Fyxit — Local services in Champaign

20 August 2015 Edit to respond to Fyxit’s response. WOW is all I can say is I continue to feel violated by the owners of Fyxit. The response from Fyxit is just as contradictory and arrogant as they were each time I contacted them. Other's mileage may vary but with the vitriol demonstrated here in their reply, surely there will be others that feel just as violated when things go poorly - as they would normally do every once in a while. To me integrity is how a person addresses their mistakes, which in this case was poorly – very poorly.

My review was truthful and honest - even to the point of NOT disclosing all the ugly details of how I was treated. By the way, Brendan knew when Fyxit posted this reply that I was out of town for next two weeks so the offer to replace my broken phone if I bring it back in seven days is just one more example of the arrogance and dishonesty at play here.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Really sorry to do a poor review but this was one HORRIBLE experience.

Dropped off my iPhone 4S-32Gb to have the cracked screen replaced. Came back to the store a few hours later and Brendan (Owner) walks up to me saying he had bad news, telling me that because my phone was old, when the technician pulled the battery out he yanked a processor chip off the motherboard.

He was very apologetic and offered to discount the repair and replace my phone or apply the value of my phone to a new one if I wanted - so far so good... though by looking at the YouTube videos afterward warning to pry the battery connection AGAINST the processor rather than yank on the connection I was not sure the problem was the 4-year old phone as much as it was a ham-fisted technician.

Anyway, based on Brendan's sincerity I offered to pay the full price of the repair, including a new battery, since that was what I brought it in for. He agreed to get me a replacement 4S-32Gb and loan me a phone until my replacement phone came in - again so far so good...though the loaner was a 4 so none of my apps or the connection to my watch would work. And to make matters worse the only iCloud account I have associated with a 4 was from Australia 4-years earlier and I had lost access to all my contacts in the iCloud since then - not life threatening but REALLY a pain...

A couple days later I get an email from Brendan saying they found someone who could fix my original phone. When I get in the store he tells me "we found a man who was able to jumper wire the connections of the chip and solder them back to the motherboard". I skeptically said that didn't sound as wonderful as the agreement to replace my broken phone, nor did he offer to pay back any of the full price I paid for the repair as part of the original agreement.

When I asked what type of guarantee I would get on the "jumper wire" repair, Brendan proceeds to tell me some analogy of a car repair shop where I would may get some type of limited guarantee. When I pointed out this was not a car, nor a car repair shop, the co-owner Andrew, who by contrast seems VERY shady compared to Brendan's almost too honest demeanor, proceeds to tell me that he doesn't give out his secrets but that it was a 70-year old man who has been soldering for over 50-years - apparently a ploy to make me feel at ease since I am obviously approaching 50 myself - though it fell quite short if that was the intent...and with each word coming out of Andrew’s lips I felt more and more uneasy.

Bottom Line: I paid $110.00 to replace a battery and screen on a 4-year old iPhone 4S and to have it ripped apart and "jumper wired" back together...not a great business model if you ask me. But then I am obviously NOT the target demographic for this store...I came to them based on the wonderful reviews in Yelp and Google, maybe those were simple repairs or maybe my experience was an anomaly. But as a business owner myself, I offered to Brendan that he may want to pause a moment before speaking and think about his words from the perspective of...

