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Dell Sues Tiger Direct For Misleading Customers
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Fri Apr 24, 2009 03:25 PM
from the accountability-a-word-to-get-you-fired-at-tiger dept.
from the accountability-a-word-to-get-you-fired-at-tiger dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Dell is apparently suing popular online retailer Tiger Direct, claiming that Tiger violated the resale contract it had with Dell, which included false advertising, misleading representation and unfair competition. Dell has accused Tiger Direct of selling old and out-dated Dell computers that Tiger Direct purchased from other resellers and then saying they were brand new directly from Dell. They also passed the computers off as still having a full warranty, but the warranties had expired long ago."
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Submission: Dell Sues Tiger Direct for Misleading Customers by Anonymous Coward
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Tiger direct sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
Tiger direct is awful. Pay just a little bit more at NewEgg and get actual customer service.
Re:Tiger direct sucks (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Tiger direct sucks (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Tiger direct sucks (Score:5, Funny)
Well for me it's simple, I live in California and pay a recycle tax and sales tax on many items. "I was already recycling electronic gear before the TAX" If I can buy somewhere and not pay tax or shipping and skip the recycle fee I will. Places like TigerDirect give me that option.
Note I do not say TD is a good place.. but I only buy new items from them. I still occasionally will buy from Newegg but it's getting rarer and rarer with new sales tax hike. Of course I do remit the owed amounts of sales tax every year. Just like every good tax payer should. Ahem.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
9.5% sales tax? Cry me a river.
When you get to a 10.25% base rate like it is in Chicago, then I might start feeling sorry for you.
And if you shop in certain products in Chicago, it's more.
And if you shop in certain districts in Chicago, it's even more.
Some basic everyday items like a can of soda in certain parts of Chicago carry 14% or more sales tax. It's like living in Europe, but without the free healthcare or fast trains.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
When you get to a 12%-14% base rate like it is in most of Canada, then I might start feeling sorry for you.
Of course we do get the slow trains and "free" healthcare (paid for by other taxes and user fees) but they aren't paid for from sales tax.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I stopped dealing with TigerDirect and TigerDirect.ca years ago. I've had bad experiences with them and often the cheap items they carry are exactly that, cheap. Anything worth buying from them I can most likely get at the same price elsewhere
Re:Tiger direct sucks (Score:5, Interesting)
I buy from Tigerdirect all the time and get great deals> The key is to know what you are doing. Newegg I've found is best for individual parts-DVD burners, SATA drives, etc. Where you get good deals at Tigerdirect is the barebone kits. I just built a dual core, 4GB of RAM, 250GB SATA, 20x SATA DVD burner and XP home and the grand total was $350 including shipping. The customer was so happy with their $500 box they had me order another one for their kid.
But I wouldn't buy ANY boxes that are already built there that they list as new, only refurbs. I have heard of too many folks getting "new boxes" that still had somebody else's stuff on it. But if you keep an eye out and know what you are looking for you can get really great deals on refurbs and barebones. I've made enough profit off the last 4 jobs that I'm going back there to build me a new gamer rig. I've not had any trouble with the barebones except for a single damaged case, and they were quick to shoot me an RMA for it. So all and all, if you know what you are doing Tigerdirect is great.
Does anybody here have any experience with AMD/ATI? Do the AMD chips still have the heat death problems like they did with the Athlons? How are the x3s? I'm looking to get a barebone AMD since the price/performance ratio is so good on them and to support competition, but honestly I have not messed with AMD since Barton Athlon so I'm out of the loop. Same as I haven't had any experience with ATI since the Rage Pro and am looking for a good card in the $75-100 range. I don't game hardcore, just Bioshock and FEAR. Any suggestions?
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Re:Tiger direct sucks (Score:5, Informative)
AMD is great, but ATI still can't write drivers. Their hardware might be great, but the world will never know. That said, if you're running Windows the ATI driver usually works. Just, you know, not very well.
Your descriptions of Tiger Direct make me think of Fry's. Heaven for the hardcore, so long as you don't expect too much, and know what you're doing. Way too easy to scam, which means that innocent customers take it in the shorts on a regular basis.
Parent
Dell Sues "Tiger Direct" (Score:5, Funny)
You should never sue a tiger direct. Tigers take their legal clawses very seriously. It's much safer to negotiate through an intermediary like a monkey or an elephant.
Parent
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
From the FAQ:
If your order was lost while in transit, please contact Customer Service within 7 business days of not receiving your order.
Which day would I not have received it on?
Anyway Ive never had a problem with either newegg or tiger Direct, though i tend to order from newegg more than TD as TD tends to be more expensive most of the time.
What? Tigerdirect? Unethical? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Strange contract (Score:5, Funny)
Dell required Tiger to advertise falsely, mislead customers, and compete unfairly? That's an awful strange contract!
(badly worded summary. Obviously. Tiger sucks. IMHO. Carry on.)
Re:Strange contract (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
TigerDirect reminds me of AOL (Score:2)
Re:TigerDirect reminds me of AOL (Score:5, Insightful)
TigerDirect is nothing like AOL. TigerDirect sells cheap crap with lousy customer service at low prices.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I can't quite put it into words, either, but I know exactly what you mean.
