Enrique Martinez, president of the Fnac Darty group, announced that the company will become the first Apple authorized repairer in France within a few months. “We now have official approval from Apple for repairs and access to the brand’s spare parts”, explains the latter in an interview for the Journal du Dimanche. Thus, it will soon be possible to bring your iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch directly to a Fnac and Darty store to have it repaired.
But these points of sale will not be the only ones able to welcome users. Indeed, Fnac Darty has been investing since 2018 in the start-up WeFix, which specializes in smartphone repair. With 150 workshops across France, the company will also be authorized to repair Apple devices this year. In addition, Enrique Martinez assures that the number of WeFix stores is expected to double “in the years to come”.
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It is next June that WeFix will be officially recognized as an authorized repairer by Apple. From then on, users will have easier access to a nearby store in the event of a breakdown of their device. Note that Fnac Dart did not wait for the approval of the Cupertino company to repair high-tech products. While the number of refurbished devices was 1.7 million before the pandemic, that figure has now risen to more than 2 million.
Within 2 to 3 years, it should even climb to 2.5 million, according to Enrique Martinez. A real boon for users, knowing that repairing a Mac costs on average 3 times less at a third-party repairer than at Apple. In addition, the CEO of the group takes the opportunity to indicate that its turnover is up sharply in 2021, reaching 8 billion euros, an increase of 7.4% compared to the previous year.
Source: The Sunday Journal