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Dell

Dell Computers • Advertising • Credit Card Fraud • Dell Finance • "No-Interest" Offers • Rebates • Restocking Fee • Sales Practices • "Surprise" Loans Service • Customer Service • Tech Support • 30-Day Return Policy • Warranty • Extended Warranty Products • Laptops • Printers • Plasma TV Customers • Deployed Military • Small Business Customers • Dell Defenders --- News • Dell To Pay New York $4 Million In Fraud Charges Settlement • Dell Flubs Online Prices • Dell to Pay $3.3 Million to Resolve Deceptive Practice Claims • Judge Rules Dell Deceived Consumers • Dell Closes Sales Kiosks • Wal-Mart To Sell Dell Computers • New York Sues Dell on Consumer Fraud Charges • Dell Breaks Microsoft Stranglehold • Dell Settles Class Action Over Financing Practices • Dell Recalls Notebook Computer Batteries • Chinese Consumers Sue Dell • "Exploding" Dell Laptop Destroys Truck, Imperils Outsdoorsmen • Dell Denies It Knew of Overheating Battery Problem for Years • Dell Cuts Rebate Program Amid Complaints • Seeking Sizzle, Dell Goes Alien • Dell Sales & Earnings Down, Complaints Up • Computer Vendors Charge More For Less Service • Class Action Accuses Dell of Defrauding Customers --- Recalls • Dell Recalls Notebook Computer Batteries • Dell Recalls More Notebook AC Adapters • Dell Recalls Notebook Power Adapters Analysis • Dell Wins Complaint Derby • To Dell & Back • Dell Talks Back

There's something about Dell that makes people mad. Maybe it's because it's just so big, or just so Texan. Or maybe Dell really is doing a lot of things wrong. But if so, how did it get to be so successful? Fact is, Dell so far has come to dominate every market segment it's moved into and is at the moment making a good dent in the printer market and the corporate server sector.

There's no debating that Dell generates a lot of complaints -- many more than any comparable computer maker, as a recent ConsumerAffairs.Com survey demonstrated. On the other hand, even though the very laptop on which the survey story was written crashed and burned just a day later, our own James R. Hood concedes in To Dell & Back, his arresting tale of being laptopless for a day, that Dell tech support often gets it right.

In its own defense, Dell concedes that it may have some rough edges and doesn't deny that keeping up with double-digit growth isn't always easy. See Dell Discusses Its Growing Pains. OK, but Dell's who-me? response doesn't answer all the questions about those disappearing rebates, questionable sales tactics and its "surprise" loans.

Our advice: read the complaints, consider the defenders' arguments, then ask yourself how much hand-holding you need. We'd say Dell offers good equipment at a great price but if you never want to open the lid of your computer and have no patience with troubleshooting by phone, then you should probably buy a machine from a local geek-owned computer store. Then, when trouble strikes, you'll have a place to go where, as they say, when you go there, they'll have to take you in.

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