Anyone who runs a phone, laptop or console repair shop knows the pattern. The phone rings while you are mid-repair. Instagram messages pile up overnight. Customers ask the same things again and again: how much is a screen, how long will it take, do you have the part, is my device ready yet?
Each question takes a minute or two, but together they eat hours of skilled technician time every week — and slow replies send customers to the shop down the road.
What an AI assistant can handle
A well-built assistant answers from your own information: price lists, turnaround times, warranty terms, opening hours and the devices you repair. It can give a price range for a cracked iPhone screen, explain your data-privacy policy, tell someone to back up their device first, and book them in for a drop-off slot.
Connected to your repair management system, it can also answer the most common question of all — "is my repair ready?" — by checking the job status for that customer.
Where customers can reach it
The same assistant can work on your website, on WhatsApp through the official WhatsApp Business Platform, and in Facebook Messenger and Instagram direct messages. WhatsApp only allows assistants that serve a specific business purpose, such as answering customer questions or managing bookings — exactly what a repair-shop assistant does.
Keeping humans in the loop
Diagnosis still needs a technician. A good assistant knows its limits: it gives price ranges rather than promises, hands complex or unusual faults to a person, and passes on the details so the customer does not have to repeat themselves.
Getting started
Start with your top twenty questions and your price list, launch on your website first, then add WhatsApp and Instagram. Review conversations weekly to fill gaps. Most shops quickly see fewer interruptions and more bookings captured out of hours.
We are exploring an AI assistant designed specifically for UK repair shops. If you run a repair business and would like to help shape it, get in touch.
