Carphone Warehouse has moved into the home PC support market with a version of Best Buy's Geek Squad service.

The Geek Squad website sports a tagline that reads "in cahoots with Carphone Warehouse". However, a CWH spokesperson was reluctant to comment on the new service and told The Reg, "officially we haven't launched yet".

Although no word on an official launch has been released, the UK arm of Geek Squad quietly opened its doors, souped up its scooters, and pulled on its heavily starched shirts on 5 March.

According to its website, the new 24 hour service offers a range of support for home computer users including troubleshooting software problems, setting up wireless networks, and replacing faulty hardware kit.

The Geek Squad service is currently only available in certain allocated postcodes in London, which possibly explains the lack of fanfare around the new Geeks on the block.

However, the service is indeed up and running. El Reg put a call in to Geek Squad to get an idea of the kind of support a home PC user can expect.

I told the Geek at the end of the phone that my treasured Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms CD was stuck in my computer's CD/DVD drive and that it was making a horrible crunching noise. I explained that I needed a quick fix to rescue Mark Knopfler and the boys from certain death.

Understandably concerned by my predicament, the Geek replied: "Oh yes, the horrible crunching noise" (note: he wasn't passing a critique of Dire Straits, merely referring to the hardware problem, of course).

He advised that the best course of action would be to have the drive replaced to prevent more CDs getting stuck in the computer. But when pushed on whether this would be absolutely necessary he pointed out that a full diagnosis would take place before any proper decision on the fate of my Dire Straits CD could be made. Phew!

In addition to a £99 flat fee, costs are added on for any kit that needs to be replaced or software that needs to be purchased. The Geek Squad also says if it can't fix the problem it won't charge any fee. ®

Related stories

• Best Buy kicks out misbehaving Geek Squaders (3 December 2007)
• DMSL punts local IT support to small.biz (17 October 2007)
• Geeks and Nerds caught on film lacking geeky nerdiness (5 October 2007)
• 'Law and Order' cop accused of child porn possession (16 August 2007)
• Geek Squader gets fruity with customer porn (9 July 2007)
• Comet goes head-to-head with Geek Squad (25 June 2007)
• Carphone Warehouse mounts US invasion (24 April 2007)
• Woman claims Geek Squader tried to film her in the shower (12 April 2007)
• Tech support costs Carphone dear (2 April 2007)
• Busy day at DSG HQ (30 March 2007)
• Best Buy and Microsoft target SMBs (8 March 2007)
• Carphone Warehouse ships out to US (25 September 2006)