Phone shop broke my phone screen now want me to pay extra

[Sunflower1650]

The camera on my iphone had a broken lens which caused damage to the actual camera. I took it to a local phone shop the other day (the type that does phone repairs and sells vapes). The man said he would replace the camera, I paid a deposit so he could order the part and that was that. The reason I went there is because they have really good reviews on Google in comparison to other local shops. I dropped the phone off this morning and went this afternoon to collect it. The phone had to be taken to pieces to install the new camera, and in the process the screen has cracked in several places and detached from the touch screen part. He said I will now need to pay £50 extra for the screen repair. I was obviously a bit annoyed at this and he said I should have known that this would be a risk when taking a phone to bits. I said I didn’t know this was a risk and if I did I probably wouldn’t have bothered getting it fixed and instead would have upgraded to another phone. His response was I either pay extra or he can hand me my phone back in pieces and somewhere else put it back together and repair the screen which will cost even more. He said they usually charge £140 for screen replacements so it’s a good deal?! I know there’s probably nothing I can do about this and it should be a lesson learnt to just take it to Apple in future. I just wanted to get some opinions on this?

I’ve posted on AIBU instead

i googled this and it said:

Why a Screen Might Crack During Camera Repair

• Too Much Pressure: Pushing hard on the phone body or screen glass can snap the fragile glass.
• Skipping Heat: Forgetting to warm up the edge glue makes the screen hard to lift.
• Wrong Tools: Using sharp metal tools instead of soft plastic picks can chip or crack the display.

So it sounds like the company have been careless. i think i’d be asking citizens advice about my consumer rights or possibly trading standards.

He is obviously well out of order demanding you pay for damage caused by them during the repair. I don't know what recourse you may have, but remember why you went there - the good reviews, and use that platform to share details of your bad experience and their poor customer service.

To be honest a place doing phone repairs and selling vapes does not sound like a place to repair an expensive iphone. I would demand a free replacement of the screen but would not hold out hope that they will do a good job

Thanks all. Yes it’s a lesson learnt that I should have gone to Apple, but it’s an older iPhone model so I’m not sure if they’d have even repaired it and it would also have been over 3 times more in cost. Money is tight at the min so was trying to save on the cost of an Apple repair or a phone upgrade but looks like I’ve got to fork out more now anyway!

Ask for a full refund. Maybe worth getting someone else to quote to repair the damage and see if they would be willing to pay this - either to get the phone repaired or put towards another one.
Contact Citizens advice - they may well report to trading standards.
You can source reconditioned/second hand iPhones, so you could look into that to replace the one they have damaged.

As far as the law is concerned, cracking the screen suggests they have failed to carry out the repair with reasonable care and skill. You are entitled to insist that they repair the phone at no additional cost to you. Failing that, you are entitled to a refund.