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Check the warranty
If the set is new, check whether the manufacturer covers it. Some warranties include limited accidental damage cover, and a claim costs you nothing to make.
Home/Broken screen repair
Broken screen repair
We do not repair broken TV screens — and here is exactly why
This page exists to save you a phone call and a disappointment. If your television has a cracked or physically damaged panel, we cannot help — and we would rather explain that clearly than have you waste time finding out.
We do not repair screens
We do not buy broken TVs
Everything else, we do
On a modern television, the screen is the television
This is the part that surprises people, and it is the heart of the whole issue. When you look at a flat-screen TV, it is tempting to think of the screen as one component among several — a part that could be unbolted and swapped like a cracked windscreen.
It cannot. The panel assembly is not a piece of glass sitting in front of a television. It is the television, in every sense that matters: it is the majority of the manufacturing cost, the majority of the physical structure, and the single component around which everything else is built. The circuit boards that drive it are, by comparison, almost incidental.
So replacing a cracked panel does not mean repairing your television. It means buying a new television without the boards, then paying someone to fit your old boards to it. Put that way, the economics become obvious.
The numbers do not work, and they never will
A replacement panel, bought as a spare part, is priced as a spare part — without the volume discounting, competitive retail pressure and loss-leader positioning that make a new television as cheap as it is. It also has to be shipped as an enormous, extremely fragile item, and it has to be fitted by someone who knows what they are doing.
Add all of that together and the total consistently lands above the price of a brand-new set of the same size. Not marginally. Reliably. That is why no reputable television repairer in South Africa offers panel replacement as a service, and anyone who claims otherwise deserves a very sceptical question about what exactly they are proposing to do.
We could take your money and order a panel. We would rather tell you the truth for free.
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We also do not buy broken televisions
We are asked this often enough that it belongs on the page. We do not purchase broken TVs, we do not take them in for spare parts, and we do not accept them for scrap or salvage. We are a repair service, not a dealer or a recycler, and we have no channel through which to do it.
If you have a television with a cracked screen, please take it to a proper e-waste recycler rather than putting it in a skip — a television contains materials that genuinely should not end up in landfill.
What to do instead
If your screen is cracked, here is what we would actually suggest
Three things worth doing before you write the television off — none of which involve paying us.
02
Check your household insurance
This is the one people forget. Many household policies cover accidental damage to electronics, and a cracked television is exactly the kind of claim they exist for. It is well worth a phone call.
03
Recycle it properly
Take it to a registered e-waste facility rather than a skip. Televisions contain heavy metals and other materials that should not go to landfill.
Important distinction
A damaged screen is not the same as a picture fault
If your screen is physically intact, do not assume it is beyond help. It very probably is not.
Lines or bands on an intact screenUsually the T-CON board or a ribbon connection. Frequently repairable
Black screen but you can hear soundBacklight failure. The panel is fine. Repairable and affordable
Dark patches or uneven brightnessFailing backlight LED strips. Replaceable
Shadows or ghosting on an LCD or LEDUsually a processing or T-CON fault, not panel damage
Half the screen is darkOften a T-CON or panel-drive fault. Worth diagnosing properly
Physically cracked or shattered glassThis one, honestly, we cannot help with
FAQ
Broken screen repair — your questions
Straight answers to what people ask us most.
Not sure what is wrong?
WhatsApp us the make, the screen size and a short video of what the TV is doing. We can usually narrow the fault down before a technician is even dispatched.
WhatsApp 063 866 0971Can a cracked TV screen be repaired?
Not economically, and not by us. On a modern flat-screen television the panel is not a component inside the set — it is the overwhelming majority of the set, by both cost and construction. Replacing it means replacing almost the entire television, and the replacement panel alone typically costs more than a brand-new set of the same size.
Why does a replacement panel cost more than a new TV?
Because manufacturers price spare panels as spare parts, not as products, and because a new television is sold at a competitive retail price with all the volume discounts that implies. The panel also has to be shipped as a large, extremely fragile item. Add the labour to fit it and you very reliably arrive at a number above the price of a new set.
Can you replace just the glass on the screen?
No. This is one of the most common misunderstandings we encounter, and it comes from phone repair. A phone screen is a glass layer bonded to a display. A television panel is not built that way — the ‘glass’ you can see is an integral, inseparable part of the display assembly. There is no outer layer to swap.
Do you buy broken TVs, or take them for parts?
No. We do not purchase broken televisions, we do not take them in for spares, and we do not accept them for scrap. We are a repair service, not a dealer.
What should I do with a TV that has a cracked screen?
Two things are worth checking before you dispose of it. First, whether it is still under manufacturer warranty or covered by household insurance — accidental damage is covered by some policies, and a claim may well be your best route. Second, take it to a proper e-waste recycler rather than putting it in a skip. Televisions contain materials that should not go to landfill.
My screen is not cracked, but it has lines on it. Is that the same thing?
No, and this is an important distinction. Lines, bands, shadows and dark patches on an otherwise physically intact screen are usually caused by the T-CON board, the ribbon connections or the backlight — not by panel damage. Those are frequently repairable, and we would be glad to look at it.
What faults DO you repair?
Everything else, essentially. Televisions that will not turn on, no picture with sound, no sound, dead HDMI ports, Wi-Fi and app problems, boot loops, frozen menus, remote and signal faults, and picture faults on physically undamaged screens. See our services page for the full list.
Book a TV technician
Screen intact? Then let us look at it.
If the glass is not cracked, the fault is very likely a backlight, a T-CON board or a power supply — and all three are repairable.
We repair every TV fault except physical panel damage
Contact
Speak to a TV technician, not a call centre
- Call us
- 0861 995 085Open 24 hours · 7 days a week
- 063 866 0971Send a short video of the fault — it speeds everything up.
- Where we work
- Johannesburg, Pretoria, Sandton, Centurion, Midrand, the East Rand and the West RandSee every area we cover →