In the early 1970’s, Mrs. Aban Pestonjee felt that women wasted too much valuable time and energy doing household chores manually when simple household appliances could make their lives much easier, and leave them more free time for leisure and relaxation. She also believed that women should make themselves more useful and also spend more time with their husbands and children instead of merely housekeeping.
The only way of acquiring home appliances at that time, when there was a total ban on imports, was through garage sales and auctions by embassy staff, expatriates and those who had returned to Sri Lanka from abroad. Some of these returnees who brought back electrical home appliances later sold them locally to cover the expenses of their trip.
In the mid 1970’s a workshop was set up, in Mrs.Pestonjee’s garage, to service and repair the used items she bought at the auctions. The workshop consisted of only one employee, Mr. Allan Raffel who was skilled in servicing and repairing electronic appliances. Mr. Raffel is now a Director of Abans Group and heads Abans Service Department.
Mrs. Pestonjee used to purchase used appliances from auctions, bring it to her garage workshop where it was serviced and repaired, with a coat of paint, if necessary, and sold at her little shop at 369, Galle Road, Bambalapitiya, as a fully reconditioned item with a guarantee. It was the first time anyone gave a guarantee on used appliances and is unheard of even today.
With the advent of the open economy in 1978 and the acquisition of international agencies of world renowned brands Abans business expanded phenomenally and it became necessary to establish more sophisticated service facilities. A fully equipped Service Centre was set up at 590, Galle Road, Kollupitiya with experienced technicians and sophisticated equipment and a fully fledged Call Centre.
Today, Abans Service Centre is fully computerized and situated in a multi-storeyed modern building at 506 B, Galle Road, Colombo 6 with state-of-the-art equipment and factory trained skilled technicians. The Service Centre has 7 Regional Centres which are called Customer Care Service Centres in major towns and Cities Island wide and 70 Authorized Service Agents in smaller towns. The after sales service for all products sold at Abans 250 showrooms Island wide is carried out by the Regional Centres & by the Authorized Service Agents.
