Repair-ability Isn't What It Used To Be: A More Detailed Perspective

Did you recently buy a product just for it to break on you within months of you owning it? Did you then try to contact a local repair shop to get it fixed, just for the work to be declined or for parts to not be available?

In fact, maybe you yourself are in the repair business and find that it’s difficult to get access to important resources. Your customers are angrily walking away from you while you’re clutching your head in frustration, fearing that you may be going out of business soon because you can’t deliver your services.

Have you noticed that it’s been harder to repair things in general?

You’re not alone. All of us are suffering from this same predicament and many of us are simply being told to “throw it away and get a new one”.

Repair-ability has been a hot topic in the technology industry as of late, namely due to the availability of parts and lack thereof, dwindling quality, the rising costs of repairs, and the restricted lifespan of products we are used to owning for years. As we shift into a new era of technology, it’s becoming harder to find appliances, computers, and vehicles that are comparable, thus bringing a major need for servicing and maintenance to the consumer world. However, servicing these products has become a huge challenge for consumers, retailers and good-faith businesses for the past few centuries. Unfortunately, this issue has gotten worse to the point where it is now affecting us globally. Every nation is experiencing some level of quality degradation and accessibility issues, including Japan, who was once known for producing high-quality products.

We have ultimately put ourselves in an on-going loop of making problems we can’t fix: We create something that breaks easily, struggle to find a manual or support service to help us troubleshoot the issue, then decide to bring it to a professional to fix. The professional then spends a lot of time and resources trying to fix or replace the thing that has broken, provides a solution to you, just for that solution to inevitably break too… Or, maybe the professional instead throws in the towel and says “sorry, we can’t do anything for you. Go get something else.”

What on earth is going on?

To address the elephant in the room: It boils down to unnecessary greed and lack of focus on the bigger picture in the technology industry. You are seeing the direct effect of unethical practices, and this article we have written will provide our deep-dive perspective on such.

As you already know, most of us are driven by the need to survive and succeed in this day and age. In a world that thrives on consumption, the purpose behind our inventions have shifted from helping us do things easier, to now riding trends and satisfying markets. In order to sustain this purpose, this required a bunch of compromise for monetary gain. Sadly, this includes sacrificing the ability to maintain and own things you purchase. As a result, we have found that it is more monetarily sustainable to release products that are cheaper to produce over a shorter period of time in order to keep releasing products that are ‘newer’ and ‘better’ than the last. In order to do this, we have to stop allowing the ‘old’ to stick around. Planned obsolescence and market dominance are a major component in this, and encourages the exploitation and abuse of our limited materials and resources–both human and in commodities.

Now, these concepts are nothing new to those who have already been paying attention and understand the history of manufacturing practices. But what they don’t see is the details in the ways in which some companies try to make it difficult for you to navigate it, as well as the long-term damage this does to the perception and integrity of our technologies today.

To protect these practices, the very resources that can be used, replaced and recycled to help these products last longer and solve issues are intentionally being shorted, compromised in quality, or are outright made unavailable to force you to purchase, or subscribe, to something completely irrelevant. If you’re lucky and the manufacturer still offers parts or support, you’re more likely to be forced to jump through hoops in order to even get access to them.

Here’s an example of what your neighborhood computer repair shop may be going through right now. Below is an e-mail that we have been provided by an anonymous computer repair shop that has received a rather unhelpful reply when attempting to purchase a motherboard for a HP laptop:

The provided context is that this was a time-sensitive repair for a business laptop with audio-related issues. The reason that the repair shop needed to replace this particular motherboard was due to the speakers crackling and popping from defective connectors. The speakers in the laptop had already been replaced by the repair shop multiple times, and was determined to be non-resolvable without trying to replace the board itself. Unfortunately, due to the repair shop not being given access to the motherboard, the laptop was forced to be shipped to a HP authorized repair center. This resulted in a lot of back and forth due to the repair center persistently avoiding replacing the motherboard and instead replacing irrelevant components. What was intended to be a week-long repair turned into months of wasted time, vague communication, customer complaints, and unforeseen costs incurred as a result of the repair shop not being able to replace the part themselves. Eventually, the board was replaced for the machine (after being returned four separate times) and the crackling speaker problem was resolved, but not without a displeased customer and financial losses.

The repair shop could have went with a third-party option for the board instead of following HP’s instructions, but they did not feel confident in the quality of the used board options that were available at the time. They attempted to reach out to the manufacturer as a result and, in the end, was screwed over. Worse, the customer left dissatisfied, not understanding the challenges that were faced in trying to perform the repair.

As you have read in the e-mail, HP appears to require repair businesses to become, or interact with, an ‘authorized service provider’ in order to gain access to critical parts like motherboards. Critical parts are often labeled as ‘non-self-serviceable’ by manufacturers if they require more than just swapping something nonsensitive like an external battery. This usually requires your business to be in a contractual agreement with manufacturers like HP while also being required to engage in competition-controlling business practices like reselling their products and adhering to their regulations. They also often make it so that you are required to obtain certifications (per employee) and have technicians take exams or courses in order to even be allowed to repair their products.

