Dealing with the Cost of Expensive Repair and Inexpensive Replacement

‘You’re estimating $250 to repair this computer? But I bought it for only $400! I could go get a brand new one for $150 more!’ While this may not be true in every case, often the repair of an electronic device can be equal to 50% or more of the actual purchase cost at retail value. Why is it often cheaper to replace an electronic device than repair it? Furthermore, what course of action do you recommend to your clients in the face of the growing trend of expensive repair and inexpensive replacement?

Electronic Device Lifetime

Most electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones aren’t designed for easy repair. The convenience of mobility comes at a cost, and the sacrifice is in the repair cost. If the device is still under a warranty, it might be free or very inexpensive to replace, whereas the repair might be extremely difficult or impossible due to the materials and methods used to manufacture the device. For example, some mp3 players are more or less designed in a way that causes parts to break if an attempt is made to open the device for repair. The device itself retails for $30 to $50, but the repair by an experienced technician may exceed the cost of replacement. We live in a society where many devices aren’t designed to last for a long period of time. They’re cheap to build, and cheap to replace, and not much thought is given to any repair attempts. For instance, screen repairs on small devices can almost exceed the actual value of the device. That’s just how they are designed, and that’s why it’s rather important to treat your electronics with care rather than reckless abandon. Accidents happen, of course, but prevention and protection are often neglected, and the result is often costly.

It hasn’t always been this way. For instance, I still have a Toshiba laptop that initially ran Windows 98SE with 64 MB of RAM. I upgraded to 128 MB, and was able to run Windows 2000, and even Windows XP, but not without problems. I tripped over the cord and sent it flying from a desk down to a hard tile floor. After replacing the hard drive, it worked fine again, and has ever since. Today, it runs Puppy Linux, but my point is, it still runs, and runs great. It’s completely outdated and will not run any current popular applications of much use to me in my work, except a few utilities I use now and then. Toshiba still makes extremely durable high quality products, but I reached a point where the old laptop no longer worked with applications that were continually being updated to be better and more complex, and I would have fallen behind if I had just continued with the same machine. All electronic devices reach a point where they become obsolete in one way or another, and replacement becomes necessary. Components are another issue, as they only last so long before they start to fail.

Economic Considerations for Clients

I recommend that if the device is only 1 or 2 years old, and the repair cost is less than 50% of the retail purchase value, consider recommending repairing the device. Of course, at the current rate of technology growth, if the device is already obsolete according to the specifications needed for a certain purpose, that’s another thing you should factor in. If the device is 3 or 4 years old, and the repair cost is less than 25% of the retail purchase value, repair might still be a viable option if they have taken excellent care of the device, and it still does everything they need it to. If the device is older than that, and is a computer, this is when security issues might come into play, as older operating systems are more vulnerable to exploits and security holes due to older applications such as supported browsers and security suites. However, again, if the device still does everything they need, and they’re happy with it, and the repair cost is acceptable, it’s really up to them whether they want to replace it or not, but security is a large factor in upgrading to newer operating systems, which brings upgraded hardware as well.

Electrical consumption may also be a consideration. Newer devices are appearing on the market with energy saving features, whereas older devices weren’t exactly designed with the energy saving mindset. For those concerned about the environment and conservation, this is a bonus, but there is always the downside of what is to be done with the old machine, as old devices often leak certain chemicals that harm the environment, so for many it’s a tossup between the two. But for economic considerations, replacing a power hungry device with an energy saving device is a savings on the household budget, and is another small factor in the cost of replacement versus repair.

Other Costs and Considerations

An often overlooked cost is the cost involved with backing up data and transferring programs and personal data to the new device. Make sure you involve the associated cost when recommending options to your client, they’ll appreciate the consideration. Another consideration for those who need their devices for business operations is the loss of time when they are missing their device or waiting for the new device to arrive, if ordering and shipping is involved.

Another economic considerations that may apply to your clients is the possibility of trading out their old device and receiving a discount on a new device. It’s often useful to have some spare machines or parts around the office just to swap out hardware for testing. Perhaps those old machines could be repaired in your spare time and resold as discount refurbished machines to those who aren’t looking for anything spectacular, they just need a computer for general household use and keeping in touch with the grand-kids. The client might even consider just wiping the device of their personal data and selling it on Ebay or Craigslist, and using the resulting funds toward purchasing a newer device.

In the end, you may still find yourself illustrating to the client all the considerations involved in why it’s often less expensive to replace a device than repair it, but by ascertaining their needs and economic factors involved, and using the above recommendations, you should be able to recommend a course that will appeal to them.