Terms and conditions for a phone and computer repair shop

A repair shop takes in other people's property, opens it up, and hands it back with their photographs, messages and saved logins still on it. Your terms need to deal with data, devices that were already failing before they reached your bench, third-party parts, and the customer who never comes back for their laptop. I draft customer terms around how your shop works for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Independent phone, tablet, laptop, desktop and games console repair businesses in England and Wales, including mail-in repairers and mobile technicians. Most take walk-in work from consumers and also look after machines for local firms, schools and letting agents. Those two groups of customers have very different rights, so one set of terms has to be drafted with both of them in mind.

What matters in repair shop terms

Data, backups and the limits of a disclaimer

The complaint that costs you money is rarely the screen. It is the customer whose photographs went when the board was reballed, or whose drive was wiped during a clean install. Your terms should put the responsibility for backing up before handover on the customer, record whether a backup was taken, and say what you will and will not attempt to recover. A blanket 'we accept no responsibility for data' notice does limited work: under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a term must be fair to bind a consumer, and liability for a service cannot be limited to less than the price paid.

Intake, diagnosis and devices that were already failing

Water-damaged phones, swollen batteries and boards with prior repair attempts sometimes do not survive disassembly, and the customer will remember the device as working. Your terms should record the reported fault and visible condition at intake, warn that opening a device may expose or worsen existing damage, and make clear that a figure given over the counter before inspection is an estimate. That last point matters, because under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 information a consumer relies on when deciding to go ahead is binding. Set out your diagnostic fee, your no-fix position and the authority you need before the cost rises.

Parts, guarantees and what you promise about the repair

Aftermarket screens, harvested boards and refurbished batteries are normal in this trade, and customers care about them once something goes wrong. Tell the customer before the work what grade of part you are fitting and what it may mean for brightness, touch response, water resistance or the manufacturer's own cover. For consumers, parts you supply must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and those rights cannot be excluded. Any guarantee you choose to offer on your own workmanship sits on top of them, and should state plainly what it does not cover: accidental damage, liquid ingress and someone else opening the device.

Mail-in repairs and online bookings

A repair booked online, by phone or by email is a distance contract under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, so the consumer has fourteen days to cancel from the contract date. Start inside that period only at their express request, or you may not be paid for the work, and give the cancellation information at booking, because if you do not the period can run for up to twelve months beyond the original fourteen days. Urgent repairs the consumer has asked for are excepted for that work only. The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 govern your booking flow and order acknowledgement.

Uncollected devices, unpaid bills and proof of ownership

Every shop has a shelf of machines nobody collected. Your terms need a contractual right to hold the device until the bill is paid, a storage charge that begins after a stated free period, written notice to the last contact details you hold, and a defined point at which you may dispose of the device and account for it. For consumers, keep the storage charge proportionate: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats disproportionate default charges as suspect. The same section should require confirmation of ownership at intake and removal of activation locks, and let you decline anything that looks lost or stolen.

Business accounts, on-site work and liability

Repairing a firm's laptops is a different commercial risk from fixing a cracked phone, because the loss they will claim is downtime and lost billing, not the price of the job. For business customers set a liability cap, exclude loss of profit, revenue and data restoration costs, and be ready to justify it: the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 tests those limits for reasonableness in written standard terms, and liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence cannot be excluded at all. Account terms should also carry payment dates and interest, with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 behind you when an invoice is ignored.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

Does a sign at the counter saying we are not liable for data loss protect me?

A notice on the wall rarely does the job. The wording has to be part of the contract before the customer hands the device over, which usually means it sits on the job sheet or booking screen and the customer acknowledges it. Incorporation is where most repair shops actually fail, and I cover how to do it in the covering note.

How long should I keep a device before I sell or recycle it?

That is a commercial decision you set in the terms, not something you can do on instinct. Choose a period that is long enough to be defensible, require written notice to the customer first, record what you did with the device and what it fetched, and hold the proceeds against the unpaid bill rather than simply keeping them.

I also sell refurbished handsets and accessories. Can that sit in the same terms?

It can, provided the sales side is drafted as its own section. Selling goods brings obligations on description, condition and, where the sale is online or off-premises, cancellation and return costs. Mixing sales wording into repair wording is how shops end up offering returns on a repaired device or refusing them on a sold one.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Data protection agreements and privacy terms, £795
• Terms and conditions for a hair extensions specialist
• Terms and conditions for a hairdressing salon

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.