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The Almighty Buck Hardware Technology

Dell In Hot Water For Making Shoppers Think Overpriced Monitors Were Discounted (arstechnica.com) 70

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Dell Technologies' Australia subsidiary misled online shoppers into thinking that adding a monitor to their purchase would get them a discount on the display, even though doing so sometimes resulted in customers paying a higher price for the monitor than if they had bought it on its own. That's according to a declaration by the Australian Federal Court on Monday. The deceptive practices happened on Dell's Australian website, but they serve as a reminder to shoppers everywhere that a strikethrough line or sale stamp on an online retailer doesn't always mean you're getting a bargain. On June 5, the Federal Court said Dell Australia was guilty of making "false or misleading representations with respect to the price" of monitors that its website encouraged shoppers to add to their purchase. The purchases were made from August 2019 to the middle of December 2021.

The website would display the add-on price alongside a higher price that had a strikethrough line, suggesting that the monitor was typically sold at the price with the line going through it but that customers would get a discount if they added it to their cart at purchase. (The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, or ACCC, posted a screenshot example here.) However, the strikethrough prices weren't actually representative of what Dell was charging for the monitors for most of the time before the purported discount. In fact, the allegedly discounted price occasionally turned out to be a rip-off, as ACCC commission Liza Carver said in a statement today: "In some cases, consumers paid more for the add-on monitor advertised as 'discounted' than they would have paid if they had bought it as a stand-alone product, which is shocking."

The Australian Federal Court also found that Dell's Australian website used deceptive language, like "Includes x% off," "Total Savings" plus a dollar amount, "Discounted Price" and a dollar amount, and "Get the best price for popular accessories when purchased with this product." According to the ACCC, shoppers spent over $2 million Australian dollars ($1.33 million USD) on 5,300 add-on monitors during this time period. The Australian Federal Court ordered Dell Australia to give full or partial refunds to affected customers. The company must also hire an "independent compliance professional" and contact affected customers. The Australian Federal Court will take comment on further penalties Dell Australia should incur, which could include fines, at a future date.
Dell told The Register: "As we acknowledged in November 2022 when the ACCC commenced these proceedings, due to an unrectified error on our part, our web page misrepresented the level of savings consumers could achieve by purchasing a monitor in conjunction with a desktop, laptop, or notebook."

Dell is looking into refunding customers, "plus interest," Dell's statement to The Register added, and the company is "taking steps to improve our pricing processes to ensure this sort of error does not happen again."
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Dell In Hot Water For Making Shoppers Think Overpriced Monitors Were Discounted

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  • Is lenovo next? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by redback ( 15527 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @08:16AM (#63583064)

    Is lenovo next? they pull some of the same crap.

    • by Holi ( 250190 )

      Crap, we just switched from Dell to Lenovo because of Dell crap like this. And the fact they constantly would ship my servers to the wrong address.

  • by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) <addw@phcomp.co.uk> on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @08:35AM (#63583108) Homepage

    what is so hard to understand ?

  • dude your getting an good refund due our law!

  • by cmdr_klarg ( 629569 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @08:49AM (#63583134)

    Jacking up the price and then giving a 'discount' was no error.

  • by twisteddk ( 201366 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @08:54AM (#63583146)

    I know Americans (and now apparently no longer Australians) laugh at the communist like regulatory enforcements that fair compete laws and consumer protection laws impose on EU business (and business trying to sell their stuff in EU, as many a tech giant has found out over the years).

    But in the end, the little guy actually can rely on the fact that he doesn't HAVE to get 3 competing offers, or validate every single word of a waiver. Because the law actually protects the consumers from deceptive behavior of business.

    I'm willing to say out loud that I'm all for consumer protection and fairness in marketing. I think it provides trust in the business you are dealing with, and makes for a much more positive experience as a consumer. And it makes me more willing to spend my money, because I'm not afraid that I will get screwed by the company I'm dealing with.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's always funny to hear that people think those protections are "communist". The UK is a fairly right wing country. Haven't had a left of centre government since the 70s. Yet we have fairly strong protections, and even the loony brexiteers aren't proposing to do away with them just yet.

    • > communist like regulatory enforcements

      You don't need to put on your Stalin Fan Club hat to support punishing fraud.