You cannot just simply contact them and purchase a part from them if they deem it ‘non-user serviceable’, even if you have the track record of providing successful repairs for their devices in the past. Instead, they redirect you to their authorized partners to perform the fix for you or outright refuse to sell the part all-together. Repair shops or companies that are not able to participate in these programs due to costs or time sensitivity cannot source their parts directly from manufacturers like HP as a result, and are forced to either drop a repair or source their parts from a third-party, which may not be as readily available or are not in the expected quality. This has the collateral consequence of harming reputation and quality for all parties.

Another example of a hurdle that we may experience is that a lot of repairmen, or even customers who are looking to DIY their electronics, encounter the lack of available service manuals and schematics for devices. These two resources are critical in ensuring that repairs are properly performed as well as providing the vital steps it takes to repair parts without needing to outright replace them. IfixIt, a household name in the technology industry and a company we personally support in the movement of Right to Repair, has conducted a study regarding appliance repair and the lack of service manuals back in 2023. Here is part of the data they have collected on this matter:

“We looked for manuals from a wide variety of products ranging from dishwashers to ice makers to televisions, from 50 different appliance manufacturers. The vast majority (86%) of the appliance companies we surveyed do not publish their service manuals and would not provide them when we asked. Some companies would not respond to our requests at all. Others explicitly told us that they do not provide service information to customers, because they “do not recommend self-service.”

[…]

It’s not necessarily any easier to get the repair documentation you need if you’re an appliance repair professional. We surveyed 37 appliance repair professionals and found that 89% of them have at least occasionally been unable to find manuals when they’ve looked. Even more (93.5%) reported difficulty finding necessary schematics.”

This is very upsetting information to digest. What is the point of limiting access to manuals? Why are we being told that “self-service is not recommended” when you may want to keep a company’s product around for longer than their projected lifespan? What gives a company the right to determine these things for you?

Well, in the manufacturer’s defense, reverse engineering and exposing potential tools of the trade can hinder the growth of a company and may even provide security problems. Hacking, piracy, cloning of proprietary engineering, and undermining competition is always a risk that a company takes when making the inner workings of their products accessible to the public. In business, it is in their best interest to protect and defend the integrity of their organization, and their products, while ensuring that they keep themselves alive for as long as possible (business is an on-going war-zone, for those who don’t know!). However, the ethics of the world of business and the ethics surrounding the safeguarding of our tools are two different concepts. One will always supersede the other, as our tools have a direct impact on our daily lives and the ability for us to improve as a species. Why should a manufacturer or a company have such strong control over something so integral? This brings major concerns for the technologies that keep our infrastructure up and running.

Our societies rely on technology for day-to-day operations: our electrical grids, sewer systems, gas lines, nuclear plants, factories, agricultural facilities, telecommunications… you get the gist.

And to be told that critical information like manuals or parts are unable to be provided due to not being recommended for ‘self-servicing’ is dangerous to us all. On top of that, these aggressive methods of defending profitability and integrity, along with other issues relating to the supply chain and product development, aids in the mass closures and disruptions of repair services around the world. It is so disruptive that even the very military that is responsible for defending your country is struggling to fix their own equipment! (We’re dead serious. Use a search engine and look up “U.S. Army Right to Repair” for a key example. You’ll find articles upon articles discussing this issue and how the army is advocating for this movement. If the U.S. Army can’t even reliably fix their own technology, you can imagine what the average person or another country is dealing with. In fact, we will directly link one to you because it’s just that appalling of a statement to us.)

And the best part is: you are actively lied to when being told that this is not an issue! In fact, these problems are hidden from you all the time for the sake of marketing. Besides, why would a company ever tell you that their product is terrible and you should avoid buying it because it can’t be repaired?

“Well, isn’t the whole point of being in business to make money?” You might argue.

This is a valid point and, in most cases, it is. But only if you only see it that way. We technically have the ability to do something without it being monetarily driven. We can do something purely to advance ourselves because it makes sense to. But unfortunately, many of us have forgotten this due to focusing on what we want rather than what we need. Even if a decision for a business model is to focus purely on profit, instead of encouraging consumers to continue to support the business by being reliable, we are purely focusing more on our incoming revenue per month to save up for the next super yacht or luxurious comfort. Lobbyists especially love this part of the game that is being played and defend it in the courts every day. All in the name of turning a profit.

In addition to this, consumers are placing their expectations on repair services and quality to be the same as they were many years ago–back when repairs were more possible and quality was more accessible. A lot of businesses are being placed under pressure to be quicker, to be cheaper, and to be exactly the same because of the expectations that are set by big name retailer stores and their malicious sales tactics.

So… what can we do about it?

The change starts with you. If you find that a company is not delivering a quality product and is intentionally compromising your ability to repair it, stop supporting them and their products. Instead, reach out to other organizations who are willing to do the right thing and make technology repairable again. If you are a manufacturer, start by providing the necessary resources to maintain your products and focus on accessibility. We encourage that you, both the consumer and the business, focus on making things right, change your expectations, make healthier decisions, and use your voice where it matters.

Fortunately, we are seeing the gradual change of climate towards repair-ability again. Companies like Microsoft are starting to understand just how major of a problem this is, and have changed gears to accommodate for the right to repair by making their Surface Pros more fixable, partnering with other companies to design tools for repair, all while also providing parts for older models. Apple has begun to do the same thing by providing their own self-repair services for out-of-warranty devices after having been against these practices for many years.

While there’s some things that still need to be corrected, it’s a step in the right direction. We hope that this sets a standard moving forward and that we continue to see improvements in the way our technology is handled within the next decade.