CNN - Dell Decieved Customers

A New York State Supreme Court said Tuesday that Dell and its financial services arm misled customers.

Judge Joseph Teresi ruled that the world's second-largest PC maker engaged in fraud, false advertising, deceptive business, and abusive debt collection practices. The company was accused by the state of New York of offering no-interest or no-payment financing options for its products while Dell Financial Services would fail to honor them.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed the suit in May 2007, asking for an injunction against the company's business practices and monetary damages for affected customers.

Further court proceedings will need to be held to determine what those damages will be.

Dell told Reuters it "disagrees" with the ruling. "We are confident that when the proceedings are finally completed, the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected," according to the company's statement.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9952976-7.html?tag=nefd.top

 

Whatever the case, those 25% off coupons were definitely real.

 

ha that's what they get('had a dell)

 

I don't think its that major unless it was actually something hardware related like "Dell accused and found guilty of putting in loud, noisy, slot drives and defective hard drives" or "Dell accused and found guilty of little to no QC"

 

Hmmm...

Well, that's why I don't buy stuff on credits as much as I can.

 

Exactly! i feel better buying things with cash

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/27/dell.lawsuit/index.html

Dell deceived customers, judge saysStory Highlights
Judge rules that Dell failed to deliver on promises of low financing rates

Consumers said Dell deprived them of customer service to which they were entitled

The court will hold further proceedings to determine restitution

Next Article in U.S. »


Read VIDEO
From Karina Frayter
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Dell Inc. deceived customers in a massive "bait and switch" scheme to increase sales of its computer and electronic products, a New York state judge ruled Tuesday.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Dell in 2007 on behalf of hundreds of customers who claimed that the electronics company lured them into buying products with promises of attractive deals and promotions.

In reality, the lawsuit alleged, most customers were denied or misled into believing that they had been approved for low interest or financing rates.

The lawsuit also accused Dell of depriving customers of technical support that they were entitled to, in some instances, by pressuring them into performing repairs on their own or subjecting them to long wait times on the phone. Watch Cuomo detail the complaints »

In a 26-page decision, Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi found in favor of the consumers.

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Read the judge's ruling (PDF)
"Dell has engaged in repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct, including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions and the terms of warranties, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and failure to provide warranty service and rebates," Teresi said in his decision.

The court will hold further proceedings to determine how much restitution Dell will have to pay its customers.

Dell said it disagreed with Teresi's decision.

"Our goal has been, and continues to be, to provide the best customer experience possible," spokesman Jess Blackburn said in a written statement to CNN.

"We are confident that when the proceedings are finally completed, the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected," Blackburn said.


Cuomo hailed the decision in a statement Tuesday.

"For too long at Dell, the promise of customer service was a bait and switch that left thousands of people paying for essentially no service at all," Cuomo said. "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."

 

The real question is what will come from this decision, and what steps Dell will take in order to prevent it from happening again?

 

Haha, I like Dell as a computer manufacturer, however I really hope they lose this case so they stop screwing around with customers. They really deserve it with their terrible, shady customer service.

 

I've never had any issues with Dell as a company or their customer service. They followed thru on everything they said they were going to do.

Recently on M-Day I called Dell because the new laptop I received had several issues. I called them and asked if they could build me another system. The CSR said no problem and told me the build would expedited and they would ship it next day when it's complete.

Within 15 minutes of our phone conversation my new replacement was in production. I'm not saying bad things don't happen but in my case I have nothing to complain about.

 

There customer service has inproved greatly over the last 3 years. Don't get me wrong it still not great but it is alot better than a few years ago

 

Some people get great customer service from Dell, but it depends too much on which person you get on the phone. Considering that Consumer Reports rated HP as having the worst customer service, I wonder why they weren't sued instead. Maybe because Dell's financing is what really got them in trouble, and the people suing Dell decided to throw in customer service problems while they were at it.

 

Good read, thanks for sharing this information

 

I for one would rather dell send me the parts and let me do the repair than sending a guy to do it or returning it to the depot.

 

I wonder how Dell will handle the situation. Will they contact customers affected or give out a free credit to all of their customers that apply for it?

 

I have more than a few lawyers in my family, they better not of lied about my 12 month no interest. They will see an individual lawsuit if they dare charge me the APR a day before July 1st of 09

 

This was posted yesterday.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=254283

 

I would not worry about your 12month no intrest. I am pretty dang sure that it is not Dell that loaned you the money. But some other bank (Like Citi etc....)

 

Naughty, naughty Dell.

 

True.

Dell refused to honor my in-home service contract and insisted that the notebook's LCD was a "user-replaceable part" and shipped me the screen and I had to do it myself.

That was the last Dell product I will ever buy.