About Us
There's nothing quite like unboxing a new piece of tech. You've do all the research, watched all the videos, run it past your disinterested partner, and finally decided that this is the product that will complete you. So you place the order, triggering a nice dopamine hit to carry you through the next two working days. You arrive home that day bursting with anticipation. You're in luck. The delivery driver hasn't drop kicked your parcel over the fence and into your neighbours pond for once. You hurry inside, grab the nearest sharp object and slash the tape off the brown box along with part of your finger which, thanks to the adrenaline, you won't notice until later when you're trying to work out why your kitchen looks like a crime scene. You unfurl the bubble wrap, taking a moment to pop some bubbles - though no more than seven or eight - you are a grown adult after all. The protective plastic peels off seductively in your hands, revealing the most stunning thing you ever have or will ever lay eyes on. You marvel at it like a piece of fine art; caress it like a newborn baby. It is a truly beautiful slice of engineering and ingenuity. And it's all yours.
And you haven't even switched it on yet. For reasons that go beyond humanity's current understanding of the universe, setting up a new device is simultaneously the most painful, most wonderful experience. It isn't easy, but it's the necessary process for newborn device and user to bond.
It's finally up and running and oh my gosh look at how fast it is! It puts your previous piece of trash device to shame. The display is sharp. The camera slaps. The graphics are better than real life. The buttons do button things but somehow better. The interface has you feeling like a time-travelling James Bond. This will take some getting used to, but you are 100% here for it.
But such awe and excitement is fleeting. Inevitably, the once brilliant screen cracks, and what was once a sleek piece of shiny new tech is now a sorry mess of scratches, dents, and software glitches. Furthermore, some of the apps keep crashing, it only connects to the Wi-Fi when it feels like it, and the battery barely gets you through to lunchtime. What was once a source of great joy and power has transformed into a source of great pain and frustration. All this hassle can't be good for your mental health.
It's in this moment, just as you reach breaking point, that the corporate overlords descend from the heavens, offering up a remedy for all your life's problems. The oracle is delivered through your decrepit device in the form of ads: videos, reels, emails, podcasts, blimps and billboards smash you from all angles while you work, while you eat, while you sleep. The new, vastly improved (basically identical) model is now available for pre-order. It's bigger, better, bolder, brainier, and available in four luxurious colour finishes. And it can all be yours - all for the very reasonable price of one arm and a leg. Who needs multiple limbs in this day and age anyway? Walking, cooking, typing, driving - there's an app for that ya know.
Alas, you're left with no option but to throw your once-revered companion into landfill, empty your wallet, and sign your life away to Big Tech yet again. Part of you can't help but wonder, as you reluctantly tap on the Add to Basket button with your soon-to-be sliced-off finger, what if there's a better way...
With our experience, plus a fully equipped repair centre & retail shop, armed with thousands of pounds worth of tools and gadgets, we might just be better positioned to handle your tech needs than a pop-up vape shop, an anonymous eBay dweller, or your Uncle Mike who used to work in IT and watches phone repair tutorials on YouTube.
Why Choose Talkback?
Raising The Standard
Our industry is enormous and ever-growing, yet it underwhelms on so many levels - which is unforgivable, given how advanced the tech is and how dependent we have become on it.
We've all experienced it: hidden costs, pushy sales, misinformation about parts and products, devices that stop working days after purchase, repair jobs that may have been done by an impatient toddler.
It's unprofessional. It's uninspired. It's unforgivable. It's unfortunate because people no longer trust or respect the industry.
Why should consumers be forced to choose between a shoddy product and service, or being charged an absolute fortune by the big brands?
There's a gap in the market, and that's where we operate.
Every day, we are working hard to surpass and advance the industry standard because - and this might sound crazy - buying, selling or repairing a device shouldn't be a costly, complicated, stressful process.
Our Story & What We Do
We, like most people, have become voluntary slaves to our precious phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches and other tech.
We can't go a day without them. We can't remember life before them.
The first iPhone was released in 2007.
We jumped on the bandwagon, of course. We didn't camp outside the Apple store for 10 days. But we happily joined the 6.1 million people that could justify the £269 price tag to upgrade from their Moto Razr or BlackBerry Curve.
And it was great! For a while... Until, inevitably, it broke. It took a few phones in the bin and money down the drain before we asked ourselves, "Do we really need to chuck our phone away and buy a new one every time it breaks?" The tech was cool, but it didn't seem like it was built to last.
We spotted a market that was under-serviced: mobile phone repair. The potential and necessity for more, professional businesses to enter the space was increasing rapidly.
And just like that, we shifted from the dull world of telecoms solutions to the small, niche market of smartphone repair - before later expanding into the repair, service and sale of various smart devices and tech - catching the refurbished smartphone wave right at its inception.
Since then, we've done tens of thousands of repairs and sold tens of thousands of devices across 10 countries. We've gone from slow, painful iPhone 3GS screen replacements on a kitchen table, to supplying and servicing companies around Europe, repairing devices for our local schools, the council, the police force, and thousands of customers across the country - all from our very own repair centre & retail shop in the heart of our hometown.
We are a local repair centre, first and foremost. We spend most of our time and energy replacing worn-out phone batteries, cracked iPad screens, and mangled PlayStation ports. Known locally as the fifth emergency service, we singlehandedly keep the good people of Portishead and surrounding towns connected.
