Dell Inc. deceived customers in a massive "bait and switch" scheme to increase sales of its computer and electronic products, a New York state judge ruled Tuesday.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Dell in 2007 on behalf of hundreds of customers who claimed that the electronics company lured them into buying products with promises of attractive deals and promotions.

In reality, the lawsuit alleged, most customers were denied or misled into believing that they had been approved for low interest or financing rates.

The lawsuit also accused Dell of depriving customers of technical support that they were entitled to, in some instances, by pressuring them into performing repairs on their own or subjecting them to long wait times on the phone.

"Dell has engaged in repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct, including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions and the terms of warranties, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and failure to provide warranty service and rebates," Teresi said in his decision.

The court will hold further proceedings to determine how much restitution Dell will have to pay its customers.

Dell said it disagreed with Teresi's decision.

"We are confident that when the proceedings are finally completed, the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected," Blackburn said.

So What Are Our Thoughts?

It was about time that Dell was caught, but this was a very bold move to make. Telling customers that they were eligible for $50, $100, $200 gift cards but they had to wait 6-8 weeks to receive. The reason there is this "wait time" was that if you didnt get the gift card - you still couldnt return the system.

Ah, desperate times call for desperate measures...