NWS moves to fill Omega void

The fate of PC distributor Omega may hang in the balance, but already one company has come to the rescue of exposed resellers and end-users.

National Warranty Services (NWS) has stepped in to offer Omega customers discounted, pro-rata warranties on the whitebox builder’s notebooks, servers and PCs.

Omega was placed into administration on 19 December last year and has ceased trading.

For the NWS general manager, Don Card, the move — which would see the provision of identical terms and conditions to Omega’s warranties — was about giving people a hand in a time of need.

“The offer is for those people who have been left in the lurch and who thought they no longer had a warranty,” he said.

Despite being a high-risk and administratively intense move, the warranty vendor felt it could help get people out of a hole and help the local PC sector, Card said.

“We are a service-focused company and want to do the right thing by people,” he said.

“It’s also good for the industry to not leave a bitter taste in people’s mouths and have a win-win situation.”

Card could not say how many end-users or reseller partners had taken up NWS’ offer to date, but was confident of a reasonable level of return.

“The more people who hear about us and try our service and like the fact we’ve made this offer, then the more payback we get in the longer term,” he said.

One reseller concerned about warranties in the aftermath of the Omega's demise was WA-based Eaglenet Computers.

According to managing director Chris Boyes, Omega resellers — as well as end-users — were potentially exposed.

"If the Omega computer is sold with a United Electrial warranty then the Omega dealer has nothing to worry about," he said. "If it isn't then the Omega dealer has to honour the system warranty with no recourse to restate stock and hence loses money."