Court finds Dell guilty of fraud

[William T Goodall]

"N.Y. court finds that Dell deprived customers of technical support  
they bought or were eligible for under warranty
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By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
May 28, 2008

Dell was found guilty on Tuesday of fraud, false advertising,  
deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices in  
a case brought by the New York attorney general.


The Albany County Supreme Court found that Dell deprived customers of  
technical support that they bought or were eligible for under warranty  
in several ways, including by requiring people to wait for very long  
times on the phone, repeatedly transferring their calls and frequently  
disconnecting their calls.

Dell also often failed to provide onsite repairs for customers who  
bought contracts for such support and often blamed software when  
hardware was actually the problem, the court found. The company also  
sometimes refused to offer support when a support contract ended, even  
though the user had first complained about a problem before the end of  
the contract. Subscribers to a "next-day" repair service sometimes  
waited as long as a year for support, the court found.

Dell and affiliate Dell Financial Services also advertised special no- 
interest financing, but denied almost everyone those terms. It often  
sold customers products without informing them that they didn't  
qualify for the special financing terms and then charged them interest  
rates as high as 30 percent, the court said.

Dell and DFS also often incorrectly billed people for cancelled orders  
and for accounts they didn't authorize. The companies then harassed  
the people for payment, using illegal billing and collection  
practices, the court said.

The court will determine how much Dell will have to pay in restitution  
to affected customers and will also require Dell to pay the state of  
New York the profits it made on these deceptive practices. In  
addition, the ruling prohibits Dell and DFS from continuing to engage  
in the fraudulent activities.

Dell did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the ruling."


Con men Maru

-- 
William T Goodall
Mail : wtg at wtgab.demon.co.uk
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/

And yes, OSX is marvelous. Its merest bootlace, Windows is not worthy  
to kiss. - David Brin