A state judge in Albany, NY has found that 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.”
In addition, the judge also found that Dell Financial Services “has engaged in repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct, including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and improper debt collection practices.”
NY’s Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, sued Dell and Dell Financial Services for depriving consumers of the technical support they were entitled to under their warranty or service contract by:
repeatedly failing to provide consumers who purchased service contracts promising “onsite” and expedited service with timely onsite repair;
- for pressuring consumers, including those who purchased service contracts promising “next day onsite” repair, to remove the external cover of their computer and remove, reinstall, and manipulate hardware components;
- discouraging consumers from seeking technical support; those who called Dell’s toll free number were subjected to long wait times, repeated transfers, and frequent disconnections;
- for using defective “refurbished” parts or computers to repair or replace consumers’ equipment.
The lawsuit also accused Dell’s financing operation of luring customers into high interest rate financing deals by using a “bait-and-switch” tactic. Dell advertised “no interest” or “no payment” financing, but according to the lawsuit, “the vast majority of consumers, even those with very good credit scores, were denied these deals. “
In addition, the lawsuit also alleged that Dell incorrectly billed customers on canceled orders, returned merchandise or on accounts that were fraudulently opened. The AG’s office says that “Although many consumers repeatedly contacted Dell and/or DFS to advise them of the errors, DFS did not suspend its collection activity and Dell failed to expeditiously credit consumers’ accounts, even after assuring consumers it would do so. As a result, many consumers have been subjected to harassing collection calls for months on end and have had their credit ratings harmed.”
For more information about how this lawsuit affects Dell customers in New York state, please click here. According to the Wall Street Journal, Dell has no comment at this time.
Decision and Order in NY vs Dell (PDF)[NY AG]
PREVIOUSLY: Help New York Sue Dell By Filling This Complaint Trough
NY Sues Dell For So-Called “Award-Winning Service”
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@JulesWinnfield: I had already checked to see if Comcast does business in New York. It does, which would put it within Cuomo’s jurisdictional reach.
Here’s hoping that if he makes some headway with Dell, Comcast or some other dastardly company, may be next on his hit list. And if citizens really get lucky, perhaps some of the cowardly attorney generals of other states will jump into the fray. Viva la Revolution!
@khiltd: that was the funniest fucking thing since a soup sandwich.
I luv Dell. I had my Dell repaired just last week–first problem with my laptop in 3 years. I used their online chat to schedule a repair. Everything went quickly and without problem.
Mr. Cuomo should go after HP. You couldn’t pay me to take one of their machines after I had so many problems in just the first year, and then they claimed I didn’t have a warranty or sent the laptop back with out being repaired until my warranty really did expire. I faxed and emailed the information over 100 times. A BBB complaint got them to call me, but they still returned the laptop unrepaired.
My experience with Dell tech support is the reason I switched to Apple. This was about five – six years ago. And while I haven’t drunk from the Cup of His Stevieness’s Kool-Aid, I’ve not had any similar experiences on my PowerBook or when I upgraded my MacBook Pro.
Ah, I remember Dell customer service, some foreign guy reading a worthless script that was on the web.
Dude! Don’t buy a dell. Don’t do it! Dude!
To the gallows, I say.
I still love Dell.
Hard drive failed in the wife’s computer, confirmed it with a diagnostic test, contacted Dell Tech Support with the diagnostic results and they had a new drive out to me the very next day.
My company exclusively buys Dell, all business models with business-grade warranties. I’ve never had a problem contacting Dell for service on these computers, and wait times are never longer than 4 minutes.
So this is what I recommend to anyone who asks: Dell has done a great job of pricing low end computers very attractively. If that’s what’s right for you, buy a Vostro or Dimension with a business-grade warranty from Dell Small Business. Yes, individuals can buy from Dell SB too.
@kspray–dad: @Blackneto:
I’m with you both. My personal experiences with Dell have been mostly positive. They tried to pull a billing bait & switch on my parents, but that was resolved by contacting the BBB.
Now, however, they’re on my bad side. I swear to god their Memorial Day sale ran through the 29th of May. Come yesterday, the deal has vanished, all references to it have been deleted (i.e. the web pages detailing the sale now lead to 404 errors), and it has been replaced by a crappier 3-day sale, with savings of an average $200 LESS. I rarely get beet-red in the face, but that made my blood boil.
Even though I’ve been a loyal Dell customer for over three years, I’m seriously considering looking into an HP instead. Sure, their service seems to be a perpetual black-hole, but the systems we have at the school I work at seem to be of decent quality. What a confusing state of affairs…
Dell deals differently with individuals than it does with companies. I worked for an organization that would sometimes order 5000 at a time, and was always good for more. I never had a problem with Dell service on the organization account.
As a personal buyer of Dell’s, never again.
My experience with Dell has been a nightmare. My Dell printer died a month after installing it, the CD/DVDR drive died a month after that, then the memory went out, the the motherboard went out, then the harddrive had to be replaced, now they have made me wipe out all my data and try to reinstall the OS again. Unfortunately for me, they don’t know what the hell they are doing, and my computer is still completely dead because they say the recovery disk I have is bad and I’ve been waiting over a week for the new disks. I would rather stab my eyes out with a hot poker than deal with the idiot technicians in India ever again. DON’T BUY DELL!
