A company that says it can fix most damaged electronic devices has opened a store on William Penn Highway.
The Penn Center East Plaza in Wilkins is the latest location for a growing technology repair chain — uBreakiFix — that provides same-day service on most electronics and specializes in cellphone and computer repairs.
The Wilkins location is one of five in the Pittsburgh region; others are in Robinson, North Hills, South Hills and Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood. The chain has 299 stores in North America, 100 of which opened in 2016. The Wilkins location opened at the end of March.
In an age when people discard electronics that aren't working properly and replace them, uBreakiFix offers a less expensive route, said store owner Sean Goodwin.
“If it has a power switch, we can probably fix it,” said Goodwin, adding he has repaired items from video game consoles and lamps to pressure cookers and a liposuction machine.
Before working on devices, employees look up the price to fix it to see if that is more advantageous than buying something new. They don't charge for estimates.
“We can fix (electronics) for at least half of what a new one would cost,” Goodwin said. “We can't fix everything, but we'll try.”
Gay Gordon-Byrne, spokeswoman for New Jersey-based repair.org, an association that advocates options to repair consumer products without taking them to manufacturers or dealers, said chains such as uBreakiFix help consumers.
“Hallelujah they exist,” Gordon-Byrne said. “This is long overdue, and it's bringing options to consumers that didn't exist before.”
Gordon-Byrne said uBreakiFix is reminiscent of the old “fix-it” shops. Repairing items “became tougher over time, because manufacturers stopped printing manuals. And the shops thinned out,” she said.
Cracked screens, the most popular of issues, typically can be fixed at uBreakiFix in about 30 minutes.
Goodwin said most of the company's business comes as a result of cracked smart phone screens, water damaged devices and software issues.
Monique Sloan, 25, of West Mifflin brought her iPhone 6S to the shop after she knocked it into hot dishwater.
“I took it right out, and it worked for 10 minutes. Then it stopped. … I tried to put it in rice (to dry it out), but it didn't work,” she said.
After a Google search, she located uBreakiFix, took her phone in for work and retrieved it the next day. The repair cost $50.
“I was very happy. I didn't think they'd be able to fix my phone because it fell into a whole tub of hot water,” Sloan said. “Now I don't have any problems, and everything works the same.”
If the store can't fix a device, there is no charge for service. That business practice, Goodwin said, separates uBreakiFix from other electronic repair shops.
Samson X Horne is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-871-2325, shorne@tribweb.com or via @spinal_tapp.
