iFixit And Samsung Have Broken Up

You Should Think Twice About Taking Your Samsung To A Repair Depot As Well

iFixit signed an agreement with Samsung about two years ago to help provide tools and parts for DIY repairs, intending to lower the costs and increase their availability.  Unfortunately Samsung have not lived up to their end of the bargain; in several different ways.  The first problem was with the official parts Samsung would supply, which were of noticeably lower quality than the broken part they were to replace.  They also charged such a high price for these shoddy components the repairs would come with a cost approaching that of buying a new phone. 

That was not the worst of Samsung’s sins though.  iFixit discovered that authorized Samsung repair shops were required to sign a secret agreement with Samsung in order to receive replacement parts.  iFixit contacted Samsung numerous times to request the details of this agreement, which Samsung refused to provide.  iFixit recently managed to discover the contents of the agreement thanks to work done by 404media, and the terms are remarkably odious.

In order to be licensed to repair Samsung devices, the depots were required to provide Samsung with the “the name, contact information, phone identifier, and customer complaint details of everyone who gets their phone repaired.”  If that wasn’t bad enough, Samsung also requires repair depots to disassemble any and all products that came into their store containing parts that didn’t come from Samsung’s overpriced replacement program.  The depots were also required to notify Samsung immediately when these parts were discovered; failure to do so would result in Samsung revoking the shop’s license to repair Samsung devices.  As you might guess, this also means when you went to pick up your repaired phone you would instead receive a box full of parts that once were your phone.

iFixit has severed their ties with Samsung, but they are not ending the repair program.  Instead they will be buying parts from other sources so that we will still have a way to repair broken devices.

P.S. Update your Chrome … again.