When you think of Dish (formerly Dish Network) your first thought might be “I hope it doesn’t rain during the big game,” but the TV provider isn’t content just helping you watch your shows anymore. Now, they want a piece of your phone or, more accurately, to repair the pieces of your phone. Dish has announced a new home iPhone repair program utilizing the service tech’s the company already has in the field.
It’s fairly simple: You contact Dish and tell them your iPhone is broken. You schedule a time for them to come fix your phone, including an option for same day repairs. Dish will give you a two-hour window of when they’ll be there. You can then track your technician via the company’s website, and even see a picture of them before they arrive so you don’t have to open the door to a stranger.
A simple battery replacement will set you back $74.99 across all models of iPhone, while a screen replacement starts at $134.99 for an iPhone 5 and runs up to $224.98 to replace the screen and the battery of an iPhone 6+.
You can see Dish’s price chart below, but one thing you’ll quickly notice is these prices are much more expensive than using your corner store iPhone repair service, or even going to the Apple Store yourself. A broken iPhone 6+ screen at the Apple Store will set you back $129, while Dish will charge you $184.99. That price may sting some consumers.
Of course, you’re paying a premium to have this service come to you so you don’t have to wait around at the mall all day for the Genius Bar. Prices include a one-time $35 “Drive to Me” fee for each visit, so if you have them repair more than one device during a visit you can knock $35 off the price of each additional device that’s serviced.
If you’re nervous about the idea of a service tech working on your device rest easy, Dish’s repairs come with a 60-day warranty. With so many service techs out in the field this move makes sense for Dish, which is currently struggling with dropping subscription numbers and loss of Pay-Per-View revenues. This is just another way to help make those techs profitable when they’re already out in the field. At the moment Dish is only repairing iPhones, sorry Android and Windows phone users. You’ll have to go to kiosk at the mall.
H/T to The Verge