Dell Found Guilty of Fraud, Deceptive Business Practices
by RT on 05/28/2008 in Business
On Tuesday, computer manufacturing giant Dell was convicted of false advertising, fraud, abusive debt collection practices, and deceptive business transactions. All this stems from a case brought to the attention of the courts by the attorney general of the state of New York.
Dell was brought up on charges for keeping customers from receiving even adequate customer service and technical support, even for those who had paid extra to receive such benefits. Listed complaints included long wait times on the phone, repeatedly being transferred and “accidentally” disconnecting calls.
The court also found that technicians scheduled for on-site repairs failed to actually repair issues, citing software when hardware was to blame, or vice-versa. Dell was also being accused of bait-and-switch, by refusing to offer support to customers after the end of their service contract, when an issue was clearly reported prior to the contract’s expiration.
Dell has also been charged with failing to honor advertising which offered special no-interest terms on new purchases, but actually gave nearly no customers those special interest rates, without notifying them that they didn’t qualify and completing the purchase anyway.
Dell will no longer be able to engage in these shady business practices, and will be required not only to pay the victims of their activities, but will also be forced to pay the state of New York all the profits from misleading and abusing their customers.
Back in 2006, Dell was already in hot water for using Sony batteries that exploded. Other manufacturers were also involved in this recall issue, but it seems Dell had enough PR problems with their particular exploding machines being in the spotlight.
Do you own a Dell? Would you consider purchasing from them in light of this court decision? If you’re a techie, how is it supporting Dell computers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. (Witty re-writes of “Dude, you’re getting a Dell,” are strongly discouraged.)
-The Raging Tech
ameo
May 28th, 2008
i used dell and i still , and will
Robert_EmeryvilleCA
May 28th, 2008
I support just under a hundred Dell workstations and have had great support from Dell’s Small/Medium Business division. Parts replacement within 1 business day (sometimes the next day if I call early enough) and overall support has been excellent. We are a Dell shop and will continue to be. Their online user-accessible support is still the best.
RT
May 28th, 2008
@Robert_EmeryvilleCA: Our shop (the company I work for as my day job) is switching just now to Dell, so this was fun news for us today. I’m also pretty sure most of the complaints were in the consumer-level division. I’ve heard nothing but good things about their business and enterprise level support, esp. the next-day parts replacement like you mentioned.
I’m also pretty sure Dell has, in recent times, cleaned up their act, but this case concerns Dell’s past wrong-doings.
Frank J
May 28th, 2008
Dell will survive and it will improve in a big way now that the dirty laundry was aired.
I am a Dell fan and owned Dells my whole life.
Hydrotaoist
May 28th, 2008
Everyone of these people but ONE works for Dell. Trace their IPs if you don’t believe me. Dell’s tech support is the worst I have EVER used. They are like talking to monkeys
All these things listed are things I have heard from others or have experienced myself.
RT
May 28th, 2008
@Hydrotaoist: Actually, the one person who’s commented so far that I don’t actually know, I’ve traced their IP and they do not, in fact, trace back to Dell. Something about an NTT.net.
I’m assuming you just sort of threw that out there. It’s more likely that there are Dell fanboys than there are Dell employees just going around commenting to curb bad publicity. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. I’m just saying this time you’re wrong. And I’m allowed to say so, because I have the server logs with the IPs.
Regretful Morning
May 28th, 2008
Always build my own PC’s – My work used to buy Dell’s but I’ll stick to building my own.
Michael Aulia
May 28th, 2008
I know a few friends who weren’t happy with Dell’s customer service and the way they handled things, once you made a sale!
Famous Quotes
May 29th, 2008
For these big companies this is a norm. I myself don’t use any of the Dell’s product.
Kashif
May 29th, 2008
Thats too many problems for DELL or it will not be incorrect to say too many problems caused by DEL
Richard in Derbyshire
May 29th, 2008
I do not work for Dell or have any business connection with Dell. I bought my first Dell PC in 1998 and it only recently stopped working. I have another desktop PC and two laptops, all from Dell.
In 10 years the only failure in any PC has been the graphics card in my 4 yr old desktop. Despite the PC being in the last 2 weeks of its warranty Dell provided and fitted a new graphics card. I have always found their tech people and sales people to be excellent. I will be buying another Dell desktop pc at the end of this year.
Bear in mind that with the millions of units they sell per year they will get some complaints. Dell products are excellent – don’t believe the (bad) hype – its not true.
MissPigie
May 30th, 2008
Just what one can expect from the fine state of Texas, wonder how much Dell stock the Bush crowd owns.
willow
May 30th, 2008
I have a Dell and I will get another Dell when this one gets old. I love how well the computer works and I have had almost every piece fixed when I break them with no question asked. I recently had a technician fix something and he was very professional. I think that all of those accusations must be unfounded. And I don’t work for dell, I’m a college student.
tim
May 30th, 2008
My lord. Get a mac!
top100mmo
May 30th, 2008
Dell is still name in the bussines…
Dave C.
May 30th, 2008
Yeah, what Tim said.
Cathy C
May 30th, 2008
Had a Dell and received an HP laptop as a gift. Dell tech service was 10 times better than HP. Don’t know if I would purchase a HP but would consider a Dell.
