Dick Smith TV Sale: Stores have extra $1.8 million worth of TVs to sell in six weeks

Thousands of television sets, worth $1.8 million were stranded at Dick Smith warehouses, following a legal dispute. The TVs are believed to be thrown on a fire sale.

Dick Smith’s receivers, Ferrier Hodgson, said it would shut down all 301 Australian and 62 New Zealand Dick Smith stores within eight weeks from Feb. 25. The retailer will actually have only six weeks to sell off all the stranded television sets.

It all started when in Jan. 4, Dick Smith collapsed as it failed to re-finance its debt. In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the struggling company voluntarily suspended its shares from trading.

A dispute geared up when the Chinese company Shenzhen MTC, Dick Smith's manufacturer demanded the recall of 14 shipping containers filled with TV in the fear of not getting paid. But the company Toll sent the TV sets to Dick Smith's cartage contractor.

This initiated a court battle to determine the fate of the television sets, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Finally, on Tuesday, the Federal Court found that Dick Smith was entitled to get the TV sets and ordered the Toll to pay damages to Shenzhen MTC.

Meanwhile, the Warranty Group said it would take care of the extended Dick Smith warranties. It also said it would honour all valid claims across Australia and New Zealand from 2008 up until Dick Smith’s closure in February. The extended warranties will not be affected by the acquisition.

There were around 135,000 extended warranties, accounting to over $2 million in retail value that were feared to go to waste when the company went under in January.

On Tuesday, e-commerce entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan announced that he would take over the Dick Smith brand and run its “online only” store. The digital store of Dick Smith is expected to go live from June 1.