Readers offer to help Dick Smith victim

A Dick Smith store in Britomart, Auckland. Dick Smith Electronics announced the retail chain has been put into receivership today. 5 January 2016 New Zealand Herald Photograph by Michael Craig.

Herald readers have been quick to offer help to an Auckland girl who saved for a year to buy a laptop, only to have her hopes dashed by Dick Smith Electronics' going into receivership.

Zoe, 10, saved $280 from money she earned doing household chores.

Her mother Rachel topped her savings up and purchased a $480 Dick Smith voucher that she planned to redeem this week.

However, the company's receiver has said vouchers, deposits and deliveries cannot be honoured due to its financial situation, leaving many customers out of pocket.

"I feel like they have stolen off my daughter," Rachel said today. "I'm about to have one very upset little girl.

"I now have to tell my 10-year-old that, not only all her money that she saved is gone, but also the gift she received from me for both Christmas and her birthday [on December 20].

"I may even try really hard not to tell her, by trying to convince her to keep saving to buy an even better one. Hopefully by that time I can recover the $480."

But that may not be necessary. Late tonight, readers had offered either to buy Zoe a laptop, donate cash towards getting her one or to organise fundraising.