Every now and then I have an experience that reminds me of just how much technology, in this case smartphones and their cameras, have changed our lives.

I have a La-Z-Boy recliner that is the center of my “man cave.” The man cave is the basement of our condo, which also happens to be my home office during work days. Sunday night I sat down on the recliner and started falling backward, if I hadn’t reacted I probably would have flipped myself and the chair over. Obviously, something broke, and my diagnosis found a part that looks like a clamp that attaches to a rod that runs across both sides of the chair had “ripped” and thus disconnecting what I assume looks like an arm that holds up the right back of the recliner when it’s not reclined. When reclined the chair is perfectly stable.

Yesterday I called the service department of the La-Z-Boy store from which we bought the chair seven years ago. Yes, they service chairs, and it would cost $160 for the first hour they are at my home. Another option, she said, was that I could schedule a virtual visit with a technician for free, which I went ahead and scheduled.

At the appointed time today I got a text message with a URL link to a web page with an embedded video camera. I did have to figure out how to switch the settings from the default for microphone and audio to speaker phone, but then was good to go. A switch of the camera to the rear facing one, a flip of the chair and pointing of the camera to the part I saw broken confirmed my diagnosis. All was left was to snap a picture of the label on the bottom of the chair and the replacement part will be ordered.

I now wait for another text to schedule the technician to come to the house to make the repair, once they have the replacement part, but right now I do not know how long we will have to wait. The virtual visit saved me the expense to have a technician come and diagnose the problem but not be able to fix it due to not having the correct part. I will still end up paying $160 to get the chair fixed, but I now am insured it will be fixed.