As originally reported yesterday by Eurogamer, it appears that the British retailer CEX is partnering with the console repair company Tech Centre to offer a new "no fix, no fee" service for your old retro machines.
The idea behind the service is that - should your old hardware break — you'd be able to get a quote online and then simply drop it off at your local CEX store to be sent off to the specialists at Tech Centre. From there, you'd be able to track the repair process, with the ultimate goal being to fix the broken hardware and send it back within just 7 days.
If they're unable to fix it, there is no need to pay, with Tech Centre claiming they won't charge you any type of hidden "inspection fee" or "other covert charges"
Looking at the website (which sadly seems to be filled with some shoddy AI Art), the service applies to various consoles from Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox, as well as the following Atari & Sega machines:
- Sega Dreamcast
- Atari Jaguar/Atari Jaguar CD
- Sega Saturn Model 1/2
- Sega Mega Drive 32X
- Sega Multi-Mega
- Sega Mega Drive CD-1/2
- Sega Master System & Sega Master System II
- Sega Mega Drive & Sega Mega Drive II
- Atari Lynx & Atari Lynx II
- Sega Game Gear
The service doesn't seem to just apply to consoles either, but accessories such as controllers. According to Tech Centre's website, the company has "more than 200,000 repairs" under its belt to date. You can get a quote here.
[source techcentre.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 7
Not going to lie, that's kinda cool. I have a broken 2DS that I am sure I can find a repairshop for SOMEWHERE, but it would be nice if it were simpler to find.
That said., I REALLY dislike CEX. I didn't grow up with them being smaller stores, so I have no nostalgic feelings for them. They've only recently entered the shopping street scene in the Netherlands, as a chain, and it's definitely not my favourite chain.
My Philips CDi needs a new timekeeper battery soldered in to maintain saves and...
No Philips CDi option on their web pages.
Jokes aside this is pretty cool. I wonder if they'll expand to do mods. 60Hz switches for everyone!
@Sketcz Doesn't the CD-i get stuck in a boot loop with a dead battery?
@NatiaAdamo The problem I heard is that, for whatever reason, Philips decided to put the battery INSIDE the chip, making it unreachable except to people with very specific skills.
As a reminder if you consle is in warrenty you should alway use the offical repair service. Not sure how I feel about CEX the are the main villain for controlling the retro prices at the moment.
I have a broken saturn model 2 modded which I been told is unfixable in the past.
My bro's japanese snes recently failed we think it's the gpu it still works but all the colours are wrong on screen
@NatiaAdamo I've read this a lot. My 210 and 220 models (UK, PAL) do not. They boot up just fine. The clock reverts to the factory default? Actually, not quite. On my 210 it shows "0 January". (The 220 was sold years ago, but had the same problem.)
They load and play games. And they retain saves as long as they're kept powered. Cutting the power kills the saves.
Since I've not had a model that gets stuck in the boot loop described online, I had to assume it's one of the other models of CDi. Of which there are... Many! Even the 210/220 has several internal board revisions, which dramatically affects how you can mod them.
I'm just going to say there's over 50 different models / revisions / variants of what is the same basic hardware. I do not know which specifically suffer from that problem. Only that mine did / do not.
I appreciate CEX as one of the last brick and mortar chains in the UK to provide retro games, but I wouldn't let them anywhere near any of my retro kit.
Their staff are often far too willing to depend upon their disc resurfacers to revive scratched-up games. I certainly wouldn't want them going at my Mega-CD with a soldering iron.
There are an increasing number of experienced hobbyists who are offering their services for retro modding, who are arguably much more trustworthy.
For anyone in the south-west, I'd highly recommend Bytes Free - he did a fantastic job on my Dreamcast, and I'm looking to do business with him again soon.
I also had my PS3 re-pasted by Console Wizard, and while the CPU de-lid was unsuccessful, the after-service was so good that I'd be willing to recommend them to anyone in the same position.
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