Phone Repair Shop Made It Worse? Demand Your Money Back (and Then Some)

You dropped your phone. Cracked screen, otherwise fine. You paid a repair kiosk $220 to replace it. You got it back with a new screen, a dead front camera, ghost touches all over the place, and a Face ID that no longer works. The bloke behind the counter shrugs: “That was probably already broken.”

It was not already broken. You know it. He knows it. Here is how to make him pay.

Repair services have a legal standard

Under the Australian Consumer Law, anyone who provides a service for money must meet guarantees they cannot opt out of:

• Section 60 – the service must be done with due care and skill. Killing the camera while replacing a screen is neither.
• Section 61 – the service must be fit for the purpose you asked for. You asked for a working phone with a new screen.
• Section 267 – if the failure can’t be fixed or is a major one, you can cancel, get a refund, and claim compensation for loss they caused.

“Compensation for loss they caused” is the important bit. You are not just owed the $220 back. You are owed the cost of putting your phone back to how it was before they touched it. If that means a $650 repair at an authorised service centre, that is what you demand.

The “it was already broken” line

This is the repair industry’s favourite move. Beat it with evidence:

• Any photos or videos of the phone before the repair (check your camera roll for a selfie from that morning).
• The job sheet or receipt. If it lists only “screen replacement” and no other faults, that is your proof.
• A quote from another repairer describing the current damage and its likely cause.

Their “no refund on repairs” sign

Ignore it. A sign on a wall cannot override the ACL. Neither can the fine print on the receipt. Signs like that are actually a breach in their own right, and Fair Trading loves hearing about them.

Your steps

• Get a written diagnosis from a second repairer ($0 to $50, often free).
• Email the kiosk once with the diagnosis, cite s 60 and s 267, and ask for the refund plus the cost of a proper repair within 7 days.
• When they ghost you, send a Letter of Demand with a 14-day deadline and the tribunal warning.

A formal letter often prompts a response from a small repair shop. A tribunal hearing eats a full day of their trading time, and their franchisor or landlord does not want the attention.

You paid for a fix. You got a brick. That is not something you have to live with.

Claim Done drafts your Letter of Demand for $49. Done in about 5 minutes. You approve it before it is sent.