BenQ Adds Rebates Extended Warranties To Reseller Program

Solution providers that enroll in the Irvine, Calif.-based company's Platinum Qreseller program will now be able to earn marketing funds based on purchases through their distributors, according to Al Giazzon, BenQ vice president of marketing, who spoke with CRN the day before he suddenly left the company last week. BenQ would not comment on his departure.

BenQ will use the POS systems of solution providers' distributors to track sales and centralize the accrual of the marketing dollars, he said.

Solution providers selling higher-end products sourced through their distributors will also be eligible for an additional $20 to $30 in back-end margins, said Giazzon. "These are hard dollars to increase their profitability," he said.

In addition, BenQ will start making seed units of a number of its products, including displays, available to solution providers that need to get them to customers looking at transitioning to newer products, according to Giazzon.

The company will also alert solution providers about the availability of new products and which ones will be replaced. "We are being aggressive and proactive, telling solution providers that this is going away, this is coming, and click here for your seed unit," he said.

Also new for many BenQ resellers is direct contact with company technicians for level-one support without the need to escalate through level two or level three, said Giazzon. In addition, the three-year warranty on BenQ monitors now includes advanced replacement of defective monitors, with BenQ paying shipping both ways. These will be replaced with new, not refurbished, units, he said.

Cora Frivaldo, account manager at Net-Systems, an Irvine-based solution provider, said Net-Systems has had a good relationship with BenQ, and customers should appreciate the new warranty program. "Warranty is the main issue for our customers," Frivaldo said. "Advanced replacement with new products will be a big plus for them."

For customers of PC Adventures, a Crystal, Minn.-based solution provider, however, things like extended warranties and seed units are not such a concern, said owner Harold Creek. "Customers' main concern in today's economy is price," he said.