The State of NY Decides Against Dell in Controversial Case

Wed. May 28th, 2008

The State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Dell in 2007 on behalf of hundreds of Dell customers who claimed that they were promised promotions and attractive deals by Dell. While Dell says that the deals are for “well qualified” candidates, only around 7% of New York applicants received these promotions. From the decision of this case, Dell will be required to more accurately disclose the rarity that people will receive the benefits from these promotional schemes.

Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi found in favor of the consumers, stating 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 his decision. Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn said, "We are confident that when the proceedings are finally completed, the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected.”

So what does that mean for the end user?

The trial has been decided at the Supreme Ct. of New York level, but Dell still has a chance to appeal this decision. While they are confident that the case will eventually be decided in their favor, it seems that the information against them is substantial also. It is important to notice the advertising schemes of Dell in the future because not all customers will qualify for the promotional deals.

For investors, the reparations that Dell may have to pay to the consumers in question pale in comparison to their sales in New York this past year, so that the stock should not fluctuate too much.

While the financial difficulties may not be substantial, this is another hit to the Dell image which has seen problems in the past couple of years.

If you purchased a Dell product under a New York State address, you can go to http://www.nyagdell.com to apply for restitution.

Information gathered from news sites CNN.com, NYTimes.com, statesman.com