A lot of our calls come from an adult child, not from the person who needs the help. If you have been talking your mother through the same problem on the phone every Sunday, this page is for you.
We are not in a hurry. The visit is booked by the hour and the whole point is that nobody feels rushed. Being hurried is the single most common reason older folks stop asking for help at all.
We explain, and then we write it down. Your Nerd leaves plain notes for what was changed and how to do it again. A fix nobody can repeat is not really a fix.
We do not talk down to anybody. There is nothing wrong with these customers' minds. The technology is genuinely badly designed, and saying so out loud tends to relax the whole room.
The same Nerd where we can manage it. When somebody who has helped before is available, our system matches them to you again. A familiar face at the door matters more here than anywhere.
Every Local Nerd is interviewed by us first, then goes through a background check run by an independent screening company, which we pay for, before they take a single job. They enter their details with that company directly, never with us.
They sign an agreement covering how they behave in somebody's home, what they do with personal information, and what they will and will not touch. They carry ID.
They are not permitted to accept cash or checks, so your parent will never be asked for money at the door. Everything settles by card through the app, on the card that booked the visit.
You can book and pay from anywhere. Put your own card on it, put your own phone number on it, and we will keep you in the loop rather than making your parent relay it.
If you would rather talk it through with a person first, call OkieNerd HQ and say what is going on. We would rather spend ten minutes on the phone getting it right than send somebody for the wrong thing.
Some of these will fix it outright, and that is fine. We would rather you solved it in ten minutes than paid us to do it.
We are a support and setup service, not a repair shop. Saying so plainly saves everybody a wasted trip.
$39 books an in-person visit, and it comes straight off the price of the visit. Our hourly rate steps up with distance from the town your Local Nerd works from: $110 an hour within 25 miles, $130 in the 25 to 50 mile band, and $145 in the 50 to 75 mile band. That is how we cover the drive, so there is no separate travel fee.
Remote help is $39 for a 30-minute session and starts with a phone call at the time you picked. If you use us a few times a year, Nerd on Call is $14.99 a month and includes two remote sessions and an in-person visit each year.
Cards only. Local Nerds are not permitted to accept cash or checks, so you will never be asked for either at the door. Full detail is on the FAQ.
In-person visits reach up to 75 miles out from the town each Local Nerd works from, whichever state that address is in. Remote help works anywhere. Check your own address on the ZIP checker, or see the whole state on the map.
It is a good part of what we do, and it is the reason we bill by the hour rather than by the task. Unhurried, patient, one-on-one help for folks 55 and over is something we have deliberately built the service around.
Yes. Put your own card and your own phone number on the booking. We will keep you updated directly rather than relying on your parent to pass messages along, and the balance settles on your card at the end.
Yes. Every Local Nerd is interviewed by us, then goes through a background check run by an independent screening company that we pay for, before taking any job. They also sign an agreement covering conduct in the home and handling of personal information, and they carry ID.
No. Local Nerds are not permitted to accept cash or checks and should never ask for either. The visit is settled by card through the app, on the card used to book, so there is no money conversation at the door at all.
Where we can manage it, yes. Our system matches you back to a Nerd who has helped you before whenever they are available. It is not a guarantee, because it depends who is free at the time you pick, but it is built to try.
That is a completely reasonable thing to feel. Start with a remote session, which is $39 and begins with a phone call, and let them get a sense of the person first. Plenty of families do it in that order.