Yesterday, I was the unfortunate recipient of a massive spiderweb crack in the screen of my iPhone 3Gs. After brushing off my gut reaction – which was to use this an opportunity to rationalize buying a Google Nexus One phone – I did a quick Google search online for “fixing cracked iPhone screens”, thus learning that I had a few options:
- Apple Store Genius Bar
- DIY kit
- Shady send-it-in-and-we’ll-fix-it online offerings
- Shady fix-it-in-a-parking-lot guy
I laid out my options.
OPTION #1: Apple Store Genius Bar
Cost: $199
Upsides: A near-immediate fix without precious time away from my primary post-pc device.
Downsides: Price.
Decision: Let’s be serious, there’s not a chance in the world that I’m dropping $199 at an Apple store to repair a phone that is halfway through its product life-cycle. FAIL.
OPTION #2: DIY kit
Cost: Roughly $90 for the parts + tools + shipping
Upsides: A near-immediate fix without precious time away from my primary post-pc device.
Downsides: There’s a slight chance that I end up ruining the phone altogether.
Decision: This was a solid option, but didn’t win out in the end.
OPTION #3: Shady send-it-in-and-we’ll-fix-it online offerings
Cost: Pricing all over the board, but all under $100
Upsides: Price.
Downsides: First, I would be without my phone for a week. Second, I’m not very confident that I would ever actually get my phone back.
Decision: Too many serious downsides. FAIL.
OPTION #4: Shady fix-it-in-a-parking-lot guy
Cost: $80
Upsides: First, it is a cheaper option than at least 2 of the other 3 options. Second, I would only have to be without my phone for a mere 20 minutes. Third, who doesn’t like a geeky adrenaline rush?
Downsides: Well, he seemed shady – as you’ll learn more below – so I had to fear for my life, or at least for my phone and my wallet!
Decision: I’m an entrepreneur; we’re intrinsically built to tolerate illogical, uncommon risks. Option #4 it is!
The drug deal for geeks goes down…
What transpired next was what can best be described as the equivalent of a tech / iPhone drug deal, or better yet, a drug deal for geeks.
Here’s the email I received from this guy as we ironed out the details of the exchange:
“We can meet at the Walmart at 1661 Jungerman Road. I’ll park on the ‘Outdoor Living’ entrance side. I’ll be in a white Chevy van that says Midwest on the sides and back. What time can you meet?”
The video as I drive up should speak for itself:
Heart racing, I park and immediately see him making his way towards my car. Randomly – as if everything else about this was normal – he proceeds to hand me his business card, which was probably just a gesture to ease the obvious concern in my face. Next, I nervously hand over my phone, as I watch him hop back into his white van; you know, the type of van that you only see in movies when houses are being robbed or people are being kidnapped. Trying not to stare, I sit in my car twiddling my thumbs for 20 minutes. Next thing I know, he jumps out of his van and hands me a perfectly working iPhone! He even informs me that his service comes with a 30 day guarantee! I hand him $80 in cold hard cash and drive off.
Ah, the reckless life of a geek 
.
