Paul L.

I used to love ifixit. As an electrical engineer who used to build my own computers from scratch, I'm not opposed to rolling up my sleeves to extend the shelf life of expensive electronics. I make a habit of replacing my iPhone battery every year, and ifixit makes it very easy to do this. Also, as a Cal Poly alumni, I've watched this company grow up in my own back yard over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, I'm sad to say it has not grown well. It's still the same small town players attempting (and failing) to operate a global scale internet business.

My problems date back to about three years ago, when I was shipped a faulty replacement battery for my iPhone 5. The battery had a dead cell, which meant it would suddenly shut off around 30% charge. When I brought this to the attention of ifixit support, they were quick to respond and send me a replacement. Since replacing the battery is a minor operation, I was able to swap this out in about 15 mins with only minor trouble for having to do it twice.

Fast forward a year later, I had upgraded to an iPhone 6, and after a year of skiing in Tahoe the microphone had gotten some kind of water damage. Everyone kept complaining that my calls were muffled and hard to understand. So I pulled up the ifixit website and sure enough, they had a replacement part. I ordered it and set in for major iPhone surgery.

The iPhone 6 microphone is on a much larger assembly at the bottom of the phone, which pretty much requires stripping the phone down to bare metal and using conductive adhesive to carefully route all these components without affecting the antennas, which are also in the area. Needless to say, this is a MAJOR project taking about an hour to complete your first time. (I got quite good by the third time - more on this in a minute.)

So after performing this long and painstaking task, I finally got my iPhone buttoned up again with everything functional. Except the microphone. The thing I was trying to fix actually got WORSE. To the point where I had to use headphones to make all my calls because the internal microphone was so muffled and muted.

I called up ifixit, and they apologized for the defective part - shipping me a new one overnight. Slightly annoyed, I set about replacing this part again, only to find this new part worse than the first. I hit the ceiling. After doing some research online, I learned ifixit was sourcing these parts directly from China, and was having issues with quality control since they didn't test them locally before shipping straight to customers.

Luckily they owned up to this mistake, and promised shipped me a third replacement part provided I would return ship my first two defective ones. The third part was the charm, and I finally had a working iPhone again.

Fast forward to the final chapter of my story. I managed to dent the lower volume rocker on my iphone 7. (How this can happen blows my mind...) Having forgotten about my experience a year prior, I hop onto the ifixit website from my phone and find the exact replacement part I need. Within 5 minutes the part is in my cart, and I'm able to get the order off before I lose reception going into the mountains (doubling checking that it's the right version, color, etc.) A couple weeks later the part arrives, and I prepare to perform the surgery. (Another doozy that requires a stripdown to bare metal.) Just before I start the repair, I decide to pull out the replacement part to get it prepped for the swap. To my surprise, I find that it's silver, not black. On further investigation, I learn they shipped me an iPhone 6 part, not one for iPhone 7.

Upon bringing this to the ifixit team's attention, I have to wait upwards of 48 hours for a response (a marked departure from the prompt customer service I've seen in the past). The customer service rep then proceeds to spend less than 5 minutes reviewing my case, and cheerfully responds that they will send me another iPhone 6 part right away. I respond on the thread that they should NOT send me another bad part, and to please send me the part I was trying to order in the first place. I look on their website and see that the iPhone 7 part that I need is out of stock - probably explaining why they sent me an iPhone 6 part instead.

The customer service rep never looks back at my thread, and sure enough, I recieve the wrong part again. I again hit the roof. How hard is it to spend an extra 5 minutes studying a case to get it right? I ask for a full refund of my return.

The customer service rep grants the RMA and informs me that I am entitled to about $90 back. I send the materials off, and about a week later get an email saying $60 will be credited to my account. When I ask about this discrepancy, a THIRD customer service rep tells me that I'm being charged a 15% restocking fee, adding insult to injury to this whole debacle.

In the end, I have to put a strong BUYER BEWARE on ifixit. Bad supply chain and slipping customer service.