Dell, the world's leading personal computer maker, could be hit with multiple lawsuits in China for alleged false advertising of its popular laptop computers, state press reported August 11.
A Shanghai court is reviewing fraud allegations from 19 Chinese customers who say Dell's laptops are installed with lower quality chips than the ones the US firm advertises, the China Daily said.
The claimants say that Dell installed the Inter T2300E chip, or computer processing unit (CPU), rather than the more expensive T2300 identified on the company's order forms.
The newer chip, the T2300, allows users to access multiple operating systems at the same time in a process called "virtualisation", while T2300E does not.
Angry consumers are demanding the computer maker refund twice the value of the goods, pay all legal costs and issue a formal apology, the report said. An average Dell laptop costs around 1,000 dollars.
Sharon Zhang, a spokeswoman for Dell at China headquarters in Beijing, admitted that the Texas-based company had made an error but had since done its best to make ammends.
"We have acknowledged that this is an error, that this error is unfortunate and unintended. We have apologised for the inconvenience and the misunderstanding and the confusion caused to customers," Zhang told AFP.
"Most customers were satisfied with an apology but for those who were not satisfied we offered full refund, which many customers took."
Zhang said the mistake occurred after Dell begun switching chips on certain laptop models but the sales brochures and order forms were not updated on time. However Zhang Min, who was first to file his case in Shanghai, said in the China Daily that negotiations with the Texas-based group had proved futile.
"I tried to negotiate with Dell and simply asked them to change the CPU, but they said there was no difference between the two and it was unnecessary to change (it)," Zhang Min was quoted by the newspaper as saying. "My lawyer sent them a letter demanding compensation which Dell chose to ignore, so we decided to sue."
Guo Zhongfang, one of the lawyers involved in the cases, said: "Dell has defrauded Chinese consumers and should be fined according to the law." An online bulletin board set up by Dell users in China has registered 500 people so far, which could mean the number of lawsuits against the company will increase.
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