Dell Committed Consumer Fraud, N.Y. Judge Rules

Maverick · May 28, 2008

Wow, this is really bad for their reputation.
After reading this, I'm not sure if I wannabuy a Dell.

Dell Committed Consumer Fraud, N.Y. Judge Rules

Customers lured into no-interest or no-payment financing were denied and offered high-interest loans that often exceeded 20% instead.

InformationWeek
May 27, 2008 06:38 PM

A New York state judge on Tuesday found that Dell (Dell) offered consumers no-interest financing for computers as part of an illegal scheme to lure them into high-interest loans.
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi decided that Dell and Dell Financial Services engaged in fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices, said the N.Y. State Attorney General's Office, which filed the lawsuit in May 2007. DFS is a joint venture between Dell and CIT Bank.
in illegal business practices cited in the suit. The court will hold further hearings to determine restitution to consumers and the amount of profits Dell unlawfully earned that will be forfeited to the state.
N.Y. Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said that Dell's and DFS' actions were "a bait and switch that left thousands of people paying for essentially no service at all."
"We have won an important victory that will force Dell to live up to its responsibilities and pay back its customers for profits that were pocketed but not deserved," Cuomo said in a statement. "This decision sends an important message that all corporations will be held accountable for the promises they make to consumers."
In an e-mailed statement, Dell said it was undecided whether to appeal the decision. However, the company said that it was confident that when the proceedings were over, the court would determine that only a "relatively small number of customers" were affected.
"We don't agree with this decision and will be defending our position vigorously," Dell said. "Our goal has been, and continues to be, to provide the best customer experience possible."
In his decision, Teresi found that Dell lured customers into buying computers based on ads for no-interest or no-payment financing. In practice, however, the vast majority of the buyers were denied the attractive financing options and offered high-interest loans that often exceeded 20% instead.
In addition, the judge found that DFS incorrectly billed consumers on cancelled orders, returned merchandise or accounts they did not authorize Dell to open, and then harassed the customers with illegal billing and collection activity.
Besides the illegal financing activity, Teresi ruled that Dell deprived consumers of technical support to which they were entitled under warranty or service contracts by failing to provide timely onsite repair, In addition, the company discouraged customers from seeking technical support by telephone through long wait times, repeated transfers and frequent disconnections. The company also failed to provide rebates as promised, the judge found. Since the return of company founder Michael Dell as chief executive in January 2007, the company has been rebuilding in an attempt to regain its one-time position as the world's largest PC maker. Over the last few years, Dell has lost market share to Hewlett-Packard, which displaced Dell in the top slot. Poor customer service contributed to Dell's loss of market share, experts suggest.
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mr_evolution · May 28, 2008

Ouch, that's gotta hurt their rep big time, the have a pretty big market share

Vinnie_boy · May 28, 2008

LOL just bought a DELL laptop and thank god i didnt get it under their finance loans lol

Maverick · May 28, 2008

Well, guess Dell did what it should not do when losing shares and popularity.

Akki · May 29, 2008

LOL dell... it already makes so much money from corporate america.....

fookjay07 · May 29, 2008

hmmm ok den...cant really believe it dell out of all companies

drsnoopy · May 29, 2008

i wouldn't be surprised. i didn't get a desktop yet.

bbes · May 29, 2008

ah dell hasn't been very gd these past few years anyway.

fookjay07 · May 29, 2008

i thought dell was a reliable company like..

dragong87 · May 29, 2008

products wise they are good finance not so good..

shw · May 29, 2008

is the Dell Cust Service line a 1-800 number ?

Aznmask · Jun 2, 2008

perhaps it is their unethical practice , but does it mean dell make poor system?

investor · Jun 2, 2008

sometime dell product are crap. I have my notebook almost 3 year and the LCD screen is kong.

kiba · Jun 7, 2008

dell got famous for their customer service and not for their product... so dell's computer aren't the best on the market yet not the worst.. most ppl were buying dell cuz of the good customer service... i don't understand why they aren't keeping the same lvl of customer service and let it to deteriorate like that.... so dumb of them...

ralphrepo · Jun 7, 2008

What I'm getting from this thread so far is that most people here don't seem to know about the issues surrounding Dell and how they do business. I would suggest that anyone who wants to know just use google and type in three words:

Dell Class Action

...the results will not only surprise you but open your eyes too (a half a million hits on google)

Ralph

Aznmask · Jun 11, 2008

i bought alot of dell stuff, from laptop to lcd, and a recently purchased of a Dell Inspiron 530. The laptop is 700m for 3yr+ and still working good, and lcd aswell. The pc is so good & cheap that i can't beat the price if i build my own.

a PC $430 with a Quad 6600 2.4ghz, 1gb ram, 250gb vista premium.. and was very quiet. Of course it get loud after i add a 8800GT.. and 2gb ddr.

rsx · Jun 12, 2008

^What does that have anything to do with this thread? This thread ain't asking you what type of Dell products you bought.

@ralph: that indeed, is a very surprising find. I never knew Dell had so many issues: varying from customer complaints to employees suing for underpayment, discrimination, etc.

Dell Committed Consumer Fraud, N.Y. Judge Rules

Maverick Lord Vader

mr_evolution ( • )( •ԅ(ˆ⌣ˆԅ)

Vinnie_boy Well-Known Member

Maverick Lord Vader

Akki ...

fookjay07 Well-Known Member

drsnoopy Well-Known Member

bbes Incredible

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shw Well-Known Member

Aznmask Well-Known Member

investor Active Member

kiba Member

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