By Cam Stephen (Contributor)
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FixIT, which opened along the Student Union Building (SUB) in the 2015 Fall semester, is an IT support service operated by the Student Union Society. But where is this service located? It’s tucked away at the very top of the building on the third floor in a hallway that is probably frequented more on a trip to the bathroom than to visit the IT service itself, and this has done little in the way of advertising its existence.
This is actually quite unfortunate, as the service has been quite useful to me since it opened and I would love to see it get more use. Twice in the time it’s been open have I required some kind of tech support, and both times I found myself quite pleased with the results. My laptop battery became fried, so I gave them the make and model of my laptop and they did the research, found a number of different batteries for me, and then ordered the one I needed for my laptop. When it arrived, I dropped my laptop off, went off to class, and by the end of the day it was all fixed and ready to go. Another instance was using their service to fix my broken phone; within a week the phone, which needed a new LCD screen, was repaired and ready to go, looking brand new and functioning just as well as a phone can in the SUB.
One of the largest benefits was both the cost and the speed of service. I only needed to pay the cost on the actual part itself and then, when the part had arrived, the repair was done the same day. But, despite the speed of the service, every time I have gone up there it has always been exceptionally quiet. Rarely, if ever, have I seen another student in there (not counting the employees). After speaking with the employees, it seems like they get the occasional computer in to fix, but a majority of the time is spent with little to do.
This is a little disconcerting to hear, but at the same time it does not surprise me. FixIT does not advertise as much as some of the other services that the Student Union offers. The Canoe and Fair Grounds are both large operations with massive signs announcing their presence, while FixIT has only a small banner above its windows, which is difficult to see unless you are already looking for it.
With the introduction of printing into FixIT’s services (by removing that from the main SUS office), perhaps it will start to see more traffic in the coming months. I’ll continue to use the service, but I would like to see more students using it and taking advantage of such a service, especially when they are already paying for it to be there.
