By Claire Reilly

National Warranty Services (NWS), a provider of extended warranties on consumer electrical products, has announced that it will offer “back dated, half-price premium warranties” to United Warranty holders and resellers, in order to replace existing warranties from the embattled provider.

This announcement follows news last week that several major brands and retailers have dropped United as a warranty provider, while many consumers have been unable to contact the brand regarding outstanding warranties or missing product.

“The subsidised premium NWS warranty we are providing under this special arrangement is actually a much better warranty than the United warranty was,” said Don Card, general manager of National Warranty Services.

The offer is for “back-dated, three year replacement warranties with heavily subsided warranty prices [of] less than half price, and pro rata’d for what is left of the warranty period,” he said.

“For a start, it starts immediately after retail sale, not just an extended warranty that doesn’t cover faults in the first year. Secondly, the service response and level of service is far better than that nominally provided by the United warranties. As well as the usual Australia-wide local onsite service, it has a high priority same day response, and includes our Instant Parts Replacement Policy.”

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Warranties will initially be available on PC and notebook products, though Card said this may be extended to cover other consumer electronics categories such as TVs. The company has established a page on its website to allow consumers and resellers affected by the situation at United Warranties to purchase replacement warranties.

“Although we certainly can’t think of taking on all of United’s huge contingent liabilities without threatening our own company’s viability, to help, we decided to do [this offer].

“We just hope this helps fix the warranty problems of all these people who have been left badly in the lurch.”