Dell guilty of fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices

American court case verdict reveals dark side of Dell

28 May 2008 13:22 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Dell has been found guilty 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, by making people to wait for very long times on the phone, repeatedly transferring or frequently disconnecting their calls.

The court also found that Dell failed to uphold contracts for on-site repairs, made customers wait nearly a year for next-day service contracts and and blamed software when hardware was at fault.

In what appears to be a damning verdict for the computer manufacturer, it seems affiliate Dell Financial Services was also involved in some non-customer friendly practices.

Special no-interest finance that was advertised but denied, interest rates as high as 30%, incorrect billing for cancelled orders and harassment for payment using illegal billing and collection practices were all also revealed to go on as part of the court case.

Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi said: "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".

The court is yet to determine how much Dell will have to pay to affected customers and will also require Dell to pay the state of New York the profits it made on these deceptive practices.

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Biz, Hardware, Dell, Lawsuits