UK Warranty and online retailer Buy It Direct have teamed up to launch ‘For Life’, a new pay-as-you-go warranty product.
The new product unveiled last week provides Buy It Direct customers with ‘pay-as-you-go’ extended warranty for domestic appliances and televisions and will be sold both online and in-store. The deal is a long term commitment by both parties and is expected to deliver £15m retail income.
Neil Martin, Managing Director of UK Warranty, said: “We wanted to provide customers with affordable protection for their household appliances. Where traditional warranties are sold on a 3 or 5 year basis, this product allows customers to pay monthly and they are not tied in, giving them full control of the policy.”
As well as providing levels of service, the warranty covers breakdown due to accidental damage and new for old replacement if the appliance can’t be repaired.
He added: “We recognise that warranties have been subject to increased scrutiny of late, so we wanted to create a product that provides customers with choice and flexibility, achieved by offering a cost effective, no strings warranty solution”.
Mr Martin, who took up his role in April, said the warranty market in the UK is worth nearly £600m annually and needs shaking up: “Customers are rightly more demanding of their white goods suppliers, and that includes after sales care. We are responding by finding new ways of giving customers protection and peace of mind, including offering them more choices to suit their needs. We believe this approach will enable us to become a top three warranty provider in this market within the next 3 years.”
James Rigg, Marketing Director at Buy It Direct said of the partnership: “I am particularly excited about warranty sales on our AppliancesDirect.co.uk site. Warranty has always been a key part of the service proposition for our Appliance and TV brand, our new ‘For Life’ product is just a starting point as we look to further enhance and evolve our products across our Bambino and Laptop sites.
“UK Warranty proved successful in the competitive tender process due to their enthusiasm, experience, innovative ideas and flexible approach to implementation”.
The deal comes shortly after the appointment of Neil Martin as Managing Director and formulates part of the company’s ambition to become one of the UK’s top 3 warranty providers.