Tiger direct or indirect (Score:5, Informative)
Do like the first person said, use Newegg, the customer service is 5 star and the prices are not bad either.
p.s I don't work for Newegg - However, I really like the customer reviews for parts I intend to buy.
Re:Tiger direct or indirect (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the bar must be set awfully low for them to be assigned a 5-star rating by so many people.
In my experience, customer service with Newegg has been average, no better.
Fulfillment, on the other hand, has been awful. More than half of the times I've ordered from Newegg (7 orders so far), I've had my order confirmed, my credit card charged, and then a couple days later notified that they were out of stock... at which point my credit card was refunded. Twice I received the notification the day the goods were to be delivered -- I paid for two-day delivery.
That is AWFUL. Note that this has all been for A/V equipment, not for computer equipment.
Just my two cents.
Parent
Re:Tiger direct or indirect (Score:5, Funny)
Sadly I can't recall if it was Newegg or Mwave that included what looked like a prison shank (boxcutter razor blade taped to a PC empty slot bracket) for FREE in one of my orders! Man was I stoked!
Thankfully I didn't find it the hard way.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Wow, you're experience is exactly the opposite of mine and everyone I know who has ordered anything from them. Every item I've ordered has arrived earlier than their estimated delivery date, and has always been complete and correct. Of course, this means I don't really know how their customer service is, because I've never had a need to deal with it... they always seem to get everything right the first time (probably 20-30 orders over the last 6 or 8 years).
That said, there are always exceptions...
Re:Tiger direct or indirect (Score:5, Informative)
I recently looked through my NewEgg order history with them; all computer parts, orders going back to 2001ish I think (over a couple dozen orders - I used my own account to buy for a small company I use to work for). Never paid for extra shipping, received everything in 3-4 biz days. I even got them to credit me back ten bucks when the part was put on a weekend sale two days later. Everything showed up in good working order, never had them ship something incorrectly.
Moral of the story: YMMV. For myself and countless others I've recommended NewEgg to, they've never failed to deliver.
Parent
Re:Tiger direct or indirect (Score:5, Insightful)
Often times I'll check pricewatch first, but if the price difference isn't too big I'll go with Newegg instead of whatever Mom & Pop is cheapest anyway.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Ditto. I've never ordered from Newegg because their prices were a little higher than Tiger, but neither Tiger nor amazon have ever given me any cause for complaint.
But the interesting thing is that in the last 8 years of ordering things online, I can't recall a single problem (other than UPS delivering to the wrong house). And that's from any company--not just amazon and Tiger. I'm not saying I've never had an issue; only that I don't remember them.
My gut tells me that there are some people who just have ve
Re:Tiger direct or indirect (Score:5, Insightful)
I like TigerDirect, but I only shop with them in-person, not on-line. In person I can see precisely what I'm getting and know that I can return it without much hassle if it has a problem. I wouldn't recommend it for casual computer users, but for people who know what they need, their stores are good places to buy computer components without spending a fortune because they charge the same price in person as they do on-line.
Parent
What's Tiger Direct? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's Tiger Direct? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
No, it's obviously where you get Apple's Tiger operating system. Or wait, it's Apple who does mail-order for them. It's so confusing! [slashdot.org]
Something odd here (Score:4, Interesting)
The computers were still new in the box, from reseller stock, but the warranties were expired?
I don't think there's any question that they were actual Dell equipment. So, why should the warranties have expired?
Re:Something odd here (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah; I've got a problem with that, too. The warranty had better start when I buy the machine, not when the store buys the machine.
I've never heard of that happening before for new sales.
Unless what Dell is claiming is, these are actually second hand sales, and not new sales.
Still, there's a reason I've got a bunch of these orange egg-shaped microfiber cloths about the place now.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
That's exactly what Dell's claiming, and I know this first hand.
The machines are consistently off-lease machines; The (l)users who're buying them think:
* The machine is new
* The machine has a warranty that covers everything including the end of the world
* The machine is the latest hardware on the market
When in reality, the computers are:
* 3-4 years old
* Outside of the official Dell warranty by months at the very least
* Decent, but older hardware compared to the current systems (Latitude D600 compared to Lat
Re:Something odd here (Score:5, Interesting)
That's my guess, anyway -- that the transfer of the goods to Tiger was not via the wholesaler.
Dell --> wholesaler --> retailer --> end-customer (warranty activation).
Dell --> wholesaler --> retailer --> clearinghouse (warranty activation) --> Tiger Direct --> End-customer.
Should have been:
Dell --> wholesaler --> retailer -(RTV)-> wholesaler --> Tiger Direct --> end-customer (warranty activation).
Tiger may have bought directly from the retailer, or they may have bought from a clearinghouse; but according to Dell Service, the warranty would have been activated when the retailer sold the boxes.
Parent
Re:Something odd here (Score:5, Informative)
Simple. Dell's warranty is fundamentally flawed. IANAL, but even I was able to spot three parts of their warranty that seem to be legally noncompliant in a quick one minute skim. It's pretty sad, really.
