ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 1996          TAG: 9609130103
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-8  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER 

HOLDREN'S CONTRACTS SUBJECT OF MEETINGS

The new and former owners of the Holdren's appliance chain have begun a series of meetings with state consumer officials, attempting to bail out customers stuck with worthless service contracts.

Steve Vaughn, vice president of Raleigh, N.C.-based Crenshaw TV & Appliance Co., said Tuesday that conference-call talks with the former owners of Holdren's Inc. and the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs are still in the "foundational" stage, and he warned that no answers are likely to emerge immediately.

"It will be a process, just because of the complexity of it," he said.

Crenshaw, which in July bought Roanoke-based Holdren's, purchased only the company's $2.3 million in assets and not its $3.2 million in liabilities. The liabilities include service contracts Holdren's sold to its customers.

Consumers who had paid hundreds of dollars for contracts to provide service on appliances were told last month that the new owners would not honor the agreements.

But customer outcry - and the consumer office's intervention - prompted the two companies to look for other options.

Vaughn said he has suggested that the existing contracts be transferred to Phillips Priority Co., the national contract business that handles Crenshaw's service agreements. The question that remains, he said, is who would foot the bill for such a conversion. The total value of the contracts is still being calculated, he said.

Stan Cross, former president of Holdren's Inc., said he and other of the company's principals will do whatever they can to aid their former customers. But their resources are limited, he said.

"We feel inclined to help because we are ... devastated by what happened," Cross said. "But every ounce of funds was drained from the company." Proceeds from the sale of Holdren's were used to pay back creditors, he said, and the former owners made no money off the deal. In fact, he said, they had to put some private money into closing the business.

If the current and former owners can't reach an agreement, the Office of Consumer Affairs is ready to take action, said Marion Horsley, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

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