It is my first time I am writing a review, but feedbacks on eBay. I got back home and as soon as I was able to upload my computer, it is the first thing I am doing . I am as satisfied as it gets. no wonder their reviews are all great. their service def surpassed my expectation. 12/10. My macbook air couldn't come up from about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I called apple , they suggested some solutions but none worked. I talked to almost everyone in their department and we tried almost any possible solution which can be done at home. I did my own research as I am familiar with computer to some extent but to no avail. Nothing worked. I took it to apple store( their contractor in the mall in Champaign )to fix it, they checked the hardware and , all parts were functioning well.it was a simple plugging and less than 5 min at the desk. I didn't have much important data on it but I wanted some of my writings and personal informations so it would have not been a deal breaker if I had reset it to manufacture setting but I was trying to avoid , and save it for the last resort. The guy in the mall asked me to leave my computer there for at least 24 hours, even didn't check it to see if he can run it in a safe mode. Just told me we charge you flat rate just to look at it, even if there is nothing wrong with it and we carbon copy your data. Then for reseting it to factory setting we charge you another flat fee and if we need to do more work on it, we may even charge you more! I said wow, I can buy a used computer with that price! so I left and again tried and wanted to just boot it from another computer but it could have been a hassle as I needed to borrow an apple computer and use a fire wire which I didn't have. I just used my other computers meanwhile and I am happy that I did as I were just about to reset the whole thing. 2 days ago, my friend suggested this place and I had it in mind but I already had set my mind on reseting it, till last night when I was reading News Gazett I saw an ad for them and a link to their review page. The more I read the reviews, the more I became sure, more and more that I will take it there.the reviews all were great but very few which I could see the response were all courteous and suggesting some resolution. in my opinion, some of those reviewers expected more than they should but still the response were all about resolution and great customer service. Today I was sure that I would stop by there. called first, walked in and right away Chris, the gentleman who is taking care of apple items showed up. no waiting, no line! I asked him if it is ok with him that I sit next to him as he works on my computer and he agreed right away. He checked it fast, opened it, cleaned it, he didn't need to go the extra mile but he did. and he copied my data on the external drive. Honored my discount, and told me that he can install OS. but as I knew how to do it, I asked him that I will try it on my own and if I couldn't, I'll bring it back. The price they charged me was extremely reasonable, even cheap that I feel guilty right now of how little I paid for it. I love to local people start their own business and create jobs, do a great service, thrive and keep the money in town and make it a better place. They def have succeeded that goal and I hope their business grows bigger as they deserve it and are doing a great professional job. did I mention that my computer was done in about an hour? did I mention that I am typing on it now ? did I mention I created a yelp account just to write my first review ever and I am copying it here? Thanks Chris and everyone in this great store. I wish you the best of luck and I am so sure that I will tell everyone about you and I will bring all of my devices to you even for small problems as you should keep doing the good...

Please do not pay $175 to get your cracked iPhone screen repaired here. Immediately after I got the screen fixed I noticed the home button was crooked and sticking sideways out of the phone, the screen has a dull appearance, and it sometimes glitches as I am typing or scrolling. I planned to take it in after Labor Day weekend. Over the weekend, I did NOT EVEN DROP MY PHONE, and the middle of the screen somehow cracked while walking into a friends house. Unfortunately, fyxit just told me the warranty will not cover this because it is not the "manufacturer or labors fault" that the phone screen is so bad it cracked without being dropped, the home button sticks out, and the screen glitches with a dull appearance. Anyone is much better off just going to the Apple Store. I have learned.

Edit in reply to the FyxIt response I am saddened that I am just now seeing the response from FyxIt literally months later. It is obvious that if they actually wanted to solve the problem, they would have contacted me directly I am also saddened that FyxIt decided to try and depict me as an uncurteous customer who walked out while an employee was speaking to me. This was simply not the case. The employee told me it would cost another $100 to fix my screen. I shook my head no. She said "I'm sorry about that." And I left. That is literally what happened. I was not throwing a fit, I just wanted to get out of there before my frustration got the best of me (unless FyxIt preferred I cause a scene). When I mentioned in my original review that you are better off going to Apple, that is NOT because of the warranty issue, but because of the quality and price issue. Apple charges $129 and you will not receive some bogus off brand manufacturer screen, you will get the real deal. All that said, I do not believe FyxIt is a bad business; look at all their positive reviews, that is why I went there in the first place. But I do believe that I was an isolated incident in which their customer service and product quality failed. I was given a screen that glitches and has a dull cast. I've discovered the screen literally does not work if the phone is lying flat. But, because of the mysteriously appearing crack, the blame for all the poor quality issues is...