Dell Sues Tiger Direct For Misleading Customers

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."

Comments

Something odd here

[Bruce Perens]

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

[Red Flayer]

As soon as the original OEM sold the boxes to a clearinghouse, the warranty was activated. Tiger then buys the computers from the clearinghouse. When the end-customer buys the computer, more than a year has passed since original sale to the clearinghouse.

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.

Low prices and low morals

[Renraku]

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:Low prices and low morals

[Sancho]

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 used at TD.

My suspicion is that TD doesn't do as much card/address validation, and so it's a better target for identity thieves. It's pretty irritating, and frankly, it makes me wish I could blacklist businesses from my credit card.

Re:Tiger direct or indirect

[Red Flayer]

Do like the first person said, use Newegg, the customer service is 5 star and the prices are not bad either.

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.

CompUSA and Circuit City purchases make sense now.

[mordenkhai]

I have built 4 computers in the last 4 years, and I purchased about half of the parts for each from Tiger Direct and half from Newegg with a part here and there from local stores. I never had any problems with Tiger Direct myself, but I have seen alot of people complain about issues. I don't buy full computer however and maybe that is where they really show their issues. I figured when Tiger Direct bought CompUSA and kept a few stores open that it was hoping to have 2 brands out there. Then they recently purchased Circuit City IP, which iirc includes the webpage and name. Now that I read this, I think their plan is to let Tiger Direct become the cheap brand compared to their NewEgg competition, and keep the other 2 brands running but named separately so customers don't equate the quality/value of each brand with the other. It is an interesting plan, I have heard people like the new CompUSA and I thought Tiger Direct was going to make a solid retail comeback with CompUSA, I hope this doesn't change that.

Not surprised

[Tgeigs]

There are a ton of options out there on electronics, including Newegg and several VARs that sell some non-business equipment as well (I work for one, but won't mention the name). In all my dealings w/my endusers, I never have to work very hard to compete w/TD, because they are driving their own rep into the ground. Don't they realize that tech savvy people are the LAST people you get away with pissing off?

Re:Tiger direct or indirect

[JPLemme]

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 very high expectations, and so every company they deal with goes through the "I LOVE this company"/"This company SUCKS" cycle. And then they complain to everyone they know about it. These people aren't much fun in restaurants, either.

(Note that I'm not defending TigerDirect; I'm only saying that I've never had a problem. I've also never bought any big-ticket or refurbished items from them...)

Re:Tiger direct sucks

[hairyfeet]

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?

Re:Tiger direct sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

thanks for the recommendation! I like having more than one place to look for stuff online. TD is long finsihed for me, and I'd like to say congratulations for never buying from them.

What turned me away from Tiger Direct: I used to be a loyal customer. Every order I placed with standard shipping was processed within 24 hours (or the following business day), and staged for shipment. It was almost expected to receive an order four busness days after placing it. But then I tried placing an order with two day shipping, before noon, hoping to receive the item twice as fast as I normally would. Nothing was even shipped for four days. I emailed to complain, and responses had nothing to do with the complaint. I called, and was put on hold for a half hour at a time, only to be told it would be longer until I spoke to someone. The first time, I somehow didn't learn my lesson.

The second time around, regular-shipping orders still arrived like clockwork. My desktop was fried by lightning, and I thought it a good time to place a rushed order again. Nothing even left the warehouse for six days. I went through the same thing as before, and was refused to speak to a manager.

TD lost a customer and any recommendations I might have made. They don't realize that every pissed off customer costs them dozens, if not hundreds, of potential new customers.

Re:Try PC Connection

[Reaperducer]

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.