Have you heard about the “Right to Repair” bill being debated in Parliament?
Repairing devices can save consumers money, result in a better service, and benefit the environment by reducing waste to landfill. The Right to Repair Bill forces manufacturers to ensure their devices are repairable if possible, either by customers themselves, or by repairers like ServicePlus. They must design their devices to be repairable, provide parts, and make manuals and tools available. However, there are some fishhooks that need to be addressed…
ServicePlus generally supports the Right to Repair Bill as it aligns with the ServicePlus ethos of being environmentally responsible, and providing high quality at great value. However, there are some issues that we think the Bill needs to address:
- Customers repairing their own devices is not necessarily a good idea. Safety is the most important concern with the risk of electrocution, physical harm, and fire being chief among our concerns. Li-Ion batteries can explode if punctured or handled incorrectly. Also, customers run the risk of damaging their devices more which can make the cost of repair higher;
- Un-authorised or un-certified repairers will not provide the same level of quality as an Authorised Service Provider – we think the Bill should encourage the use of manufacturer authorised service providers to ensure customers get the best quality repairs;
- Non-genuine parts are very problematic. They can cause further damage to the device; security and data privacy concerns (chips or firmware programmed to steal your data); a poor user experience (e.g. low resolution displays, uncalibrated touch configuration); and safety risk (e.g. battery fire risk, cuts from poor quality display glass);
- Unintended consequences to the environment: Customers performing their own repairs are more likely to further damage their device or the parts they are fitting (resulting in the device being thrown into landfill); Authorised Service Providers are usually required to send faulty parts back to the manufacturer for e-cycling – customers or un-authorised repairers are more likely to send the faulty parts to landfill.
With some tweaks, the Right to Repair Bill has the potential to save customers money, improve their service experience, and reduce impact on the environment which are all great things that ServicePlus supports. More detail about the Bill and its progress through Government is here.