In a lawsuit in Federal District Court in North Carolina, a judge unsealed documents that reveal Dell hid its product defects from consumers. Documents reveal that Dell’s customers, including Microsoft, Apple and individuals, experienced similar problems. To deal with the volume of complaints, Dell prioritized to which costumers it would reveal the issues and properly remedy the problems.
The issues involved the capacitors that dot computer motherboards. A typical Dell computer could have up to 20 capacitors, which cost a fraction of a penny each and help regulate electrical operations of the machines. Eight to ten years ago, capacitors made in Asia with a defective chemical recipe were sold to numerous makers of televisions, PCs and other electronic devices. The capacitors bulged when they became too hot and caused devices to malfunction or stop working.
Dell shipped 11.8 million computers from May of 2003 to July 2005 that were at risk of breaking. By September 2004, Dell incident report forecast increased from 45 percent of all computers, to as high as 97 percent.
Dell is settling with customers for its misrepresentative business dealings, a violation of consumer protection laws.