Several years ago I (stupidly) bought a dell wit “0% financing for 1 year” (when run through DFS) I got a bit more expensive of a system than I would have otherwise gotten. A few months of payments later I realize I’m paying 27%. I call up and they tell me “the 0% didn’t apply to you”. I paid the rest of that computer off right quick.
I used to work for Dell in support from 1995-1996, when Dell had VERY high customer satisfaction. We took a lot of pride in the tech support department. We were Dell employees and worked at the Dell headquarters in Austin, then Round Rock. There was one day that you couldn’t get support do to an ice storm and the fact there were no other call centers.
We still had to have customers take the cover off their computer to reseat cables. I had one old lady refuse because there was electricity, and all the assurances in the world that the power supply was a separately enclosed part wouldn’t help.
Normally it wasn’t a problem. If a CEO of a company called in (I worked the night shift and handled direct and major accounts) and refused to work with us, it almost ALWAYS went like this:
Customer: I paid for the computer with the warranty and I need it for my business. I can’t waste time trying to fix it with you, send a technician.
Me: Its 2 in the morning. We are way past the 5pm cutoff for next business day service, so its going to be 36 hours before I can get a technician onsite. I can fix 90% of these problems on the phone in about 30 minutes.
Customer: I guess we should proceed.
How totally unfair of New York to do this to poor Dell. We all know that’s its not Dell’s fault, its the consumers fault for expecting good products and good cs. Hasn’t it been said by some on this site that making a company live up to their WRITTEN policies is just an asinine entitlement that undeserving people expect?
And, we all know that people are fools for buying anything other than Apple computers, don’t we. We hear it enough here don’t we?
Ok, enough jack ass stuff…
Thank God that at least ONE state has stepped in to FORCE a company to do what it promises. And I know that’s its a hard pill to swallow for all of you that want to blame the consumer for EVERYTHING!
And yes, this only applies in the state of New York but it will open a door for other suits to be filled in other states. In this economy, if a company does not provide good customer service, they will suffer.
A MAJOR VICTORY FOR CONSUMERS
@blackmage439: Don’t do HP/Compaq! You may be upset with Dell but my experience puts HP and all of their stuff way at the top of the crap pile. I’ve heard countless horror stories from Dell’s consumer side, but since I’ve only dealt with small business I’ve never had much of a headache.
In the last few years here’s what I’ve experienced and learned. Never buy a laptop when a desktop will do. Always buy from the business side of a company. And do your research, usually the more expensive PCs are expensive for a reason. They are built to last more than 2 years, let alone 9 months.
I build all my computers, except my laptop, which is a dell. I have had no problems with it at all.
Granted, the first thing I did was format it and install Ubuntu, but hey…
You guys all realize you are not really buying a Dell or an HP or a whatever right?
These companies all buy a platform from an ODM like Foxconn, Wistron, Sager, etc. and skin them with their respective company logos.
Dell never really made their own stuff. But back when Compaq and HP and IBM were actually manufacturing their own gear there was definitely some interesting innovation going on.
Blame the “suits” for the current state of horrible PC’s, the brand doesn’t really matter anymore.
If Dell sold abacuses, they’d be missing the little wooden beads.
Yet some customers would still defend their purchase.
well, this saved me, i was about to purchase a DELL desktop..it came with free shipping and no taxes…..after reading all the above, i guess i’ll get an hp at sam’s club….i have two dell computers, a desktop i picked off the local refuse transfer station pile and a laptop i picked up at a yard sale…..the desktop i use for my amateur radio and the laptop is my portable…..i have had no trouble with either unit….that’s why i was thinking of replacing my 6yr old hp desktop with a dell….not after this stuff…..
Interestingly enough we just bought a Dell and are not receiving the 6 months no interest that was advertised even though when we purchased the laptop it indicated that we qualified. Go figure…..
@blackmage439: OMG noes!
Not Hewlett-Packard low-end!
Total crap. And with NO consumer support.
DO NOT BUY!
I been there. I am totes ripped off. DO NOT BUY!. [I am going for Canon, a product that apparently works.]
The DPA (Dell Preferred Account) actually mentions that the interest rate is a seperate approval, ran through by CIT Bank.
Anywho, i’ve bought 2 laptops in the past from Dell, and have now just purchased a Dell XPS 420. Never had an issue with Dell that couldnt be resolved by calling them/chatting with them.
I also used to work for Dell, and know a great deal more of the in’s and out’s.
Dell is still doing this. Now they will repair hard drive under warranty (after about 7 excruciating hours trying to get through to customer service) but when software issues occur becuase all the software has to be reloaded on a new hard drive…they charge you a fee to assist you which is 1/4 the price of the computer….How many peSuddenly there are ssues…ople pay for this crap…when will someone actually REALLY penalize Dell for these unfair business parctices….