We want our repair café to be available to everyone in Glasgow, so all of our advice and repairs are free, which is in line with the principles of Repair Cafe International.

Visitors are however welcome to donate to our work if they would like to support what we do, and are able to do so. We suggest that a contribution between £5 – £10 is fair for a repair which will typically take about 20 – 30 minutes, and require some consumables.

Any and all contributions are gratefully received to help us keep running our events. We can accept cash and card at all of our events, or you can donate online.

Donations help pay for things like venue hire, tea, coffee and baking ingredients, tools and equipment used on repairs and events to thank our volunteers for their time.

No, you can't reserve a spot at a café. Visitors are seen on a first-come, first-served basis. We hope that most people are happy to wait for a while as that gives them the opportunity to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and one of our delicious treats. While you wait you're welcome to wander around and see what else is being repaired. It's also a chance to sit and chat and make new friends.

We track what is brought in and whether it is repaired in our internal system.

Your personal information is not shared with anyone and is protected under GDPR. Your contact details are only used if we need to reach out regarding a recent repair. For example, if you forget a part of your item at our event and we discover it after you have left. 

The information about your item is used in our reporting to the Scottish Government as well as for the repair community in general.

In these situations, we are happy for the repairer and visitor to come to an agreement by which the repairer completes the repair at home. Contact details should be exchanged and clear arrangements made for the customer to collect the repaired item.

We don't encourage this type of arrangement but accept that it is sometimes the most practical outcome - and often the repairer enjoys this unexpected challenge! It is always advisable that the repairer informs the Repair Café organiser of this arrangement so that it can be recorded.

Some, but not many! So long as an item is hand-portable and not in a dangerous condition, our repairers will carry out an examination, give their honest opinion and advice and proceed with a repair if they consider it's appropriate and viable.

We won't work on microwaves, CRT tube-type TVs, or vintage radios (earlier than the 1950s) because we can't work on them safely.

We don't have volunteers who can work on petrol engines, so we're very unlikely to be able to help with petrol powered tools.

Sometimes it's obvious that a part needs to be replaced. If you know what part you need, but just need some help to fit it, please bring it along to the café and we'd be delighted to help.

We're always happy to look at an item, take it apart, and see what's going wrong. We don't have spare parts on hand, so we will usually be able to provide you with the right information and some advice on where to buy a new part if needed. You can then bring it back to our next café, or we can give you some advice so that you can install it yourself.

If your possession is irreparable - and unfortunately sometimes this is the case - the reasons for this will be explained and advice given on the safest and easiest way to dispose of it.