How to choose a computer and phone repair shop in Australia

Short answer

Check the licence first — computer & phone repair are not licensed in Australia, so check qualifications and public liability insurance instead. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 2,463 Australian computer & phone repair in this directory, only 11.7% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 12.9% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.

Computer & Phone Repair handle screen replacements, battery and port repairs, laptop and desktop repairs, data recovery and virus removal. This is what to check before you hand over a device with your life on it, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.

There is no computer and phone repair shop licence — so check something else

Repair work is unlicensed. Your data is the thing at risk: a device handed over unlocked gives a stranger everything on it, and recovery work means someone reading your drive. Ask what happens to your data, whether parts are genuine, and what the repair warranty covers.

Nothing to check. Back up before you hand anything over, and get the parts and warranty on the receipt.

What 2,463 Australian computer & phone repair actually publish

We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For computer & phone repair:

What we checkedComputer & Phone RepairAll trades
Publish an ABN we could confirm11.7%21.5%
Listed phone matches their own website52.5%59.2%
Listed phone contradicts their own website12.9%7.7%
Website responded when we checked82.7%81%
Corroborated by two or more sources66.8%81.1%
Median number of Google reviews9039

What goes wrong with computer & phone repair

  • A device handed over without a backup and without a plan for what the repairer may access
  • Non-genuine parts described as genuine, especially screens and batteries
  • No warranty on the repair, so a failing part is a second bill

What to ask before the work starts

  1. Will you need my passcode, and what is your policy on my data?
  2. Are the parts genuine, and what warranty comes with the repair?
  3. What is the quote if the fault is not what we think it is?

A computer and phone repair shop who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.

The median matters more than the average

The median computer and phone repair shop in this directory has 90 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.

It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.

Where the computer & phone repair are

Melbourne (116), Sydney (99), Brisbane (75), Perth (62), Gold Coast (61), Adelaide (59). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best computer and phone repair shop in the country is no help if they are four states away.

Where to check a licence, by state

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.

Common questions

Do computer & phone repair need a licence in Australia?
No. Repair work is unlicensed. Your data is the thing at risk: a device handed over unlocked gives a stranger everything on it, and recovery work means someone reading your drive. Ask what happens to your data, whether parts are genuine, and what the repair warranty covers.
How do I check a computer and phone repair shop's licence?
Nothing to check. Back up before you hand anything over, and get the parts and warranty on the receipt.
What percentage of Australian computer & phone repair have a verifiable ABN?
11.7% of the 2,463 computer & phone repair in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
How many reviews should a computer and phone repair shop have?
The median computer and phone repair shop here has 90. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.

Compare computer & phone repair near you

2,463 computer & phone repair, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.

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