uBreakiFix - Phone and Computer Repair — Local services in Dedham

TLDR: Came in because of a broken screen, during fix they broke the SIM card tray and apparently cannot fix, rendering the phone useless. AND still charged FULL for "repair", which I had to pay if I wanted to trade in the phone. Speaker broke a week after as well.

UPDATE 3: Welp I didn't see the owner's message in time, and it went over 90 days so now they won't do anything at all. Wish they would email, or call or anything other than leaving a reply on this. I paid full price for them to fix my screen and instead they break my SIM card and say they don't fix that. Oh well, life.

UPDATE 2: Google trade-in claims that my device was not able to turn on when they received it. There's no way for me to verify this but honestly with how this place treated my phone I wouldn't be surprised if it we're true.

UPDATE: Almost a week later, speaker stopped working, so I guess I gotta take back the statement that I'd still recommend this place despite my experience. The screen was placed nicely on and tight but I guess underneath not so much.

Note: I'm sure this is rare, and if you need something fixed this place seems fine, and customer service seems acceptable. This is just my one-time experience.

My Pixel phone was beginning to show signs of a damaged battery, with constant shutdowns and battery drainage. Unfortunately, it was a month or two out of warranty and the Google store rep recommended uBreakiFix, but going to a place to get someone else to repair something is not what I usually do. So, I did what I usually would do, try to fix the issue myself. However, I was not being too careful and damaged my screen in the process. Instead of waiting 3+ days for a new screen to be delivered I decided to just come to this location and get it over with. Two long bus rides later, instead of it being fixed within an hour like I was told by the Google service person, they told me they have to do a diagnostic service which can take up to 48 hours. I thought that was ridiculous since I already knew what the problem was but after the hassle of going there, I pretty much just did it.

A day later and what a shock, the issue is the screen and nothing else. End of the day, however, they tell me that a new screen installed works, but now the sim card doesn't read, and that they don't fix that. At first, I wasn't sure if it was my attempt at repairing the battery or if it was something they did, but I asked if I had to still pay full price despite receiving a clearly damaged phone still, and they said yes.

On the third day of all this, I came to pick up my phone, they had me wait a while because they didn't have it ready. Which was understandable since I wasn't sure if I wanted it or not after the fact. When a line started, my phone was ready, I paid, signed and left. First thing I noticed was the fact that they did not factory reset my phone like I requested after they told me about the sim card issue. The second thing I noticed was a text message, and the date and time. Which confirmed one thing for me. My sim card was working before I dropped off my phone.

So basically, they broke my sim card tray somehow and I still had to pay full price for the service provided. Despite the fact that I now have to get a new phone because of this. And I couldn't just refuse to pay for the repair because the best action for me to take is to trade in my phone and that can only be done if I sent in a working phone in the best conditions possible. Overall, my one and only experience with uBreakiFix...

If you like dealing with employees who give you attitude for asking questions, look no further. I asked the employee if they would check the headphone jack as well because it seemed like it wasn't working right and the employee snapped, slammed his hand on the counter, and said "We do a full functionality test, yes!" Is that the way you wish to be treated after paying for a service? If so, uBreakiFix might just be the place for you! BTW, the headphone jack is still loose...

To be fair, I dealt with three employees. Two of them were absolutely wonderful. They were patient, insightful, and had a great demeanor when speaking to them. If it hadn't been for the first employee, I wouldn't be writing a review at all. Instead, because one employee took it upon himself to act like a child, this review now gets one star.

Full Story: Horrible customer service experience when I walked in the door. I came in at 4:15 yesterday (Tuesday 10/28), the shop closes at 5. The first thing he told me was that the shop closes at 5, as to make sure that I didn't expect much... great start. I then told him I submitted a claim for my phone, and he started to look at it. He asked some questions and it seemed like everything was back on track. I asked him regarding my cracked screen and to see if everything was operating correctly. He said that it's part of their routine check to do a full functionality check. I said ok. I then remembered that my phone charging port hasn't worked properly in some time do to lint, dust, or whatever that needed to be cleaned out. I asked if he could look into that. He then repeated yes that is part of the functionality test. I said great. He started looking at the port, and a few minutes went by when I then remembered that the headphone jack hadn't worked properly in a while. So I asked if he wouldn't mind taking a look at the headphone jack as well. That's when he slammed his hand on the counter and shouted "We do a full functionality test, YES!". Now, from his perspective, it seems that I had just repeated the same question three times. However, as a customer, I'm simply pointing out the parts of the phone that aren't working to the technician who is fixing my phone. I also don't really know what is included in the full functionality test. Does that mean the phone turns on and off? Does that mean it charges? Launches apps? I don't know... because I'm not a technician nor do I work there. Even if they did a full scan of the phone with me there, I still want to state all of the problems that I know about with the phone to make sure that they are properly addressed. As I stated above, the headphone jack is still loose, so the problem wasn't even dealt with. It's the least of my worries, but still very annoying the issue I got yelled at by an employee over didn't even get solved. Maybe the store can't fix it... I wouldn't know, because instead of having a conversation about it, the employee decided to treat me like...

I cracked the glass on the back of my Pixel. I like keeping my devices in mint condition so I decided to replace the housing, although everything was working perfectly.

uBreakiFix is 2hrs (4hrs round trip) away from where I live because I ride the train. I got there by 3pm and got the pick up scheduled for 7pm, very understandable cause they were clearly busy. So I stayed in Dedham killing those 4 hours. Got my device by 7pm, as expected. Everything looked great, the new housing was perfectly aligned with the glass of the screen, the phone looked even better than a new one cause I opted for a different housing color.

Then I got home, and started receiving calls because my birthday was about to start at 12am. Nobody could hear me. The microphone wasn't working, probably not connected or connected incorrectly (they didn't explain what happened nor apologized for it later).

So I had to go back again, on my birthday, 4hrs round trip, just to get this mistake fixed. They got the device at around 1pm, and scheduled the pick up for 4pm, this time waiting that much wasn't understandable, cause this was their fault, and I shouldn't even be there having to get the phone fixed again. It was raining outside so I just stayed there, waiting. I got my device like 15 minutes earlier, just to find out that this time the housing had the usual scratches you get on the border when using the tools to remove the screen, and a fair amount of adhesive residues all around it. Not that big of a problem, adhesive can be removed, and the scratches are very minimal, but keep in mind that I got the new housing cause I wanted the device in mint condition.

That's not the worst part. I inspected the device very well this time cause I didn't wanna have to go back, and I found that the top-left corner of the glass is protruding out of the housing, making the screen flimsy and also the device less resistant to water and humidity. There's so much adhesive behind the screen that this cannot be fixed just by pressing it (they tried), and I've seen this kind of bad installations ending up in the screen coming out of place as time passes (they said that's not happening, but the screen is still loose). I'm really annoyed by the fact that they could have gotten this right the first time, perfectly, but didn't pay enough attention. I'm even more annoyed by the fact that I had to waste my time, on my birthday, on a unnecessary second repair, that happened to be executed incorrectly. Very disappointed at the end and even more worried about the screen and the device in...