Oh!! Looks like the chickens are coming home to roost for old Dell:
A New York state judge says Dell and its finance wing are guilty of making false promises to stir up more sales.
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi ruled the #2 computer maker repeatedly engaged in fraud, deceptive advertising, and failure to honor its warranties, service contracts, and rebates…
“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,” said Cuomo in a statement today. “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.”
Justice Teresi ruled that Dell did not give customers the technical support that were entitled to under warranty or service contract. Dell’s bag of tricks included failing to provide on-site repair to customers who purchased the service; pressuring customers with onsite service contracts to repair the boxes themselves; and discouraging customers from seeking technical support with lengthy wait times, frequent transfers and disconnections. Also, Dell had an “alarming pattern” of failing to provide rebates that were promised.
Justice Teresi determined Dell frequently lured customers to purchase products with “no interest” or “no payment” financing promotions — for which even those with very good credit scores were denied. Dell then often failed to clearly inform the customers they were unqualified for the promotional terms, leaving them to unknowingly buy a system at high interest rates.
I’m so glad that someone is taking Dell to task for their service and advertising issues. Their customer service has really gone downhill at the commercial level, they have been just awful, so I can only imagine what the consumer must be going through. I hope this will give them the impetus to CLEAN UP THEIR ACT.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/27/new_york_judge_rules_against_dell_fraud/
I was actually glad to find this article about Dell. I purchased a new computer system through them on their finicial plan 2 years ago. My original price was supposed to be under a thousand dollars, and when I received my contract, I owed them $2000. I inquired as to why so much higher, and they told me that’s pretty much the way it goes. When I signed my contract, it was supposed to be a 24 month contract, as of December, when I believed I was done my contract, I found out they extended my contract to 48 months, without asking me. The warranty is gone now, and whenever I contact tech support (rarely, because I do IT) I have to hold for a good hour, and then I’m told they can’t help me, that I will need to purchase and extended warranty and ship it back to them to get my pc fixed. I’ve managed to fix this piece of crap to the best I can. This is by far the worst computer system I have ever had. As soon as I bought this, the price dropped down to 799, and that was not even a week after I purchased it. Dell has been nothing but rude to me each time I call, and they argue with me constantly even though i have the orignal papers in my hand. I have been paying for a piece of junk and will be doing so now for 2 more years. No one answers my emails or complaints at Dell. I hope they get everything that’s coming to them. I will never purchase a dell product again.
So, I have been a Dell customer for several years. I have received everything ever promised to me. As for high interest rates, read the bottom line!! Ever get a Credit card offer in the mail that says 1.9% on the outside and is 21.9% after the 30 days. This is the same thing. And Dell does not even do their own financing. It is another company that you signed that contract with. People today do not take the time to read the bottom line and then always claim they are the victim. Another big law suit made by someone who has nothing better to do.
To Happy Dell – I’m glad you have had a good experience. My experience with Dell is more on the commercial side and we call them “Hell” computer. They are the pits – we spend most of our time fixing orders mistakes and dealing with problems with equipment, and when we get techs on site it’s a mixed bag on what kind of service we get.
Look out Apple, your turn is coming soon.