T-Mobile) -- coverage had long been an issue with T-Mobile because we love to travel to remote places where they don't offer very good coverage. So I had planned to move to Verizon for a while now.
I setup a purchase online and picked up everything we needed on Christmas Eve with the hopes of a seamless port to Verizon on Christmas day.
Here's Where The Story Goes South - TECH PROBLEMS
It was a glorious Christmas morning with lots of joy and laughter. I hid the phones in the other room and gave cryptic clues to my girls on another gift for them both. After all of the gifts under the tree were opened despair started to set in with my oldest when she thought there would be no new phone this year. I gave her the final clue to the riddle and the new phones were presented to glowing faces filled with joy!
Christmas day was a success... that is until we went to activate service and port our numbers to Verizon. I started the process before our traditional Christmas Day lunch of tamales hoping to have working phones after our feast. Unfortunately that didn't happen.
After a few hours of waiting two of our four phones started working on the new service. I then spent a few hours that evening trying to work with Verizon customer care via chat, since it was Christmas day. I got transferred multiple times before finding a chat agent that was sincerely trying to help. We contacted the port department and, after confirming things I was told 24 hours.
24 hours later I was on the phone to Verizon customer care, then an hour later transferred to a tier 2 agent who couldn't solve the issue either. After 3 + hours on the phone on Sunday they suggested I go to a physical location to get help. Since it was Sunday evening that would have to wait until Monday morning. When I went to the Verizon store and worked with the manager who swapped the SIM and still NO SERVICE. I asked if we could test the SIM in one another phone. His response - standing in the middle of a Verizon store - was "I don't have a phone to test it on." Ummm...
At that point he suggested I go back to the tier 2 tech support - which I did. After hours on the phone with them and simultaneously chatting with Samsung support, who I bought the phone from originally I was about ready to give up. Samsung wanted me to take it to a uBreakiFix location for warranty check -- I called the local UBIF and a smart repair tech told they didn't handle issue like that (tech repair to the rescue). Verizon had no clue how to fix the issue. Hours upon hours of wasted time for me and all of these tech support people and NO SOLUTION.
Sometimes You Need An Independent Point Of View
I asked the level 2 tech support agent if I should just swap the SIM cards between one of my working Verizon phones and the one that was NOT working. They said NO - "it could cause system issues."
Well, my system wasn't working anyway so I went ahead and did it.
All That Time Wasted And All We Needed Was Some Independent Thought
Let me tell me clear. I don't think of myself as any brilliant mind who was smarter than all of these big tech company employees. I was just one of thousands of independent tech repair people who has a mind for solving problems.
I know this firsthand because I used to operate a chain of independent tech repair shops in the Washington DC area. I know this because I have been around independent tech repair people for more than 20 years now. I have seen firsthand the brilliance of problems solved by this diverse group of people. Independent tech repair people are the problem solvers we all need.
In fact, did you know that independent tech repair actually taught Apple how to repair their own phones. It's true. They have also alerted the masses to hundreds of tech issues. And they've found solutions to thousands of problems and helped millions of people. The simple fact is that...
Independent Tech Repair People are freaking awesome!
Big tech companies need to embrace the independent tech repair industry and lift up these hometown hero's by working with the industry and not against it. Think of all of the man hours saved and the happy customers! It just makes sense.
Let's make it happen big tech companies. ASAP!
Listen now I lead a non-profit organization (the Tech Care Association) that is dedicated to these people and helping them to survive restrictive business practices by big tech companies. So let me be clear, independent tech repair people are needed in our society now more than ever! Our society is becoming more and more tech dependent as more and more products become tech (computerized, if you will). We all need to make sure independent tech repair people survive and thrive if we want to coexist with our tech in the future.
Otherwise we are all destined to spend hours & days working with tech support from big tech companies to solve our problems "by the book".
I don't have that kind of time, do you?
Thanks for the read!
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