New York State has set up a Web site for consumer complaints following a court decision against Dell and Dell Financial Services.

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New York State has set up a Web site for consumer complaints following a court decision against Dell and Dell Financial Services.

 

The Albany County Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the computer marketer had engaged in “repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct.”

 

This included “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,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi. 

 

The site, NYAGDELL.com, was set up for consumers who were “left on hold for hours, promised ‘onsite’ repair service only to be pressured to take apart their computers themselves, and subjected to numerous other negligent and abusive practices,” said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a statement.

 

Dell spokespersons said they disagreed with the court’s decision, according to published reports.

 

Cuomo’s office sued Dell last year, alleging that the firm had misled customers by promising financing and services that it never delivered.

 

Teresi agreed with Cuomo that Dell had conducted financing promotions “to attract prospective customers with no intention of actually providing the advertised financing to the great majority of such customers.”

 

He added: “Such conduct is deceptive and constitutes improper ‘bait advertising.’

 

But Teresi did not concur that Dell had deceived prospects by advertising “award-winning technical support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

 

The state could not prove that Dell had failed to win awards for its technical support, he said.  “Moreover, while consumers may have to wait on hold to actually receive technical support, they may do so at any hour of the day or night,” Teresi continued.

 

The judge added that laws cannot mandate superior customer service. “Such aspect of a business is for the marketplace to determine, not the petitioner or the courts,” he wrote.