    • by _merlin ( 160982 )

      It's pretty standard for prosecutions like this to happen in Australia as well. They've gone after department stores fore jacking up prices right before offering "discounts", too. The EU isn't unique in actually enforcing consumer protection laws.

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      The problem is, TINSTAAFL.

      The consumer protection laws in the EU and Australia are really strong, which is a good thing. But they don't come for free - everyone sees it as an increase in prices. It's why if something costs $500 US, you can expect it to cost UKP400 or EU500, despite premiums of around 40% for UKP and 20% for EU.

      It's one of the things that will be endlessly debated until everyone is blue in the face because there will be people who want cheaper prices even if it means having to do more work,

      • Sorry, it doesn't cost that much as the cost burden is on the top end, not the bottom, where most all cost should be; So it's spread thin between companies that have the money. Also, at least most of it and if it keeps you from throwing away stuff all the time, and getting better more usable long term stuff :)
    • It's not funny at all. I'm envious of your protections. Even before I flipped sides, I was jealous of the fact your cell phones had removable sim's by law, long before we had anything like that and I don't even think it's a law now. To me, it just makes sense to separate hardware, software, and services. We have almost none of that. The Apple/Android duopoly is an example of that. I used to record calls, especially with company representatives. Now google has taken that choice away from me and without add
    • This is not new to Australia. Australia has had the ACCC and regulations around consumer protections for a long time, I think even well before the EU introduced them.
  • by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @09:01AM (#63583162)

    Every major PC manufacturer pulls shady shit, Dell being one of the greatest offenders. If you're in the market for a home computer find someone that can build a custom rig for you. You get to choose the parts and the specs, it will last much longer, and upgrades will be much simpler for years to come. It may cost you a little more but in the long run you'll be better off. I charge everyone $75 to spec out the parts, supply a parts list that they purchase, and when the parts come in I build the system, install the OS and software, and register warranties for them. It takes me about an hour to spec the parts and then another 2 hours to build the system. Yeah, for $75 I'm not getting rich, but I get to keep current with PC hardware, trends, and OS installations. I build anywhere from 10 to 25 computers per year through word of mouth and I have never had a complaint. There's plenty of people like me in your area. Just ask around.

  • My first job was cashier at a certain fast food restaurant that has changed names since then.

    They often had "combos" that cost more than the sum of their parts. It didn't even make the order easier to enter, you entered the items individually then grouped them to get the adder to apply (or discount in those cases where they were less than the sum of the parts). It was basically a tax on the customer's awareness and ability to do math in their heads while in line.

  • I guess it's not shown as a discount, but in my experience, extra RAM is many times what you can get it for elsewhere. I always get the minimum, then buy extra ram elsewhere much cheaper, at the same time as I buy a computer/server.
  • by whoever57 ( 658626 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @11:28AM (#63583552) Journal

    I remember a few years ago that you could spec the exact same machine and get different prices depending on where you entered the web site. Did you start at home PCs, or small business?

    • I remember a few years ago that you could spec the exact same machine and get different prices depending on where you entered the web site. Did you start at home PCs, or small business?

      Oh yeah, I remember that. Not bought a Dell item in ages.

      Wonder if they have changed that yet.

      Doesn't help that they also tend to use parts which are not part of the standards. PSUs are not ATX, sometimes motherboards are not any particular standards, and usually substandard cooling.

  • by leonbev ( 111395 ) on Wednesday June 07, 2023 @11:39AM (#63583592) Journal

    Dell's MSRP prices (the ones with the strikethrough) are almost always around 20% over the market price. The "discounted" prices are usually still about 5% more than what their competitors charge for a similar computer, but you can usually get them to price parity with an additional coupon code.

    Of course, they'll try to claw that discount back later by overcharging for a support extension, but most smart shoppers do not fall for that ploy.

    Dell has been doing this crap for so long that I thought that it was just common knowledge by now.

  • Hence it's not an error, it's not an accident that companies have 'issues' that charge people more money. They just figure it's the cost of doing business when they get caught finally and have to repay some of it, but overall they'll benefit from it and make more profits regardless of the penalties so of course they'll do it.

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