Geeks come rolling to the rescue

BY MATT RILKOFF

Last updated 08:09 06/09/2010

CAMERON BURNELL

New geeks in town: General manager Matt Carr-Gomm (centre) has added New Plymouth to his computer repair empire installing Craig Olsen (right) as his area manager and Rob Ward (left) as the computer technician.

CAMERON BURNELL

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While it's not unusual for a geek to drive a car, it's usually their mum's Suzuki Swift, not a powerful 5.7 litre V8 Bedford van.

But Matthew Carr-Gomm has given two New Plymouth nerds his company's monster flagship van to help establish his computer repair business Geeks on Wheels in the district.

Since establishing his mobile computer fix-it company in Wellington five years ago, the plucky Englishman has expanded to cover most of the country.

"We don't actually take the van out on jobs," he said. "We've found that some people are intimidated by it. In Wellington we drive Honda Jazzes."

Which is more suited to the temperament of the general nerd and does not require the extensive training Mr Carr-Gomm said is necessary to control the Bedford.

Thecompany's rapid expansion has gone hand-in-hand with the explosion in home computer use.

In Taranaki alone, households with internet access have increased from 59 per cent in 2006 to 73 per cent in 2009.

Of those more than half have a broadband connection.

And it is often that broadband access that brings trouble, mostly in form of computer viruses, which consequently make up a huge number of the Geeks' jobs. "We get a lot of housewives ringing up after their husbands have tried to fix the computer. They ask us to come up while they are at work," said Mr Carr-Gomm who could no doubt swap such stories with any builder, plumber or electrician.

Except unlike other tradesmen the Geeks say most of their jobs, be it Apple Mac or PC, can be done in an hour, for which they charge $99.

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