Our site lists hundreds of devices with a price per repair beside them. Anything not on that list looks as though it falls outside what we do — and that is the misunderstanding this article is meant to clear up. The list is what we have priced up, not the limit of what we can handle.
Why the list is shorter than what we do
Every price on our site is entered by hand, per model and per repair. That is exactly why a model page shows you a fixed amount instead of "get in touch": we have the part, we know how long the work takes, and then we can agree a price that does not change afterwards. The drawback of working that way is that a device we have not priced up yet appears nowhere on the site — even if it was on the bench yesterday.
So if you cannot find your device, that does not mean we cannot do it. It means there is no fixed price for it yet, and that we will work one out for you once we have looked at it.
What comes in off the list regularly
- 5G modems, routers and mobile hotspots. Usually the same three faults as on a phone: a charging or power socket that no longer holds, a device that throttles or shuts down from dust and heat, and a connector that has worked loose inside.
- Games consoles. We do have prices for these now: see PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. For an older or less common model, it comes back to a request.
- Hardware crypto wallets. A category with its own limits, so there is a section about it below.
- Headphones, earbuds and speakers. A category with a pattern of its own, so there is a section about it below.
- E-readers, drones, smartwatches from smaller brands, digital photo frames, measuring equipment. Anything with a battery, a charging port, a screen or a circuit board in it can in principle be looked at.
- Devices from brands no longer sold here. Then the question is not whether we can do it but whether the part can still be sourced. We check that before you hand the device over.
The brand does not decide the repair, the fault does
This is why an unfamiliar device is often not an unfamiliar repair. A charging port packed with lint behaves the same in a router as in a phone. A swollen lithium battery pushes against the screen of an e-reader just as hard as in a MacBook. A cold solder joint under a connector produces the same picture in any device: works sometimes, then does not.
We work at component level, which means we measure a board out and replace the part causing the fault rather than writing off a whole module. That is the same skill regardless of what is printed on the case. It is also why, with a device we have never seen before, we can usually say within half an hour whether it is worth looking further.
Headphones and earbuds: what it usually turns out to be
This is the category where we most often hear "that can't be repaired, surely", and where it is least often true. On over-ear headphones it is precisely the parts that wear out which can be replaced on their own: the ear cushions, the headband, the battery, the charging port and the hinge the band folds into. Prices are on the site for AirPods and Sony, and Bose, Sennheiser, Bowers & Wilkins, Beats, JBL, Marshall, Technics, Sonos and Bang & Olufsen are in the catalogue too. If your model is not there yet, it goes through a request.
With earbuds the honest story is different, and we would rather say it first. The complaint we see most — one bud stops topping up — is usually not a fault but dirt: a layer of earwax, lint and skin oil builds up in the charging contacts of the case and on the contacts of the buds, and then one stops making contact. Cleaning is the whole repair. If a bud's playing time is dropping, that is the battery, and on virtually every brand it is potted into the stem: not replaceable, however much we would like it to be. The charging case is doable, because that holds a real battery and a real charging port.
Bluetooth speakers and soundbars sit in the same corner: a charging port, a battery, a burnt-out amplifier, or a driver that rattles after moisture. If the complaint is about charging, bring your own cable and adapter, because the fault is in those more often than in the device.
Hardware wallets: what we do and do not do
We are very precise here, because it concerns somebody else's money.
What we do not do: we never ask for your recovery phrase — your seed phrase — we never type it in, and we do not want to see or hear it. A repairer who does ask for it, for any reason at all, is one you should not trust. We also cannot recover funds: if the keys are gone, that is not a repair but a loss, and nobody can solve it with a soldering iron.
What we can do: the hardware. A USB-C or micro-USB port that no longer charges or connects, a battery that will not hold, a screen showing nothing, a button that does not respond, or a trace on the board broken by a drop or by moisture. That is ordinary electronics work.
And the honest advice with it: if you still have your recovery phrase, buying a new wallet and entering the phrase there is almost always faster and cheaper than a repair. A repair is mainly worth it when you no longer have the phrase and the device is your only access — and that is precisely when opening it carefully is the only thing you want.
When the answer is no
We would rather say this beforehand than have you go home with a bill and an unsolved problem:
- The part no longer exists. On older and rarer devices that is sometimes simply the end of the story.
- The repair costs more than the device is worth. We will work the sums through with you and say so plainly.
- The device is still under manufacturer warranty. Take it there first, because letting us open it can cost you that warranty. That is usually the wrong trade.
- Somebody has already worked on it. Still possible, but the outcome is less predictable and you hear that up front.
What we will not do is say yes to get you through the door and then invent a problem. The diagnosis is free and commits you to nothing, so a no costs you nothing but the trip.
How to send a request
Through the custom repair form you tell us which device it is, what is wrong with it and what figure you had in mind. That last question is not a test: it helps us say straight away whether your expectation and reality are close to each other, and if they are not, you hear that before you send anything. You then choose whether to come in, have it collected, or post it to us.
Not sure what is wrong? Just put down what you can see and hear. "Will not turn on", "only charges at a certain angle", "was dropped and has been odd since" is enough to start with. And if you are wondering whether it is worth asking: the answer is almost always yes, because asking costs you nothing and at best saves you a new device.
In short
The list on our site is a price list, not a catalogue of what we are capable of. If your device is not on it, send a request or give us a call. We look for free, we name the price before we start, and if we cannot do it or it is not worth it, we say so. You will find us at Rijnstraat 76-H in Amsterdam Zuid.
