Taiwan Today

The Consumers’ Foundation called for a public boycott of computer manufacturer Dell Inc. after the company incorrectly posted discounted prices on its Taiwanese Web site for the second time in 10 days. “If consumers fail to express displeasure over this deceptive behavior, the situation will revert to that which existed previously,” said foundation Secretary-General Hsieh Tien-jen. “The public should speak out against the company rather than just accept how it handles the dispute.” On July 5, Dell’s Taiwan Web site offered its Latitude E4300 notebook for NT$18,500 (US$564) if buyers opted for red or blue casing. This was down from NT$60,900 for a model with black casing. News of the “deal” spread quickly, with numerous orders being placed. At 8 a.m., Dell corrected the error, leaving customers scratching their heads about the apparent “mix-up.” Hsieh called on Dell to accept responsibility for the mistake and “pay the price.” The previous incident occurred June 25 when Dell advertised its 19-inch and 20-inch liquid-crystal-display monitors for NT$500 and NT$990 respectively. In five hours, about 10,000 orders were placed. After discovering its mistake, Dell refused to complete the transactions and nearly 500 shoppers filed complaints with the foundation. In response, the company offered to issue coupons valued between NT$1,000 and NT$3,000 as compensation. Wu Cheng-hsueh, an official with the Cabinet-level Consumer Protection Committee, labelled Dell’s compensatory offer as “irresponsible.” He said online-shopping disputes occur frequently and the Ministry of Economic Affairs needs to clarify when a purchase contract takes effect and outline a company’s responsibilities in terms of meeting its obligations. Wu said the committee will refer the latest Dell case to the Fair Trade Commission to determine whether the company engaged in false advertising. If consumers are not satisfied with the compensation deal, they can ask the committee for assistance, he said. Previously, the committee called for Dell and the foundation to meet and negotiate a sliding scale of discounts for affected consumers following the June 25 error. The committee also hoped Dell would provide gift certificates allowing consumers greater convenience. Wu said Dell did not accept the committee’s proposal and the announced offer was very different to the one discussed at the meeting. “It is outrageous that the company said its proposal was the result of negotiations with the committee and foundation.” In a similar occurrence on its mainland Chinese Web site, Dell offered consumers discount certificates of 25 percent, limited to five items per person. Wu said although negotiations with Dell produced a result not far from its mainland 25-percent offer, “we did not know that after the meeting the company would announce a package so different to what was agreed.” (WFW-JSM)