Don’t Expect To Get The Store’s Backing

I own an electronic repair shop. We have a semi-regular customer that can be a pain. This customer has asked if we could open shop early for them and has even asked if they could come to our homes to drop off stuff after hours — big no.

They have brought in two identical phones to be repaired. One needs a new front glass display, and the other one just needs the backing replaced. The phone with the broken backing works and functions fine; the back is just all cracked and smashed. The one with the broken front also has a tiny crack on the back, but they do not want to fix it.

We fix both at the customer’s request and they leave happy. Three weeks later, the customer comes in with one of the phones — the one they had the new backing put on — and the backing is missing.

Customer: “I had this backing replaced a few weeks ago and it fell off and smashed.”

I know this is impossible. They just don’t fall off because of the two-way sticky tape that is pre-installed. We even use extra so it doesn’t fall off. The only way you can get it off is to use a pry tool, which usually makes it smash if you don’t have the experience to remove it.

Me: “Oh, that is awful. Let me see the backing and I will determine if it was our fault or if any physical damage was done.”

Customer: “Oh, I don’t have it. It was completely broken and I threw it in the garbage.”

Me: “You mean you don’t have the backing any longer?”

Customer: “No, it was useless and I threw it in the garbage; it was all broken.”

Me: “Without the product in question, there is not much we can do. We need to see it to determine what happened, whether it was defective or any fault of ours.”

Customer: “Well, I don’t have it anymore; it was broken. What can you do for me?”

Me: “Unfortunately, without the product returned, the only thing we can do is replace it, but you would have to purchase a new one.”

Customer: “What? I have to pay for another one even though the other one broke when it fell off?”

Me: “Yes, in order to receive any compensation, discount, warranty, or anything, the product in question must be returned so we can see it.”

The customer storms out. After that, we are thinking about it, and I turn to my coworker.

Me: “I bet you that the backing is still fine on the phone, and they brought in the other one with the small cracks on the back that they didn’t want to get replaced when we did the repair for the front the first time around. That’s why they couldn’t produce the backing that we purchased from us and we had installed.”

This person works at a popular big box chain retail store. They should know that if you buy something and it’s defective, you’re not going to get a replacement unless you bring back the original product first.