Hand it in · ten points across the UK · the nearest one sent to you
Drop-off points: ten places to hand your card in. A sealed envelope, your name on the outside, the booking sheet inside, and it travels to the bench from there.
There are ten drop-off points across the UK, and if one is on your way you can hand the card in rather than post it. They are not listed here. Tell us where you are on the form, by town or postcode, and the nearest point's address and opening hours come back by email with packing notes and a booking sheet to print. The sheet goes inside the envelope and your name on the outside, and that is what matches what you hand in to your enquiry; your case number is issued when the envelope is logged at the bench. Each point is a staffed reception that takes a sealed envelope during its opening hours and sends it on to the bench; nobody there opens it, looks at it or quotes for it, and the free look happens where it always does, on a hardware imager at the bench. From the moment the envelope is logged there the job runs exactly as a posted one, and the card goes home by tracked post with the recovered files, postage paid here. Nothing is collected from anybody, and the bench itself has no counter.
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How a drop-off runs, end to end.
The job in full →The form, with where you are
Tell us about the card, what it came out of, what is wrong, and your town or postcode. Back by email come the nearest drop-off point with its address and opening hours, packing notes, and a booking sheet to print. Put the sheet inside the envelope and write your name on the outside.
The envelope
The card in a small anti-static bag or a case, taped to a piece of stiff card so it cannot shake loose, with the booking sheet, in a sealed padded envelope. Every piece of a broken one; a wet one in its bag, unpowered. The card, not the device it came from.
Hand it in
During the point's opening hours, ask at reception for the data recovery drop-off and hand the envelope over. It is logged against your name there and then, and nobody opens it.
To the bench
The envelope travels to the bench tracked, usually leaving the point within a working day, and is logged and photographed on arrival exactly as a posted one is, given its case number, and you are emailed to say it has arrived.
The free look, and one figure Free
The card goes on the bench and the first assessment is made, read-only; back come the findings and one price in writing. Nothing chargeable begins until you agree.
Home by post
The recovered files on fresh media, with the original card, by tracked post to the address on your sheet, postage paid here. Nothing goes back to the drop-off point.
What a drop-off point does, and does not do.
Do this much first
- Takes a sealed envelope with a name on it and the booking sheet inside, during opening hours
- Logs it against your name on the spot
- Sends it on to the bench, tracked
- Saves you the outbound postage and the walk to a post office
What sets us back
- Open the envelope, look at the card, or run anything on it
- Give findings, a price, or an opinion on what is wrong
- Take an envelope with no booking sheet inside
- Take phones, or hand the card back to you afterwards; returns are by post
The questions that come up first.
Where are the drop-off points?
Across the UK, ten of them. They are not listed on the site: say where you are on the form, by town or postcode, and the nearest point's address and opening hours come by email in reply.
Can I just turn up with the card?
Send the form first; it takes two minutes, and back by email come the nearest point, packing notes and a booking sheet to print. The sheet goes inside the envelope and your name on the outside, and that is what matches what you hand in to your enquiry. Your case number is issued when the envelope is logged at the bench, and emailed to you that day.
Will someone at the drop-off point look at the card?
No. The point takes a sealed envelope and sends it on. Everything is assessed at the bench, on a hardware imager, and the free look is the same whether it was posted or handed in.
Is dropping off faster than posting?
It saves the outbound posting day where a point is on your way. The envelope still travels from the point to the bench, usually leaving within a working day, so reckon on much the same overall time as tracked post, with the postage saved.
How do I get it back?
By tracked post to the address on your sheet, with the postage paid here, together with the recovered files on fresh media. The card does not come back to the drop-off point.
The nearest point is not near me either. What then?
Tracked post from any postbox, which is how most cards reach the bench. The packing and posting guide says how, and the posting address comes by email in reply to the form.
Do you collect?
No. Tracked post, or the nearest of the ten drop-off points.
Say where you are, and the nearest point comes back with the posting details.
The form takes two minutes. Back by email come the nearest point and its hours and a sheet to print, and the first look is free whichever way the envelope travels.