No. Getting your phone repaired by an independent repairer does not extinguish your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Your consumer guarantees are automatic, they come from the law rather than from the manufacturer, and no repair shop, sticker or terms document can switch them off. What a third-party repair can affect is the manufacturer’s own voluntary warranty, and only for damage actually caused by that repair. Those are two different things, and the difference is where most of the confusion (and most of the bad advice) lives.
Key takeaways
- Consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law exist independently of any manufacturer’s warranty and are not lost because a third party repaired your device (ACCC, 6 April 2017).
- In June 2018 the Federal Court ordered Apple Inc to pay $9 million in penalties after Apple admitted telling at least 275 Australian customers they were ineligible for a remedy because a third party had repaired their device.
- A manufacturer’s voluntary warranty can still exclude damage caused by non-authorised service. Apple and Samsung both word their Australian exclusions that way, and neither says the whole warranty disappears.
- Australia has no right-to-repair law covering phones. The only legislated scheme covers motor vehicles.
- Under the ACL a repairer must give you written notice before accepting a device that can store data, covering possible data loss and the use of refurbished parts. Website signage alone is not enough.
This page is general information about how the ACL works in practice, not legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, speak to a legal professional or contact the ACCC.
What did the ACCC and the Federal Court actually decide?
The ACCC took Apple to court over exactly this issue, and the outcome is the clearest statement Australians have on third-party repair and warranty rights.
Then-ACCC Chairman Rod Sims put the principle plainly: “Consumer guarantee rights under the Australian Consumer Law exist independently of any manufacturer’s warranty and are not extinguished simply because a consumer has goods repaired by a third party” (ACCC, 6 April 2017) (ACCC media release, 6 April 2017).
In June 2018 the Federal Court ordered Apple Inc to pay $9 million in penalties. Apple admitted it had told at least 275 Australian customers they were not eligible for a remedy because their device had been repaired by someone other than Apple. Apple compensated roughly 5,000 consumers as part of the outcome (ACCC media release, June 2018).
That case is why the “you touched it, so you’re on your own” line does not hold up in Australia. It was tested, and it lost.
What is the difference between a consumer guarantee and a warranty?
A consumer guarantee is a legal right that applies automatically to goods you buy. A warranty is a promise the manufacturer chooses to make on top of it. One cannot be excluded; the other is whatever the manufacturer wrote down.
| Consumer guarantee (ACL) | Manufacturer’s warranty | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it comes from | The law | The manufacturer, voluntarily |
| Can it be excluded? | No | Yes, on its own written terms |
| How long it lasts | A reasonable time given the nature and price of the product | A fixed period the manufacturer sets |
| Affected by third-party repair? | Not extinguished by it | Can exclude damage caused by it |
| Who chooses the remedy | Major failure: you choose refund or replacement. Minor failure: the business chooses repair, replacement or refund | The manufacturer, per its terms |
The “reasonable time” point is worth sitting with. Consumer guarantees have no fixed expiry. They last a reasonable time given the nature and price of the product, which can run longer than any manufacturer warranty (ACCC, January 2024) (ACCC, January 2024). A phone that cost well over a thousand dollars is reasonably expected to last longer than a budget handset, and that expectation is part of the test.
For context on the warranty side: Samsung Australia’s warranty for mobile phones and tablets is 2 years, with the embedded battery covered for 24 months (Samsung Australia warranty).
What do Apple and Samsung’s warranties actually say?
Read the wording closely, because the difference between “damage caused by” and “any device serviced by” is the whole argument.
Apple’s Australian warranty excludes “damage caused by service performed by anyone who is not a representative of Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider” (Apple’s Australian hardware warranty). It excludes damage caused by the service. It does not say the warranty ceases to exist.
Samsung Australia similarly excludes damage arising from “repair, modification or other work carried out on the Samsung product other than by Authorised Samsung Service Personnel” (Samsung Australia warranty). Same shape: the exclusion attaches to damage from the work, not to your device generally.
Apple also states that repairs performed by Independent Repair Providers “are not covered by Apple’s warranty or AppleCare plans but may be covered by the provider’s own repair warranty” (Apple support: getting your iPhone repaired). That is an accurate description of the position, and it is the one worth planning around.
So what does that mean in practice? If we replace the screen on your iPhone and your Wi-Fi module fails six months later for an unrelated reason, that failure was not caused by our work, and your ACL rights against the manufacturer and the retailer are unaffected. If a repair genuinely does cause a problem, that is our repair to stand behind, not Apple’s. Which is why the repairer’s own guarantee matters as much as the manufacturer’s.
Does Australia have a right-to-repair law for phones?
No, and it is worth being blunt about this because the phrase gets used loosely online.
