Independent Mobile Phone shops - A most unusual experience

[Howyoudoin]

Went to bed last night and tried to put my phone on charge but the charger wouldn’t go into the phone port. Tried a few different chargers but all the same.

I swore under my breath and presumed the port had given up the ghost and started googling how much it costs to repair the port and it came back likely £30 but could be up to £100 depending.

Further googled mobile phone repair shops near me and one had very good reviews so I went down there this afternoon. They had a look, said it probably needs a clean, taking it to the back of the shop and asked me to wait. 10 mins later they gave it back to me saying there was a bit of grit or dirt in there which they'd managed to get out and there is no charge for cleaning. If it had been a proper repair job they'd have charged but not for a bit of vacuuming/spit and polish.

Erm, what?

I was gobsmacked. No charge? When does this ever happen?

Suffice to say i'll be back to try and give them a bit of custom on the non-repair stuff that they sell in the shop.

HYD

[Lootman]

I have gone into opticians with a pair of glasses that needed an adjustment, and it has been done for free. Presumably it is a goodwill thing, they hope you will go back and buy some expensive frames.

One time I was in Vermont and got something trapped in my teeth, and found a local dentist. He removed the offending item in a few minutes and then said "no charge". And he must have known I was never going back.

Then again last year my phone failed in Liverpool and the repair shop charged me £80, cash only, Not sure they did much of anything.

I guess you win some and you lose some.

[XFool]

They had a look, said it probably needs a clean, taking it to the back of the shop and asked me to wait. 10 mins later they gave it back to me saying there was a bit of grit or dirt in there which they'd managed to get out and there is no charge for cleaning.

I have gone into opticians with a pair of glasses that needed an adjustment, and it has been done for free. Presumably it is a goodwill thing, they hope you will go back and buy some expensive frames.

Actually...

[Tedx]

I dropped in by my local independent garage several times and someone's always come out to take a look/pop it up on the ramp there and then/fix whatever minor issue is wrong.

Pretty good service. And they get my business.

[servodude]

I dropped in by my local independent garage several times and someone's always come out to take a look/pop it up on the ramp there and then/fix whatever minor issue is wrong.

Pretty good service. And they get my business.

..is this a car thing?
Or something more interesting

[DrFfybes]

A friend and daughter stayed with us last New Year.

Daughter forgot her iphone charger, and was aghast that we didn't have one.

She was equally stunned when I dropped it onto the inductive chargning mat MrsF uses and it sharted to charge. I suggested that next time she felt the need to spend thick end of a thousand quid on a phone she might want to think about the features she wants rather than what she thought would impress her friends.

[funduffer]

If you keep your phone in your pocket, you will tend to get fluff/lint in the charging port over time.

Eventually you will plug in to charge and it won't!

I find a wooden cocktail stick is the best tool for removing the fluff from the port, but you need to be careful you don't damage anything.

FD

[Laughton]

I find a wooden cocktail stick is the best tool for removing the fluff from the port, but you need to be careful you don't damage anything.

You can buy a little plastic plug that slots into that port and stops fluff and stuff getting in there. Of course, that means one more little thing to misplace.

[gnawsome]

If you keep your phone in your pocket, you will tend to get fluff/lint in the charging port over time.

Eventually you will plug in to charge and it won't!

I find a wooden cocktail stick is the best tool for removing the fluff from the port, but you need to be careful you don't damage anything.

FD

Would a vacuum not be a bit more gentle?

[daveh]

If you keep your phone in your pocket, you will tend to get fluff/lint in the charging port over time.

Eventually you will plug in to charge and it won't!

I find a wooden cocktail stick is the best tool for removing the fluff from the port, but you need to be careful you don't damage anything.

FD

Would a vacuum not be a bit more gentle?

I don't find it works, the fluff etc gets compacted at the bottom as you push the USB jack in. I use one of the interdental brushes to clean it out.

[pochisoldi]

I've ended up using a cocktail stick to get the majority of the fluff out, and a round headed pin to loosen the stubborn stuff around the edges (to allow a cocktail stick to clear out the remainder of the stuff.

Obviously the pin is conductive, so care is required to keep it to the outer extremities of the connector, otherwise you get an odd random error message if you accidentally touch the contacts in the middle.

I've usually ended up using two or three cocktail sticks (as well as changing ends) as only the tip will reach the bottom of the connector.

The usual trigger to do this job is when the plug seems to fall out too easily when putting the phone on charge, or more usually when the wired connection to Android Auto in the car seems to randomly flake out.
PochiSoldi

[swill453]

Obviously the pin is conductive, so care is required to keep it to the outer extremities of the connector, otherwise you get an odd random error message if you accidentally touch the contacts in the middle.

You could always switch the phone off...

Scott.

[elkay]

The usual trigger to do this job is when the plug seems to fall out too easily when putting the phone on charge, or more usually when the wired connection to Android Auto in the car seems to randomly flake out.
PochiSoldi

Thanks! I think you have given me the solution to my intermittent Android Auto problem, just before I was about to try a firmware update on my unit

Elkay

[gryffron]

Obviously the pin is conductive, so care is required to keep it to the outer extremities of the connector, otherwise you get an odd random error message if you accidentally touch the contacts in the middle.

You could always switch the phone off...

Anything conductive is a bad idea. The socket is live so you can fry the battery. Expensive!
Turning it off doesn’t help cos a smartphone is never properly “off”. It might stop the error messages, but not the smoke.

A wooden cocktail stick is ok. The plastic ones too brittle. Or you can buy a little plastic hook specially designed for the job. In fact, I see a whole selection of same from eBay for a couple of quid.

Gryff

[bungeejumper]

Obviously the pin is conductive, so care is required to keep it to the outer extremities of the connector, otherwise you get an odd random error message if you accidentally touch the contacts in the middle.

You could always switch the phone off...

A really small pin does it for me, but I generally remove the battery first. Takes moments, and might save a lot of swearing.

BJ

[DeepSporran]

You could always switch the phone off...

A really small pin does it for me, but I generally remove the battery first. Takes moments, and might save a lot of swearing.

BJ

Hmm.

With an iPhone however it takes a lot longer and involves a considerable amount of swearing to remove the battery

[bungeejumper]

With an iPhone however it takes a lot longer and involves a considerable amount of swearing to remove the battery

Ah well, into every life a little rain must fall. Think I'll stick with cheap and cheerful.

BJ

[Midsmartin]

I sometimes still get a few home users with computer problems. Quite a lot of these end up not being chargeable. By the time I've done some basic phone troubleshooting; try again later, turn everything off and on again etc., half the problems have fixed themselves.

I had a lady phone me in a panic because her laptop had failed just before Christmas. She dropped it off. It turned out she'd turned the screen brightness down so far that it appeared to be off. Not at all obvious, to be fair to her. No charge

[stewamax]

I use one of the interdental brushes to clean it out.

When I use a USB-C plug to clean between my teeth,I always turn the power off first

[stevensfo]

With an iPhone however it takes a lot longer and involves a considerable amount of swearing to remove the battery

Ah well, into every life a little rain must fall. Think I'll stick with cheap and cheerful.

BJ

First rule of buying a smartphone is to check that you can easily replace the battery.

Second rule is that it has an earphone connection and you don't have to use the USB socket.

Steve