Products are warranted based on date of manufacture, not date of customer sale. From their warranty info:
If I read that correctly, then when Dell sold it to the original reseller, the warranty began. I'm not certain, but such a warranty period probably runs afoul of Magnuson-Moss. At least in my mind, that clearly qualifies as a deceptive warranty term---a warranty that appears to provide coverage, but does not actually provide any coverage in some cases. It would be nice for some big company like Dell to get the crap sued out of them to set a precedent against warranty periods that start on the date of manufacture. It would be somewhat ironic if a dirtbag company like TigerDirect ended up being on the right side of such a suit, though. :-)
Dell explicitly doesn't extend product warranties if they repair the machine, but IIRC, California law requires them to extend the warranty for every day the product is out of the customer's hands.
IIRC, California law requires that all new consumer electronics products have a minimum of a 90 day warranty from when the customer receives the product. There are a number of products that would run short by several days, depending on shipping time, and in the case of products sold through a reseller like Tiger Direct, the warranty could actually be zero....
I think it's long past time for consumers to revolt against such abusive warranties. Warranties should, by law, start when the consumer receives the product. Anything else is unethical, and quite probably illegal.
Parent
Re:Something odd here (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not unusual for a retail store to have a 3-year-old computer.
Not a new one. Most model lines don't last 3 years, anyway.
Will TD finally own up? (Score:2)
Yawn... (Score:4, Insightful)
Not surprising at all. They also pass off used, defective items as "refurbished". I imagine they turn them on to make sure they get power and then pack them up for shipping.
NewEgg is a better deal at twice the price. No, I'm not exaggerating.
Low prices and low morals (Score:5, Interesting)
Tiger Direct does what it can to reduce its prices.
If this includes not packing their goods for shipping, lying about what you're getting, or rebate and switching, so be it.
Their prices are only about 5% lower than most websites. Its not worth it to get a CPU that was dropped into an antistatic bag and put into a box 10x its size unsecured.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
About 6 months ago, my credit card was falsely billed for around $500 from Tiger Direct. It was the third time that it had happened. I hadn't ordered anything that large from them, and my last order had been a few months ago, had been very small (RAM or something), and had been completed successfully.
TD is the only online retailer I've ever had this problem with. No one tries to use my credit card at Newegg. No one tries to use it at Amazon. All three times (over the course of about 4 years), it was us
the old saying (Score:4, Insightful)
If it sounds to good to be true... it usually is
Holds true with any ad I see from any retailer/e-tailer. Always look (as best you can) at the items before you buy.
Most of tiger's stuff that looks good in the beginning, is either really old, refurbished (but not listed that way in the ad), or when you look at the specs of the item it is misleading. I.e. a new HD 50 inch TV. Check out the TV in question, it is new, it is 50 inches, and it is 720p. Now mind you 720p is good, but on a 50 inch TV I would rather have 0180p not 720p. If it was a 20 inch TV then 720p is fine. So the ad to me was misleading. Full HD == 1080p in my book.
I was temped to get one for their bare bones PCs since the price was really low. Then I looked at what the parts were. The parts could make a decent email, web, doc computer. No light gaming, no DVR system (maybe DVR but it at the min). So I passed. I paid about $80 more then their kit and got a system that I knew would do what I wanted.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
How eco-friendly (Score:5, Insightful)
[blockquote]Dell wants an injunction on Tiger using any of its materials, the destruction of all computers parts and accessories with Dell logos[/blockquote]
What a waste of perfectly good electronics. Surely Dell could have come up with a solution that doesn't contribute to landfills unnecessarily.
Wait stop. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Nope. While the word "unethical" is used a lot in the comment thread, what Dell is accusing Tiger of doing is breaking the law, not being "unethical".
direct mail tactics (Score:3, Informative)
Anyone remember TD's odd direct mail tactics in the mid 90's. They had a similiar approach to what Columbia House did with music CD's. They sent out mailings that threatened to send you software that you didn't order if you didn't send back the mailer with a certain box checked. That was thier thankyou for ordering out of the catalogue.
Our company buys a ton of stuff from Tiger (Score:5, Informative)
I work for a school, and we use their B2B site quite a bit. We buy tons of printers, hard drives, monitors, TVs, VCR/DVD players, open license software...etc. from them.
Yes, they are cheap, yes they sell refurbed and B-stock stuff - but it is all clearly labeled. Devoting 5 minutes to reading a product description for a large purchase isn't asking too much.
As far as their customer service goes, we have a dedicated sales rep, so I can't comment on personal purchases, but we've been very happy with our rep. Out of 100 or so orders, we've had maybe two screw-ups. Our rep promptly fixed the problem in both cases.
So, here's one happy customer....whatever that's worth.
-ted
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I've always heard complaints and warnings about Tiger Direct, but I'd have to side with you on this, to an extent.... Most of the time, I don't listen to the advertising hype in their ad copy. Rather, I go straight to the list of specs. The info seems to usually be there, if you care to read it.
EG. They can tell you what an "Awesome price" it is on a "Powerhouse" of a computer - but it'll tell you in there someplace if it's a Celeron processor with integrated Intel video, or what-not.
The people getting