Rival makes good on Dick Smith laptop disappointment

Shoppers at Harvey Norman in Wairau Park, Auckland. Zoe lost out on buying her laptop from Dick Smith but will now be able to choose one from Harvey Norman.

A young girl who saved for a year to buy a laptop, only to have her hopes dashed by Dick Smith going into receivership, will be getting what she hoped for thanks to a rival company.

Zoe, 10, saved $280 from money she earned doing household chores to buy a laptop from the electronics mega-store.

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Her mother, Rachel, topped her savings up and bought a $480 Dick Smith voucher that she planned to redeem this week.

However, the company's receiver has said vouchers, deposits and deliveries cannot be honoured because of its financial situation, leaving many customers out of pocket.

But now retail giant Harvey Norman has stepped up and offered to give the little girl a laptop.

A company spokesperson said they were planning to bring Zoe into one of its Botany stores this month where she would be able to pick out a device.

Rachel said she was "stoked" with the news and was happy she would "not going to have an upset little girl".

"I'm really happy because while I have to tell Zoe what happened, it is going to not be so bad because she still gets her laptop," she said.

"We have just been blown away by the whole thing, just so many individuals wanting to help her, that is amazing that there are so many kind and thoughtful people out there."

Following an article published yesterday, Rachel said she had been inundated with messages of support and offers of financial aid from Herald readers.

She said she had received about 20 emails from people wanting to help Zoe but the family would not accept money from individuals because she did not feel it was right.

"I'm not really keen to accept those [offers]. While it will take us a while to save that money back up, I don't see us as a family in need and there are so many families in New Zealand that are in need," she said.

"There are [also] kids in New Zealand that don't even get three meals a day. While Zoe will be totally upset when I tell her, there are so many less fortunate children than her."