SmallBizResource Blog -- Hardware

Is Tech Support A Scam?

Posted by Fredric Paul Thursday, May 29, 2008, 01:40 PM ET

This week's New York State court decision finding Dell guilty of fraud confirms what many small businesses always suspected: Tech support is a scam.

Sure the case also finds Dell guilty of fraud, false advertising, deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices by promising no-interest financing for computers as part of an illegal scheme to lure them into high-interest loans. On top of that, Dell Financial Services incorrectly billed consumers on cancellations, returns, unauthorized accounts, and then harrassed them with with illegal billing and collection activity. And they didn't follow through on the rebates, either.

Ugh.

But those kinds of shennanigans go on in lots of industries. For me, this was the real kicker:

The judge ruled that Dell deprived consumers of technical support to which they were entitled under warranty or service contracts by failing to provide timely on-site repair. In addition, the company discouraged customers from seeking technical support by telephone through long wait times, repeated transfers, and frequent disconnections.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that kind of behavior a description of just about every tech support operation in the industry?

I think it's high time the courts take a long hard look at how all tech companies promise and deliver tech support. I think they just might find that fraud isn't the exception here, it's pretty much standard operating procedure.

Hardware