Sick Mac? Maybe it’s time for an upgrade! 20% off this weekend!

Upgrade your Mac storage capacity! Did you know that your computer hard drive has a maximum working life of about 3 years?

Most manufacturers will offer a maximum of 3 year warranties on these sensitive pieces of equipment. If your Mac is getting close to 3 years old, it’s just a matter of time that your hard drive will fail. Signs of a failing hard drive could be a loud clicking sound, sluggish boot-up process or some programs may fail to load. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms now is the time to take action.

At Mission Repair, we will not only replace your hard drive with a brand new part, but we can also upgrade it with more storage capacity. This weekend we are offering 20% off our Computer Hard Drive Upgrade installations for Laptops and Desktops if you call or visit one of our locations before Sunday!

For example, an exceptional 1 Terabyte 2.5” 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive Installation for your Mac Laptop will only be $142 plus tax. This price includes the new hard drive, installation and migration of your data (if possible) and a 3 year warranty on the Hard Drive. If your data is unrecoverable, we will install a clean version of the basic operating system at no additional charge. We will have you back up and running in no time!

This special is good now through Sunday 11/15/15 at 5:00pm CST and cannot be combined with any other coupons and is good for laptop or desktop hard drive installations only. Come check us out!

Take care, Ryan

People are really making counterfeit iPhones?

Yes, we’ve seen counterfeit – fake – iPhones come into Mission Repair for service. It never works out.

Unfortunately, bogus iPhones aren’t always so obvious. Sometimes they appear in seemingly legit online ads or real-world stores (NEVER at Mission Repair!) Regardless of where they appear, they’re out there, and the people who buy them are being ripped off.

Just how many fake iPhones are being sold in the U.S. is actually hard to pin down. Apple won’t discuss the issue, despite repeated requests for information. Anti-counterfeiting watchdog groups say the problem is big, but they don’t have numbers.

But the anecdotal evidence is there: There was the recent seizure of more than 40,000 counterfeit iPhones in China. Sales of the fakes are not uncommon overseas. Among those who have been caught peddling fake phones stateside recently are a father-son duo in Orange County, Calif.; a teen in Utah; and two stores in a Maryland mall.

Fake iPhones are just part of a much larger counterfeit-electronics problem.

“Counterfeit consumer electronics were the second-most-seized commodity in fiscal years 2013 and 2014, with an estimated MSRP (retail price) of around $145.86 million and $162.20 million, respectively,” said Matthew Bourke, spokesperson for the Intellectual Property Rights Center at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And remember: Those numbers represent just seizures, not the real volume of counterfeit goods being sold, which everyone involved assumes is much higher.

However big the problem is, what should you do when that guy slides up to you at the bar and offers you a great deal on a phone for cash — or if you’re looking at what you think is an iPhone on sale?

Do yourself a favor, don’t buy it. While it may be a good deal, and it could quite possibly be legitimate, it’s most likely going to cost you big time in the near future. Fake iPhones are not repairable…like at all. We can’t get parts for them at Mission Repair, and we have no idea who even made them. Or worse yet, the phone is real, but let’s say it crashes after 15 minutes of use after it warms up. We see this a lot…and you’d never know what kind of odd issues that piece of electronics is having without knowing it’s origin. Buyer beware, and we’re just here trying to help you out.

Good luck, Ryan

A little common sense goes a long way.

Good morning friends,

A couple of months ago, my spa/hot tub stopped working. I know – poor Ryan, his spa stopped working. This blog post is not about the fact that I own a spa, but that anyone that owns one need to know that after about 5 years the main pump will fail. I found that out at 5 years and 4 months…

The breaker for my spa keep tripping, and all I was getting was a loud buzzing from the spa when I did try to turn it on.

Since I’m in the business of electronics repairs, I was able to dignose the issue myself. It was a bad main pump, which is just essentially a large motor with a pump assembly mounted on the front of it. I ordered a replacement.

Once I received it, I made sure the breaker was turned off and drained the hot tub to get to the disassembly. It was pretty straight forward…one “water in” and one “water out” pipe connection and and electrical connector that had a pre-installed molex plug that fit perfectly into the heater box connection. Not rocket science.

I got the old motor and pump out, installed the replacement unit, reconnected everything and ~voila~ it turned right back on! No leaks and it’s running perfectly again.

Moral of the story; I’m a DIY repair guy. It’s how I started my business Mission Repair almost a decade ago. Is it time for me to open up a spa repair business? I do know that I saved about $400 doing this repair on my hot tub myself. That’s $200/hour. Frankly, if I can make $200/hour anywhere I’m going to do it!

Ok, the spa repair business will probably not materialize anytime in the near future, but for all of you spa owners out there don’t be afraid to tackle a job on your own. It might just be worth doing yourself!

Take care, Ryan

Droid Turbo 2 by Motorola with a Shatterproof Screen!

Hello! I’ve seen this commercial on TV a few times, and it’s got me thinking about the repair business and the direction of the technology these days…

I snapped this picture of the TV last night to get a better glimpse of the fine print today.

Motorola has developed a new product called “ShatterShield” and guarantees that the screen on your Droid Turbo 2 won’t shatter or crack for 4 years from the original date of purchase. Sounds awesome to me, and many people have made YouTube videos already showing how they are dropping them and how they are not cracking.

Be careful though, the fine print on http://www.motorola.com/shattershield states:

“…scratches and other cosmetic damage, intentional damage or abuse, normal wear and tear and other limitations apply.”

is it possible that dropping your phone and cracking the screen be deemed “abuse?” or even “normal wear and tear”? <— I know it would for my daughter 😉

I'm very curious to see if there is a limit to how many times Motorola will replace a damaged screen, or if they will end up instituting a deductible. This phone does cost over $600 to buy, so maybe they've just built in some extra fluff when it comes to repairing for their customers.

In any case, I applaud Motorola for going the extra mile. Let's see if the other manufacturers jump on the bandwagon and make "breakproof" devices. My gut feeling is that it goes against the basic business model for some of these manufacturing giants…of course they want to sell you a new device when you break yours. Just make sure that you break it and don't abuse it, right?

Hey, have a good evening, Ryan

Another new expansion at Mission Repair.

Hello again,

Just a quick update on the expansion at our Mission Repair location in Lenexa. We just added a new shipping and receiving space that is sure to streamline our process immediately.

Here’s Lennie after a long hard day at work getting some of the counters installed, I think he must have put in 16 hours of “construction” work on Saturday into the late evening hours. Good job Lennie.

I can’t wait to see this new space when it’s completed. We do have shipping and receiving capability at our location in Mission, Kansas but it’s already cramped in there so I can only imagine how jealous Derrick will be when he sees this. It looks like there’s just a little more tile work to do and some trim work, then this area is ready to house 4 employees. Wonderful.

Speaking of shipping and receiving…did you see my last post about shipping devices into us? Let me remind you that even though we have less than a .1% shipping damage rate, some packages do get damaged or lost in shipping. It doesn’t matter if you use FedEx, UPS or the Post Office, they all do it. Start your repair off right by making sure that you package your device correctly (in a box, not an envelope!) per our online shipping instructions here. It will make life a whole lot easier for you. If you’re local to us and want to stop on by, you don’t need a tape gun for that!

Take care, Ryan