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Dell Hell: Computer Giant Faces Consumer Lawsuit - Consumers Allege Didn't Get Tech Support Paid For
ABC News ^ | 05/16/2007

Posted on 05/16/2007 7:25:11 PM PDT by Swordmaker

Consumers Allege They Didn't Get the Tech Support They Paid For

The computer company said it would "vigorously defend" itself in court. Dell is the No. 2 computer seller in the United States, but now some say the technology giant is ripping off its customers.

New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a lawsuit against Dell, accusing the company of deceptive, fraudulent and illegal business practices.

"You can have aggressive marketing, and if you go too far it's consumer fraud," Cuomo said Tuesday. "In our opinion they went too far, and this is consumer fraud. They offered a product, a service that they didn't deliver."

Part of the suit claims that though Dell gave the impression of an "award-winning service" available to consumers "24 hours a day, seven days a week," consumers faced "nightmarish obstacles" to get help and technical service for their computers. Cuomo said New York had received 700 complaints about Dell -- more than the number of complaints for any other related subject.

Consumers in Dell Hell

Some Dell owners say when they sought help for their PCs, they endured a kind of Dell Hell.

Barbara Williams, a 67-year-old retiree who runs a crochet club from her computer, paid Dell for an "in-home" service plan that can cost up to $300. When her computer broke down, she called Dell thinking a technician would come to her home to fix it. Instead, the technician at the other end of the line told her to dissect her computer on her own.

"The guy told me to open my computer. And I said, 'For what?' He said, 'Well, you have to find the memory. I think it's a memory problem.' And I said, 'I don't know what memory looks like!,'" Williams said.

"He says, 'Well you have to troubleshoot.' I said, 'No I don't. I said I don't know what I'm looking at. I don't know what's wrong with this thing. I paid for in-home service.'"

Williams said she waited six weeks before a technician came to her home.

The suit also says Dell Financial Services enticed consumers with offers of "no interest" financing when in fact very few shoppers -- even those with good credit history -- actually qualified. And the suit says some people who thought they were getting zero percent financing ended up paying more than 20 percent. Over time, that can more than double the cost of a computer.

"I think it's a message to all companies. If you're offering a customer service, if you're a selling a customer service then you have to provide that customer service," Cuomo said.

In an e-mail statement to ABC News, Dell asserted that customers were its "top priority" and said the company would "vigorously defend" itself in court.

"We are confident that our practices will be found to be fair and appropriate," the statement continued. "While even one dissatisfied customer is too many, the allegations in the Attorney General's filing are based upon a small fraction of Dell's consumer transactions in New York."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: dell; justice

1 posted on 05/16/2007 7:25:13 PM PDT by Swordmaker
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To: Swordmaker

My Dell (2004-2006)


2 posted on 05/16/2007 7:27:06 PM PDT by fkabuckeyesrule (Good News everyone!!!! It's baseball season!!!!!)
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To: Swordmaker
"Williams said she waited six weeks before a technician came to her home."

If true, that's pathetic.

I wonder if they have all of their CSRs in India like HP. That makes "customer service" much more difficult.

3 posted on 05/16/2007 7:33:35 PM PDT by KoRn (Just Say NO ....To Liberal Republicans - FRED THOMPSON FOR PRESIDENT!)
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To: KoRn
I've had mixed experiences with Dell CS over the years. Once when a brand new desktop had a Zip Drive that arrived DOA, the rep on the other side of the phone walked me thru a troubleshooting process which involved dismantling its case and getting to the innards of the machine to check out the cable connections and such, I'm rather tech saavy so didn't have a problem with all that, although I *did* ask "Won't doing this void the warranty?" .. the answer was NO, it wouldn't. Eeenywees, the problem with Zip Drive turned out to be a component failure and Dell sent an in-home tech to replace the dead drive the very next day! Exemplary service, as it were.

