CREW LAUNCHES DELLCEPTION.ORG – KEEPING A WATCHFUL EYE ON DELL’S DISHONEST BUSINESS PRACTICES

24 Aug 2009 // Washington, D.C. – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) launched a new site - DELLception.org - targeting Dell, Inc. for misleading and deceptive business practices. CREW’s goal is to bring greater public awareness to Dell’s refusal to keep its promise of “Next Day Service” to its customers.

CREW also filed a complaint with the District of Columbia Attorney General, asking for an investigation into the experience CREW executive director Melanie Sloan had with Dell when the company refused to honor its “Next Day Parts and Labor On-Site Response.” D.C., as well as other states, prohibits these deceptive trade practices. In a January 2009 settlement with 34 state Attorneys General (not including D.C.), Dell agreed to pay $3.35 million to resolve allegations of deceptive advertising and its failure to honor warranties.

Ms. Sloan said today, “According to its website, ‘Dell puts you back to work fast.’ But for many customers, including me, that simply is not true. If Dell won’t honor its warranties, CREW, with help from the public, will hold Dell accountable. When a consumer pays for next day service, she should receive next day service.”

Ms. Sloan continued, “If people in 34 states had enough problems with Dell for state attorneys general to step in, and Dell still refused to honor my warranty after the company settled that matter, then other people likely are having problems with Dell right now. Honoring a warranty is a matter of ethics and at CREW, we take action when confronted with unethical conduct. We hope D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles will share our concern that Dell is engaged in deceptive marketing practices by failing to honor its warranties and launch an immediate investigation.”

DELLception.org brings together the latest news on Dell’s refusal to honor its “Next Day Service” warranty and the latest actions by CREW to hold Dell accountable. We encourage those with similar bad experiences with Dell to post them on DELLception.org.