Australia’s only legislated right-to-repair scheme is the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme, which covers passenger and light goods vehicles built from 1 January 2002. It expressly does not cover consumer electronics (ACCC: about the motor vehicle information scheme). The Productivity Commission’s 2021 Right to Repair report made recommendations that have not been legislated for consumer electronics (Productivity Commission, Right to Repair, 2021). A Treasury discussion paper released in May 2026 proposed extending the framework to agricultural machinery, again not phones (Treasury, May 2026).
Your protection when you use an independent repairer comes from the consumer guarantee provisions of the ACL, not from a repair-specific law. That protection is real and it has been enforced in the Federal Court, but it is a different mechanism, and anyone telling you Australia has phone right-to-repair legislation is wrong.
What should a professional repairer give you before they touch your phone?
Written notice, before they accept the device. This is a specific ACL obligation for repairers, and it is one of the quickest ways to tell a properly run shop from a kiosk operator.
Where goods are capable of storing user-generated data, the repairer must give written notice before accepting the goods that the repair may result in loss of that data. Where refurbished parts may be used instead of new ones (or where the repair may be done by supplying refurbished goods), that must also be disclosed in writing beforehand. A sign on the wall or a paragraph buried on a website is not sufficient notice (ACCC guidance on repair notices).
Two practical things follow from that. First, back up your phone before any repair, at any shop, including the manufacturer’s. Second, ask what parts are going in. A repairer who cannot tell you clearly whether a part is genuine, OEM or a high-quality copy is not in a position to give you accurate notice, and probably is not standing behind the outcome either.
How does Aussie Mobile Phone Repairs handle parts and guarantees?
We give you the choice and we label it clearly, because the part determines both the price and the cover.
We use genuine and/or original parts where possible, and a clearly-labelled high-quality non-genuine option is available on request for customers who want the cheaper route. Repairs done with genuine or OEM parts carry our lifetime parts guarantee, with labour potentially chargeable depending on how old the original repair is. Repairs done with high-quality non-genuine or copy parts carry a 3 month warranty. Either way, the guarantee is void where there is physical damage, liquid ingress, mistreatment or third-party tampering after our work.
Both options are priced openly on our repair price list, and the trade-offs between them (warranty length, display quality, the Apple “Unknown Part” notification) are set out in detail in our guide to what it actually costs to fix a phone screen in Brisbane. We have been repairing phones and tablets in Brisbane since 2009, more than 15 years, from two shopfronts in Mount Gravatt and Capalaba.
That repairer’s guarantee is the practical answer to the warranty question. Apple’s own wording says an independent repair may be covered by the provider’s warranty instead. Ours is written down and it is the thing you actually rely on for the repair itself.
Frequently asked questions
Will Apple refuse to service my phone if a third party repaired it?
Apple’s warranty does not cover damage caused by non-authorised service, so Apple may decline to cover a problem arising from that work. It cannot lawfully tell you that your Australian Consumer Law rights have disappeared because a third party repaired the device. That exact conduct is what led to the $9 million penalty in 2018.
Does a screen replacement affect my battery warranty?
Only if the screen work caused the battery fault. Samsung Australia covers the embedded battery for 24 months. An unrelated battery failure is an unrelated failure, and swapping a cracked screen does not change that.
How long do my consumer guarantees last?
There is no fixed expiry. They last a reasonable time given the nature and price of the product (ACCC, January 2024), which can be longer than the manufacturer’s warranty period. A premium flagship is reasonably expected to last longer than a budget handset. No Australian law says a phone “must last” a set number of years.
Who do I claim from, the retailer or the manufacturer?
For a consumer guarantee failure you can go to the retailer who sold you the phone. For a major failure you choose between a refund and a replacement; for a minor failure the business chooses whether to repair, replace or refund.
Is my phone still covered after you repair it?
Your ACL rights against the retailer and manufacturer continue. Damage caused by our work sits with us, under the guarantee terms above, not with Apple or Samsung. That is why the parts choice and the written repair terms matter.
Book a repair with clear terms up front
You will get the parts option in writing, the price before we start, and you pay only once the repair is complete. Most repairs are done in about an hour, with around 95% of screen replacements finished within the hour, though repair time can be longer on weekends. ZipPay and Afterpay are available in store.
Book online, request a quote, or call 1300 131 192. Outside Brisbane, our free courier and reply-paid postal service covers the rest of Australia.
Mt Gravatt: Shop 5/1484 Logan Road, Mount Gravatt QLD 4122. (07) 3849 7035. Mon-Fri 8:30am-5:00pm, Sat 8:30am-2:00pm, closed Sunday.
Capalaba: Kiosk 21, Capalaba Central Shopping Centre, Moreton Bay Road, Capalaba QLD 4157. (07) 3245 4662. Mon-Fri 9:00am-5:30pm, Sat 9:00am-4:00pm, closed Sunday.
Questions about a repair or a warranty claim? Contact us and we will talk you through it.