Another time, on a different Dell computer, I was having some sort of software compatibility problem ... don't remember what it was, but the rep (in India) sort of gave up after a few go arounds and highly recommended to re-format the HD and load everything back in from scratch. I protested, of course, as it was a severe solution to something which was probably very minor and easily fixed, so went back to trying to troubleshoot on my own. In the end after tinkering with it all for another week, I did just that ... re-formatted the HD and reloaded everything from scratch. What a PIA, but at least I sort of exhausted all of my options first before going for the 'scorched earth' option that the rep originally suggested

4 posted on 05/16/2007 8:00:59 PM PDT by Mr_Moonlight
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To: KoRn
For the consumer side, all tech support was cesob's (curry eating...) named Billy who said they would call back but never did, sent the wrong parts, closed calls on broken units, requiring a restart of the phone tree to hell

Until just recently, when their high end machines now speak english.

5 posted on 05/16/2007 8:02:23 PM PDT by Not now, Not ever! (The devil made me do it!,.......................................................( well, not really.)
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To: Swordmaker

Go Lenovo !!!


6 posted on 05/16/2007 8:32:26 PM PDT by austinmark ("May the Flea's of a Thousand Camels Nest in ALLAH's Pubic Hair" !!!)
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To: neverdem

I’ve heard ANDREW Cuomo can be quite aggressive as an Attorney General.


7 posted on 05/16/2007 8:58:33 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Swordmaker
Seems like the employees are in "Dell Hell" as well. Imagine trying to deal with these 67-year-old crochet club members over the phone who squawk that they "don't know what memory is."

Just poke a stick in my eye and get it over with.

8 posted on 05/16/2007 9:15:26 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (I am 74 days away from outliving Curt Hennig (whoever he is))
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To: Swordmaker

The In house service is a third party tech that is not allowed to troubleshoot an issue, but only replace parts. Its the alternative to doing it yourself or shipping to the manufacturer, that for whatever reason they always automatically reimage the hard drive.


9 posted on 05/16/2007 10:11:33 PM PDT by neb52
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To: neb52

You should read the comments on the ABC site... truly scary. Customers being told to find a screwdriver to dismantle their Dell computers by a customer service rep halfway around the world...


10 posted on 05/16/2007 11:01:19 PM PDT by Swordmaker (Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE)
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To: Swordmaker

I guess being a Techie it never fazed me, but then there have been times they say to swap this out and I am like you really want me to do that? You sure you don’t want to do this instead? ;P

At least their tech support acknowledges the Intel Motherboard over heating problems, with blown capacitors. When I see that and report it they are quick to get a new Intel board(that will fry in a couple of months) out quick.


11 posted on 05/17/2007 12:51:09 AM PDT by neb52
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To: SamAdams76

Most people still call their PCs Hard Drives or CPUs. I gave up a long time ago correcting them and just assume they don’t know anything. Even going through Public schooling I still got out of the few computer classes that the End User had certain responsibilities and concepts to understand. It just blows mind that an End User will consider changing their background as one of those rocket science techie thingys.


12 posted on 05/17/2007 12:59:27 AM PDT by neb52
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To: KoRn

LOL—I waited almost that long to talk to a techie on the phone. And then I couldn’t understand him—Pakistani or Indian, not sure which, with very poor English.


13 posted on 05/17/2007 6:41:36 AM PDT by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
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To: SamAdams76

Bull feathers. Nothing wrong with being 67 or older than that, AND if they would make a decent, reliable machine that ran decent, reliable software perhaps they wouldn’t get so many calls. MY Dell has been mostly good, but the few times I’ve needed help with it, I’ve reached people who don’t speak English and I’m convinced don’t even know much about computers—it sounds as though they just have a little routine they check, and if nothing fits, they blow you off.

ONE of those times I finally called the Best Buy and the tech they sent to the house found something very minor—was surprised that the Dell CS didn’t think of it. $80 for the house call, but ultimately much less of a hassle. And he spoke English.


14 posted on 05/17/2007 6:47:59 AM PDT by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
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