Deliveries of goods bought by PowerHouse customers before the electrical chain’s collapse will be honoured by its new owners.
Pacific Retail Group, which acquired the firm from administrators earlier this month, has taken on responsibility for supplying products to 14,000 customers.
It has also safeguarded 35,000 warranties and is working to ensure cover for another 170,000 policies.
Pacific is paying more than £2 million to wipe out the legacy of the previous operation, although it is not obliged to do so.
Peter Halkett, chief executive of New PowerHouse, said: “We felt that it was deeply unfair that many of the customers of the old PowerHouse business had lost out. New PowerHouse is about making it easier for our customers and building a long-term relationship with them.”
New Zealand-based Pacific Retail took on 134 stores and saved more than 2,000 jobs when it acquired the majority of the chain. Administrators Deloitte & Touche had earlier closed 93 outlets, at a cost of 800 jobs, after a trade insurer withdrew cover for some of its suppliers in August.
Pacific Retail is New Zealand’s largest appliance retail group, trading under the brands Noel Leeming, Bond and Bond and Big Byte.
The company, which has resumed PowerHouse’s dealings with suppliers, has placed advertisements in national newspapers today to explain the situation regarding previous contracts.
For customers awaiting goods they have already paid for, New PowerHouse has arranged for deliveries to be made within three weeks.
The company said it was also working to encourage those managing Easycare and Extracare extended warranty policies to honour the schemes. About 35,000 warranty queries have already been resolved.
>From Ananova