“From day one, it was clear that I was going to offer my services for free. Why set a price when it feels like a hobby?” At age 29, Meneses is a geek like no other. He lives in a family home in Mamer with his parents and sister and can be described as an “altruistic computer repairman”.
Patrick is of Portuguese-Luxembourgish descent and has been offering free computer repairs for the past 16 years. Customers only have to pay for the cost of spare parts when necessary. “Seeing people happy when they get their computer back makes me happy too,” he says.
His platform ‘iHelef', a play on ‘I help’ in Luxembourgish, is now well known throughout the Grand Duchy. “There are days when I receive 20 phone calls, others when I receive hundreds of messages and emails,” he explains.
Over time, Patrick even installed a drive-through service at his home. From the street, customers pass their equipment through the window and Patrick uses a screen attached to a telescopic stand to show them the progress of the repair or the spare parts he has found on the web. To save customers an unnecessary trip, he solves basic problems over the phone.
Stunned that Patrick wants nothing in return, some customers still pay him in their own way. Sometimes it is a tip, sometimes a box of chocolates. Sometimes they even give more than what a professional repair would have cost. And when it’s nothing, “that’s fine too”, says Patrick. “If people talk about me, that also works.” His reward is also tackling new problems. “I feel like a detective, I’m learning at the same time, it’s fun!”
The story behind ‘iHelef’ is not without its charms. Patrick was 13 years old when he started the platform, initially meant to help his schoolmates, but soon also used by others. “The teachers sometimes had problems with the DVD players,” he says.
He also remembers the arrival of the first iPhones in Luxembourg. The disappearance of keyboards on mobile phones intrigued many people. He saw a new technology to be discovered and soon also to be fixed.
He also quickly fell in love with creative computers, such as his “boat”, a limited model that he now uses as a server. Or the famous pyramid that he takes to all conventions and that he himself has reproduced about twenty times for clients.
As requests multiplied, he quickly created his ‘iHelef’ page to organise them. A pun coupled with a small spelling mistake since the word “Hëllef” is spelled with two Ls in Luxembourgish. “I was 13 years old, I made mistakes”, Patrick explains with a laugh.
When asked why he never joined a computer company or a repair shop, Patrick replied: “I tried, but my CV wasn’t convincing enough, I left school early, I didn’t have any experience and my French wasn’t great.”
Over the years, Patrick has demonstrated the full extent of his IT skills. He is even about to market his own ‘iHelef’ computer tower with a front screen. Its special feature, which stems from all those years of computer repairs, is that all components can be clipped together so they can be easily dismantled and repaired. “I loved LEGOs as a child. Now I make LEGOs for adults!”
One thing is for sure, he’s not about to stop helping people. “Technology is always changing, it’s exciting. I’m ready to sign on for another 15 years with iHelef!”
