SolderDesk compared
SolderDesk vs paper repair tickets and a carbon book
A carbon-copy ticket book at the counter has run phone shops for decades. It's fast, it never crashes, and everyone understands it. What it can't do is tell you anything afterwards.
What paper does well
- Writing a ticket takes seconds, with no screen and no sign-in.
- It works in a power cut, and the customer leaves with something in their hand.
- Nothing to learn, and no monthly cost.
What it costs you
- Repairs get lost. A ticket slips behind the bench, and the phone waits a week for a screen nobody ordered.
- Prices get argued. "You said 200" against a scribble nobody can read. With no approved estimate, the customer's memory wins.
- "It wasn't cracked when I gave it to you." One handwritten word, "scratches", doesn't settle that. Photos and a signed condition report do.
- Passcodes sit in the open. A PIN written on the ticket, or on a sticker on the back of the phone, can be read by anyone who walks past, and it stays in the book for years.
- Warranty claims come with no proof. The customer says the repair was last month, and the carbon copy has faded. Without the hand-over date and the IMEI, you can't say whether it's the same phone, the same fault, or still inside the warranty.
- Parts leak. A battery taken from the shelf and never written on the ticket is never billed.
- Customers call to ask. "Is it ready?" takes your front desk away from the counter ten times a day.
- The month is a guess. What you made, which technician is fastest and which repair sells best all wait for someone to add up a pile of carbon copies.
- Tax invoices still have to be typed somewhere else, with the right numbers on them.
Side by side
| Paper | SolderDesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing a ticket at the counter | Seconds | A minute or two, on a phone or a PC |
| IMEI checked as it is written | ✗ | ✓ |
| Photos and marks of the damage it came in with | ✗ | ✓ |
| The customer signs the condition | On paper | On the screen or their own phone, kept with the repair |
| The screen lock | Readable by anyone, kept for years | Staff only, erased at hand-over |
| Estimate approved in writing | Sometimes | ✓ From the customer's phone |
| Every part used gets billed | If someone writes it | ✓ Parts come off stock on the repair |
| "Is my phone ready?" | A phone call | ✓ A live tracking link |
| Warranty dates | Worked out by hand | ✓ Counted from hand-over, printed on the invoice |
| Tax invoice | Typed elsewhere | ✓ From the repair, with VAT |
| The month's figures | Added up by hand | ✓ Always current |
| Works in a power cut | ✓ | On a charged phone with mobile data |
When paper is enough
One person, a few repairs a day, cash on collection and no stock to speak of: a ticket book does the job. It stops being enough when a second person takes devices in, when customers start asking for the warranty in writing, or when you can no longer say from memory which phone is waiting for which part.
Keeping what works
You don't have to take paper away from the counter. SolderDesk prints a repair ticket with a tear-off collection stub and a QR code, so the customer still leaves with paper in hand and the device is still handed back against the stub. A good way to start is with the counter alone: the front desk opens the repair, sends the estimate and invoices it, and the ticket prints for the technician. When the technicians are ready, the bench view on their phones replaces the printout.
See it on your own counter: book a demo, or start the free trial with demo data and print a repair ticket.