Dell to pay $800,00 -- largest penalty ever for violating mail order rules

[Gene Gaines <ggaines@generation.net>]

Remember the "I don't know" testimony of Mr. Dell in support of
Mr. Microsoft?

This is an interesting follow-up, describing Dell agreeing to pay
the largest penalty ever for violating mail order rules.

See full story at     
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,20740,00.html?st.ne.ni.lh

A piece of the story is below.


Dell pays to settle FTC charges 
By Reuters
Special to CNET NEWS.COM
April 3, 1998, 5:15 a.m. PT 

WASHINGTON--Dell Computer has agreed to
pay $800,000 to settle charges that it violated mail
order advertising rules, the Federal Trade
Commission said yesterday. 

In 1995, Dell advertised that consumers would
receive a "Dell Software Suite" when purchasing a
Dell Dimension computer system. Consumers were
not informed that the software was not ready to be
shipped, the FTC said in a statement. 

Consumers received coupons for the software that
could be redeemed when the products were
available. Dell did not offer consumers the option of
canceling their orders for refund, the FTC said. 

The $800,000 penalty is the largest ever paid by a
single defendant for breaking the Mail and
Telephone Order Sales Rule, the FTC said. 

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