NY State Court finds Dell guilty of fraud | | 2008-05-27 | | A ruling by Albany State Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi has found Dell guilty of fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices and abusive debt collection practices.
The court found Dell failed to provide adequate technical support to customers who had purchased cover or were eligible under warranty.
- Callers to Dell’s maintenance helpline frequently had to wait for hours, with frequent transfers and disconnections.
- Unacceptable delays to on-site repairs. In some cases subscribers to the “next day” repair service had to wait a year for the problem to be resolved.
- Customers were pressured to reinstall and manipulate hardware components themselves.
- Software was often blamed for hardware faults.
- In some case Dell refused to resolve problems after the contract period had ended, even though the complaint had been made before the expiry date.
The court also found Dell and its affiliate Dell Financial Services guilty of offering “bait and switch” financing. Special no-interest financing terms were advertised, but rarely awarded, even to those with a good credit rating. Applicants were often not informed they had failed to qualified for special terms and subsequently charged interest rates as high as 30%.
Dell and DFS frequently used illegal billing and collection methods against cancelled or unauthorised orders.
The court will decide how much restitution Dell will have to pay to those affected, and prohibits Dell and DFS from engaging in further fraudulent practices.
Dell has issued a statement which said: “We do not agree with the decision and will be defending our position vigorously. Our goal has been, and continues to be, to provide the best customer experience possible. We are confident that when the proceedings are completed, the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected.” | |
|