Zack
May 31st, 2008
build your own computer and run a linux distribution (consider ubuntu). you’ll thank me later.
Matt4925
May 31st, 2008
This is a copy of a letter I sent to Dell legal:
Gentlemen;
I have attempted to contact you previously in regards to my account and the illegal inflation of both my balance and my monthly payment. I am now stating for final time that I would be happy to pay the original amount of $1500 for the laptop as ordered. You must however absorb the cost of the $220 battery as promised to me as payment for all the trouble and aggravation that I was caused by your faulty original laptop. If you check your records, you will see that I was keep on the phone with tech support for over 2 hrs on several occasions, and was unable to recover various data including but not limited to my 2006 tax return and associated files. In addition to the requested corrected payment, and the removal of all late charges, I require written verification that any and all changes to my Credit Report report reflecting this problem have been removed and that said problems have been totally exonerated. Since you have failed to do this as of yet, I have consulted and retained the services of a layer who will be handling this matter from this date forward.
In closing… Fucking Un-American, un-touchable thieves and bullies.
Chad
Jun 5th, 2008
My brother bought a Dell and it fell apart after a year. You get what you pay for.
For business
- Lenovo # 1
- HP # 2
- Dell #3
For Consumer
- Apple is the only option, unless you want a system that crashes!!!
Go for quality… always buy Apple or Lenovo
Doug
Jun 10th, 2008
With 3 IT related businesses I have purchased over 50 computers from Dell over last 8 years. I have had two problems which required a call out (in the early years) and two calls which required tech support all of which were handled in a timely fashion. I will continue to buy from DELL until I get let down.
Hank
Jul 7th, 2008
As a long-time Dell customer I’m not surprised by any of this and by & large agree with the thought that most of these problems are in the past (except for the sorry consumer service).
What does surprise me is that I see nothing mentioned about Dell charging lease customers belatedly (and not broached up front) for “property taxes”.
Have none of you out there had this occur to you?
Alex
Aug 12th, 2008
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
Wade
Jan 19th, 2009
Dell leads their industry in deceptive practices. I recently made the mistake or purchasing a Dell Studio laptop. The second week of use, the input connection for my power supply came loose on my motherboard. Within a few days Dell shipped me a new motherboard with promises that a technician would come out to replace it. Three weeks passed and despite numerous phone calls, emails and chat sessions with Dell technical and customer support, no one ever came to fix my computer. About five weeks later my computer caught on fire. Dell promised to send me a new laptop but after a month of talking to every person at Dell I could track down, still no replacement.
Over the last couple of months, I have learned a lot about Dell Computer Corporation. Numerous questions pass through my mind when I think of the scum bags I have dealt with, here are just a few. What company creates policies for people to lie to you? Dell. What company employs people who will provide you with false names and get very angry when you find out their real contact information? Dell. What company will sell you a bogus warranty? Dell.
Dell’s employees will tell you that they are committed to customer satisfaction. Of all the things you will ever hear from a Dell employee, the forgoing statement is their biggest prevarication of them all. Dell could care less about their customers, with the exception of their large corporate accounts. They will lie to you; they will cheat you and then laugh right in your face.
I have some suggestions for anyone who has a Dell computer still under warranty. First, file a small claims action in your local court. It will cost you under a hundred dollars to file. You do not need an attorney and other than the filing fee, you have nothing to lose but your time. It will cost Dell the cost of transportation and lodging for the poor sap that has to show up, hopefully in front of a judge that Dell screwed over. Even if some poor sap does show up and miraculously wins the case, the satisfaction of screwing over Dell is worth the money. And if they don’t show up, you automatically win.
Second, and this is definitely a favorite of mine. Contact your bank and or credit card company and file a deceptive trade dispute on the total charge or charges you paid Dell for your computer and warranty. The credit card company and or bank will automatically credit your account for the charge(s). Dell will have to prove to the bank that they did not cheat you, which they cannot do. If your honest, send back your computer to Dell, if not, send them a brick. Just make sure you have proof by tracking information that you sent something back to them. Dell has to prove what, if anything, they received. With the morons they hire, you have nothing to worry about.
Third, I encourage everyone who reads this to publicly post the names, email addresses and phone numbers of the Dell scumbags that continue to laugh in our faces.
Frank J
Jan 20th, 2009
I have never had an issue with Dell and I have purchased more than a few computers from them.
Mark
Feb 25th, 2009
I like dell and the way their computers work, shame about this
Frank J
Feb 26th, 2009
It’s old news, but not good for a company that’s a leader in the computer space.
Tony
May 8th, 2009
Very old news and I’m sure Dell will continue to go from strength to strength!
Frank J
May 8th, 2009
Tony,
At the time this was published it was fresh news. Dell, because of the companies size and popularity, they will always be watched carefully.
BB Blackpool
Jun 12th, 2009
For many years I used to source the components and build my own PC’s as this was the cheapest option.
These days though I can buy them cheaper from Dell direct.
They provide what the consumer wants so I am sure they will continue to go from strength to strength recession or not.
Free Ads
Jul 7th, 2009
I like Dell. My laptop has lasted me over the years. Not had many problems. Would buy again.