Paarl & the Winelands
If a laptop, PC, MacBook, printer or console has been damaged, stolen or stolen-from, and a claim is involved, your insurer usually wants a technical statement from someone who can actually open the thing. That is what we write. Fixed fee, quoted when you ask — the same however long the assessment takes.
Tell us what has happened and what your insurer has asked for. If you are not sure, we will tell you which of these it sounds like.
A written description of the device as it arrived: visible impact, cracks and deformation, liquid ingress indicators, missing components, and whether it powers on. Photographs are included. This is the usual report when a device has been dropped or had liquid spilt on it.
Whether the device is economically repairable, what the repair would involve, whether parts are still available for it, and a realistic view of what it is worth in its condition. This is the one insurers most often ask for before authorising a replacement.
Where a drive has failed or been damaged: whether the storage is mechanically intact, whether the data looks recoverable, and what recovery would involve. We will tell you plainly where recovery is not worth attempting.
Where you want the repair itself documented: what was replaced, what was done, which parts were fitted, and the resulting condition — with the 6-month warranty stated on the work.
The device does not leave the workshop during the assessment, and nothing is repaired unless you ask us to repair it.
Do not attempt any repair, reset or "just try another cable" before we see it. A device that has been powered on after liquid damage, or reassembled, can lose evidence and some insurers will query the report. Bring the charger and any accessories that were with it.
It is the same figure whatever the device and however long the assessment takes, and we tell you before we start. If the device turns out to need something we have not quoted for, we stop and tell you.
We photograph the damage, record the serial number and IMEI as found, check what powers on and what does not, and note anything missing. Most assessments are completed while you wait.
You get the report in writing, signed and dated, with the photographs attached. Send it to your insurer yourself, or send us their details and we will email it straight to them.
Insurance work goes wrong when a technical document is treated as a verdict. Better to be clear about it up front.
We are not an insurer, and the report does not approve, deny or influence a claim. It is a factual technical statement from a technician: what we saw, what works, what does not, and what the repair would involve. Your insurer reads it alongside their own assessment and decides.
We report what we observe, not what we think happened. If liquid ingress indicators are tripped we say so. If a display is fractured from impact we describe the impact pattern. We do not speculate about circumstances we cannot see, and we will not write anything a claim officer could not verify from the device itself.
If the honest answer is that the device is not worth repairing, that is what the report will say. A report that always argues for a payout is worth nothing to the insurer, and will be discounted on every future claim you make through us.
If an insurer sends us directly, we work to their written instruction and confirm the scope with you before we open anything. Their requirements take precedence over what you ask for on the day, and we will tell you if we think an instruction will destroy evidence.
Your data is still your data. An assessment may involve reading storage enough to establish whether data survives. We do not browse, copy or transmit the contents of your device. How that is handled is set out in our privacy policy, which also explains that an insurer receiving your report is a third party.
Tell us the device, what happened, and what your insurer has asked for. We will come back with the fixed fee and whether we can do it.
62 Bosch, Northern Paarl, Paarl, 7646.
Monday to Friday 08:00–17:00, Saturday and Sunday 09:00–13:00.
WhatsApp 081 015 0573 or email info@galvitech.co.za. Include the device type and roughly what happened.
It is a fixed fee rather than an hourly rate, so it does not climb because a device is awkward to open. We quote it when you ask and confirm it before we start. We do not publish figures on the site — ask and we will tell you straight away.
Insurers set their own requirements, and some will only use a report from a panel assessor. We are not on any panel, so send us their requirements first if you know them — if we cannot meet them we will say so rather than take your fee and produce something unusable.
Yes, and we recommend it. The assessment and the repair are quoted separately. Many claims are settled as a write-off, and it would be poor judgement to repair a device first and only then write it up.
A stolen device cannot be assessed. What we can do is record the serial number or IMEI so it can be flagged as stolen, and give you a written statement of the device's specification and purchase details from your records, if you were a customer of ours.
Do not power it on and do not charge it. Switch it off, do not try to dry it, and bring it in as it is. Continuing to power a liquid-damaged board can cause secondary damage that changes both the technical findings and the claim.
Most are produced the same day, and many while you wait. Data recovery assessments can take longer because they involve working on the drive rather than only looking at it.
Yes, for the duration of the assessment. If it is not being repaired you collect it with the report the same day. Items left uncollected after 30 days may attract storage fees or be disposed of, under our terms and conditions.
The report itself is a professional opinion and carries no warranty. Any repair we carry out carries a 6-month warranty covering parts and labour, which is stated on the report when work was done.
