Greetings my fellow Proof-of-BRAINIACS
I was recently what we call hoodwinked by a local electronics repair shop and thought yall would enjoy my narrative style review of this less than stellar business hiding in a local Walmart.
Background is my young daughter had taken a liking to my Pixel Art app on our Samsung Galaxy S6 Lite with stylus but, unfortunately, she took it for a fateful trip over our tile floor which it slipped and fell. The screen was cracked and I was looking into options to repair our device to it's former glory. What would result is the remarkable sarcastic and scathing review I left on Google below.
Based on our experience and others, my wife and I have suspicion that this scam artist is using manipulated reviews for a 5-star rating. It would be a shame if that were to change.
Wink Wink
BUYER BEWARE! I called Cellairis on 8-14-2021 for a quote on having my Samsung Galaxy S6 Lite screen repaired with $80 part I provided that was still sealed in bubble wrap and had been enclosed in a styrofoam parcel after being quoted $40 labor from The Fix at the North Star Mall.
I told the tech that I do not mind paying slightly more to spare me the drive to the mall and was told they could do it for $45-$50. In retrospect, this was a regrettable decision.
Fast forward to my coming to the store to drop off my device and part. Despite our past conversation which both model and quote range was disclosed, the manager decided it appropriate to increase the cost to a whopping $125 under the pretense of their assuming risk which is nonsensical considering they had me sign a liability waiver (see images).
Edit: I forgot to mention the manager claimed I did not speak to their tech. I described our conversation in detail to his reply, "That's weird." Included the call log screenshot to add to this alleged "mystery" of a tech I didn't speak to... Apparently. /s
Someone must have forwarded their ouija board session seance to our line. I was speaking to Casper the Friendly Tech ALL ALONG!
At that point, I contested this labor price as unreasonable as considering the cost of the part it would be less expensive to have purchased a new one. The manager then stated the lowest they could go down was $75 mind you that is 50% higher than the original quote I was given over the phone. Since I had driven down to Selma and just want my tablet fixed, I decided to bite the bullet.
Later, I receive a call that my tablet is ready for pickup and they would be open at noon the next day but this was not the case. We arrived at Walmart at approximately 12:40 pm but the store was not yet open which, in my opinion, is another mark against their professionalism. Finally, at about 12:55 pm, the store was opened and I was able to retrieve my tablet.
As Billy May's would have said.. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!
Unbeknownst to me, the technicians did not even bother to validate their work with the excuse being they did not have a USB-C charger. I was a bit surprised that a cell phone repair store didn't have a very common charger type.
Despite their ethical and punctuality issues, surely they would have succeeded in the bare minimum metric for their service by successfully repairing my device? I was confident that they could not have screwed that up. Right?
WRONG!
After arriving home and plugging in my device, to my horror I find a huge diagonal crack on the screen. One of my primary uses of this tablet is creating pixel art and now one can't really do that with a corner of dead pixels on the screen. Just my luck and all I have Cellairis to thank for nothing.
After this discovery, I afforded these bait and switch artists an opportunity to save face by providing me a refund to which they declined. Now, my only recourse is to open a dispute with my credit card company, take the L for the damaged part, and buy a new tablet.
By far, this has been the most disastrously bad service I have EVER received for an electronics "repair". It is my sincere hope that other prospective customers see past the suspiciously positive reviews and save themselves a headache later. Cellairis is super sketch!
Morals of the Story
- Use Credit Cards for transactions like this. If I had used my debit, I would be ass out.
- Make sure quotes will not be "adjusted" after you arrive. Like Admiral Akbar says, "It's a trap."
- Don't let your child carry your expensive electronic devices over tile floors.
That's about it.
Here's the scam artists err I mean company's Google page if you would like to take a gander .
🚩🚩🚩
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HMWLrUssyWjkbQzd8