Warranty safe, PC users told

By RICHARD WOOD

Computer makers have promised to look after any customers hit by troubles affecting the country's biggest personal computer manufacturer, The PC Company.

The Hamilton-based assembler closed its doors on Monday, shutting offices in seven centres and putting the jobs of between 60 and 80 staff at risk.

Managing director Colin Brown said that negotiations to secure the future of the firm were continuing.

He gave an email addresses for customer queries and promised they would be seen to promptly.

The Computer Manufacturing Association chairman, Peter Shirley, said the association honoured all warranties provided by its members to the end of their original term (with a two-year maximum).

This would come into play if a firm were liquidated, and after suitable processes had been set up.

Mr Shirley said hundreds of thousands of dollars was available for this, sufficient for any eventuality.

He did not believe customers would have problems retrieving machines in the event of liquidation because they were clearly the owners of the equipment.

He said the association was set up precisely to give peace of mind to customers after past failures and had 100 service agents from Kaitaia to Invercargill.


Within the computer industry speculation centres on whether The PC Company will be forced into receivership or consolidate back to a single store in Hamilton.

Supplier Ingram Micro said on Monday that The PC Company owed it hundreds of thousands of dollars. Debenture holder ANZ said yesterday that it couldn't comment, for privacy reasons.

Meanwhile, PC Company customers with computers in for repair have continued to contact the Herald.

Howard Dixon, an Auckland signwriter, said he had been emailing The PC Company all day without a response.

His PC was delivered for repair on August 21 and he had not heard anything since.

The computer of Ivor Whibley, mentioned in the Herald yesterday, arrived in the morning after Mr Whibley got through to Mr Brown by email on Monday.

The industry consensus is that local PC manufacturing volumes have been static in the past two years but that there has been a shift in sales from consumer PC bundles to small business.

Alysha Buckley, analyst at research firm IDC, said saturation of the home consumer market had been one factor and The PC Company had not appeared to have made sufficient inroads into the commercial market.

She said the consumer market peaked in 2000-2001 and firms began pricing aggressively early last year to induce more sales.

The PC Company had done that, Ms Buckley said, but international brands had matched it.

PC History:

The PC Company started in 1982 as Pegasus, a wholesaler. It became The PC Company in 1997.

In mid-2002 The PC Company was selling over 2000 units a month and ranked number two PC supplier in the market.

The company employs 60 to 80 people, mostly at its Hamilton base.

Contact:

sales@thepccompany.co.nz

support@thepccompany.co.nz