We know you have a TikTok addiction, and that you're running a business empire on your laptop, and that you need your phone to monitor your blood sugar levels, and that a six-hour flight with a child with no Roblox will ruin your holiday - if it doesn't bring the plane down.
We've rescued photos from phones that have gone swimming in porta-loos, restored devices that have been run over by a truck, shot with a gun, and put through the washing machine. We've even repaired the odd toy robot, musical instrument, and baby monitor.
When we're not fixing tech, we're selling it.
We aim to set our customers up with a device that meets their requirements, honours their budget, and fits neatly in their pocket or handbag.
We buy phones and tablets too. We believe in extending the product life cycle - taking perfectly good tech, fixing it up, and finding it a new, loving home elsewhere in the community. It's economical. It's environmentally friendly. Everybody wins.
As a local shop, we have the duty and privilege of doing what huge online stores and brands cannot: offering our customers a personal, comprehensive service. We transfer the data from their old device, so they can trade it in against the new one. We equip them with a case, screen protector, charger, earphones, car holder, and whatever else they might need. We make recommendations and run through mini-tutorials so they can get the most out of their tech. And if there's any issues or questions, we're just a short walk or a phone call away. Valued customer and friend for life.
Setting up the first time smartphone user - rescuing them from the stone age and slowly morphing them into a tech enthusiast - has become somewhat of a specialty of ours. It's a reputation we're proud of.
Thus, 90% of the day-to-day is helping elderly folk sign into their apps, teaching them how to start a video call, and trying to explain why they keep getting overloaded with spams and scams.
We get all kinds of requests from our customers - from doing their food shopping to booking holidays and doctors appointments to setting up a home security system. We want to be helpful, but we are more-than busy trying to keep up with our actual jobs, so we have to draw the line somewhere!
It wasn't always like this...
Throughout the 90's and 2000's, we had two shops in Newport, South Wales, where we were partnered with Cellnet (now O2), One2One (later T-Mobile, now EE), and Vodafone (still going strong). We supplied organisations with handsets, accessories and contracts during the golden years of telecoms.
The industry evolved, and so did we, eventually deciding to relocate to Portishead and pursue a new venture.
I'm George, by the way. I currently run Talkback Comms alongside my Dad who started the business in 1989 - long-before I was even a twinkle in his eye, and almost 2 decades before the first iPhone.
I'm proud and passionate about what we do here, and I'm always looking to learn and improve. My goal is and always has been to make a reasonable living by being a useful human being while enjoying my day-to-day.
I've been doing exactly that for over a decade now - which is wild to look back on. In one year, I will work 359 days, repair 2000 devices, and probably touch around 4-5000. I have 1000's of customers, and 100's of regulars who I look after. It's a lot. I wouldn't have it any other way.
This thing of ours is never going to make us rich or change the world. But it's real, good, honest work. It provides an important service to those who need it. It pays the bills. It keeps us on our toes and out of trouble.
We focus on generating as much value as we can to our team, our customers and our community. We want to play our small part in a vital, exciting, ever-changing industry. We want to develop our skills and apply ourselves in service of something greater.
Running a sustainable business with this philosophy is a challenging and rewarding endeavour. We're grateful to have made it this far, and we're going to ride it out for as long as we can. And hopefully we make the world a slightly better place in the process.
We have a walk-in repair centre and retail shop in Portishead, near Bristol.
We repair and service phones, computers, consoles and other consumer electronics here.
We stock an array of high-quality products including smartphones, tablets, basic mobiles, SIM cards, cases, chargers, storage devices, car mounts, audio accessories and more.
We're easy to find and always open.
We have free parking and a lift for disabled access.
See Our Address & Opening Times
Here are some of the great people and organisations that we proudly endorse and work with:
See what we're doing to engage with and support our community, other businesses and charities...
Do you own a business or organisation? You can register a business account and redeem a ton of benefits for you and your staff:
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Priority Service
Ultra-fast turnaround on all our services -
Personal Service
Reach your dedicated account manager at any time -
Payment Terms
Pay by invoice with credit terms -
Volume Discounts
Bespoke pricing plans provide maximum value -
Talkback Plus
Redeem the same benefits for your staff, friends & family
We're good at what we do. We've been working with other phone and computer shops, corporations, and government organisations since the 80's.
Now we want to work with you. We guarantee that we can provide your business with real, lasting value.
Start working with us today...
We're here to help everyone - tech-wiz or technophobe - get the most out of their devices!
You can reach out to get a quote, learn more about our services, or just ask for some tech advice.
Be sure to check out our FAQ page which has a ton of useful information and detailed answers to our most common enquiries.
You can reach us by phone, email, live chat, Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp...
Follow our pages for the latest industry news, tech tips, company updates, and whatever else we feel like writing about.
We really enjoy creating and sharing unique and interesting content. You won't be disappointed!
We need your feedback because we want to do better.
Let us know how your experience was, give us some suggestions on what we could improve, or just share some of your ideas. We're open to it all.
Click here to leave feedback
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Public reviews play an important role in building and maintaining a good reputation.
If you have used our services and would be kind enough to leave us a 5-star review here, we would be most grateful.
We read and respond to all of them.
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- Equipment & parts suppliers
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That's everything you need to know about us and then some!
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Thanks for reading, and have a great day!