A COMPUTER programmer has launched a comparison website intended to transform the way people choose where to have their phone repaired.

Mohamed Kasseum came up with the idea for RepairVillage.co.uk after dropping his phone and being unimpressed by the repair service he got.

“It all started for me when I was with my then 10-month-old daughter in the Boscombe post office. While juggling packages, my daughter and my phone, the unthinkable happened and I dropped my phone,” he said.

“I then went to my local repair shop. At the time, there were not many around and so I did not have much choice in where I could take my phone.

“The gentleman in the shop was rude and tried to charge me far more than any repair should have cost.

“It became clear to me that the people needed a voice. We needed a place where all the hard work in checking that each shop use high quality parts while having the correct skill set to be able to repair our devices in a safe and reliable manner.”

He came up with a website that searches local repair shops to see which is fastest, closest, cheapest or offers the longest warranty.

The site, launched last year, is limited to the local area at the moment but Mr Kasseum hopes to expand it to cover the UK. He has launched a £50,000 fundraising drive at crowdfunder.co.uk

He has been working on search engine optimisation and has gained a first search place ranking for many different keywords in the Bournemouth and Poole area.

The site is free for both shops and customers, but future plans could include selling upgraded accounts to shops and selling customers insurance packages.

His business plan is for 100 per cent growth in the first five years.

The crowdfunding pitch says: “This is just the start of where this project can go, already I have plans to expand this much needed service across the UK.

“We truly believe in this business and have the necessary skills required to succeed. This is not an idea for a project, this is a live working system that requires the necessary funding to grow.”