Kleenmaid franchisees thrown a lifeline

Some franchisees within the services division of collapsed white goods retailer Kleenmaid Group have been given a lifeline, with the new owner of the division offering former franchisees independent contractor agreements.

Aussie Whitegoods Rescue, the new owner of group’s still functioning services division Kleenmaid Customer Solutions, is offering franchisees new contracts to continue operations.

Director of Aussie Whitegoods Rescue, Geoff Bartels, says the contracts have been offered to services franchisees, which include no fees and allows the franchisees to find other work apart from the AWR deal.

“All the franchisees will be offered new contracts, doing the exact same amounts of work. We’re in the process of getting them on board. This is a launch so we’ve got all the usual logistical issues, but this is our plan so far.”

“We went through all the states last week, and spoke to many of the franchisees. I think it’s fair to say they’re reacting as any franchisee would be, having been dealt with by Kleenmaid, they’re positive but wary.”

Bartels says AWR will emerge as the only independent white goods repair service in Australia, and that the company will look to acquire more brands for outsource services.

AWR’s business model has been scrutinised by potential investors and consultants, Bartels says, and is ready to open from next Monday, 6 July.

“We hope within a matter of weeks to be trading again. We’ve also captured the calls going to Kleenmaid and have been monitoring them, but we haven’t turned on our own call centre yet. That will occur shortly.”