Dell Slapped Down For Fraud And Abusive Debt Collections

Dude, you're getting a fine and a restitution order.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has won a lawsuit against Dell and their credit division, Dell Financial Services (DFS) for fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi, who made the ruling, said: "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."

"Dell lured consumers to purchase its products with advertisements that offered attractive "no interest" and/or "no payment" financing promotions. In practice, however, the vast majority of consumers, even those with very good credit scores, were denied these deals. In a classic "bait and switch" scheme, DFS instead offered consumers financing at high interest rates, which often exceeded 20%. Dell and DFS frequently failed to clearly inform these consumers that they had not qualified for the promotional terms, leaving many to unwittingly finance their purchase at high interest rates."

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