"N.Y. court finds that Dell deprived customers of technical support
they bought or were eligible for under warranty
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 : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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
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