Acer makes big changes to UK support

Improvements designed to make Taiwanese vendor a viable option for corporate customers

Acer has announced sweeping changes to its UK refund and support policies to demonstrate it is a safe pair of hands in the corporate space.

The vendor will now offer a 50 per cent refund on its machines if there is a fault in the first year, in addition to its standard warranty programme.

It has also extended its DOA [dead on arrival] period - in which customers can have a faulty product replaced the next day - from 14 to 31 days, which it claimed is industry leading.

And in a nod to big corporate and government clients with a sustainability agenda, the Taiwanese tin builder is also now offering to clear out its customers' old kit.

"Acer Promise", as it is being dubbed, is designed to help Acer strike it rich in a corporate market traditionally dominated by HP and Dell.

Nathan Knight, UK commercial business unit manager at Acer, said its introduction would give greenfield opportunities peace of mind to choose Acer if they had any doubts over its reliability or sustainability.

"Four years ago, there were key brands and if you did not buy those brands, you would be questioned by the business," he added.

"Now, you are questioned by the business if you are not delivering best value for money and a company such as Acer is a natural alterative in that [corporate space]."

Acer is still basking in the afterglow of its Olympic Games victory, which saw it provide 11,500 desktops, 1,100 notebooks and 900 servers for last year's event.

Knight said Acer's London 2012 experience - as well as channel feedback - informed the new-look support offering.

DOA support has been moved from India to its UK call centre because staff there are better placed to provide timely support, Knight added.

Citing figures from market watcher Context, Knight said Acer's share of the professional notebook space pogoed from three to 10 per cent during 2012, with its professional desktop share rising from six to nine per cent.

Knight said the corporate space, which he defined as up to 499 seats, would be a focus for Acer in 2013.

The vendor plans to double the size of its end-user corporate sales team in 2013 to ensure sufficient "pull" is created for its channel partners, Knight added.