What We Do
Welcome to our San Diego Fixit Clinic! Here’s what you can expect when you arrive:
We’re open to both pre-registered guests and walk-ins. While pre-registering isn’t required, it helps us prepare better for your visit. When you pre-register, you give us a heads-up on what you’re bringing and help us estimate attendance.
We offer two shifts, and you can pre-register for either. But don’t worry if you forget to sign up – walk-ins are always welcome!
Whether you’ve pre-registered or just dropped by, we operate on a first-come, first-served basis. This means the earlier you arrive, the sooner we can help you. (Learn more about why pre-registration is important below in “Benefits of Pre-registering”.)
Planning to come later in the day? Keep in mind that we stop accepting new items for repair 30 minutes before closing time. This ensures we have enough time to assist everyone who’s already checked in.
We Accept
- small appliances
- electronics
- small furniture
- textiles (clothing/drapes)
- bicycles
- jewelry
- toys
- basically anything you can carry in your hands
We do not accept
- cell phones
- tablets
- Apple/Mac items
At Our Repair/Fixit Clinic: Community, Learning, and Sustainability
Our clinic is more than just a repair service – it’s a community event where neighbors help neighbors. When you click the button above, you’ll be brought to our calendar of upcoming events. Choose the event you want to register for. You’ll be brought to a humanitix form. Choose the correct options for the item you need repaired. You may be contacted prior to the event, so please be sure to fill out the contact information correctly!
Here’s what makes us special:
- It’s Free: We don’t charge for our services. Our team consists of dedicated volunteers who are passionate about helping others and reducing waste.
- Learn by Doing: Our goal is to empower you. We don’t just fix things for you; we show you how it’s done. You’ll get hands-on experience repairing your own items, building the skills and confidence to tackle future repairs at home.
- Teamwork: It’s all about partnership. We work alongside you, combining our knowledge with your familiarity with your item.
- Plan Ahead: If you know your item might need a particular part (like a new light socket for a lamp), it’s best to bring it along. This helps ensure we can complete your repair during your visit.
- Parts Policy: While we provide expertise and tools, we don’t stock repair parts. If your item needs a specific part:
- When you pre-register, for some repairs, we might ask you to acquire the needed part before you come so we can repair it the day of.
- Keep your store receipts in case you need a different part or if the new part is unnecessary!
- If you discover you need a part during the clinic, we can guide you on what to get and help you install it when you come back.
Remember, we’re here to help you learn and succeed in your repair journey. Together, we’re building a more sustainable community, one repair at a time!
If a project goes over 20 or 30 minutes, we may ask you to come back next time, or we will make a recommendation for where you can get your specific repair better managed.
Laptop with issues: (We are not set up for diagnostics, blue-screens-of-death, or software issues, but we may be able to help with some hardware issues.)
Occasionally, we get a very large number of people who need something repaired. There is a possibility that you may need to wait until a repair volunteer has finished with others who arrived before you.