Taiwan consumers to file lawsuit against Dell over misquoted price

Taipei - Taiwan consumers on Thursday prepared to file a class action lawsuit against Dell, as the computer giant continued to refuse to sell monitors to shoppers who had ordered them at a misquoted price. The private Taiwan Consumers' Foundation called on consumers to send a legal attest letter to Dell (Taiwan), demanding Dell to deliver the ordered goods or face legal action within two days. It is believed that the foundation and the Cabinet's Consumer Protection Commission will assist Taiwan consumers to file the case. 'Many consumers are angry because the way Dell handles (the issue) is not like the attitude of a large international company. We hope Dell will respond to the Consumer Protection Commission settlement proposal,' Hsieh Tien-jen, chairman of the foundation, told reporters. He was referring to the commission's proposal that Dell should complete orders to customers who had only ordered one monitor, and those who had ordered more than one should receive diminishing discounts on the second and further monitors. Last Thursday Dell advertised two sizes of liquid-crystal display monitors at around one-tenth of their normal price. A 19-inch monitor was listed at 500 Taiwan dollars (15 US dollars), rather than the usual 7,500 Taiwan dollars, while a 20-inch monitor was listed as 999 Taiwan dollars (30 US dollars), when it should be 8,500 Taiwan dollars. But Dell later said the prices had been incorrectly advertised. News of the offers spread quickly via e-mail, blogs and sites like Twitter. In the eight hours before Dell corrected the prices Friday morning, 26,000 Taiwanese had placed orders online for 140,000 LCD monitors. On Thursday, Dell (Taiwan) continued to refuse to deliver the ordered goods at misquoted prices, agreeing only to give each buyer a discount coupon worth 1,000 Taiwan dollars, triggering another wave of protest from clients. Dell (Taiwan) said it might make more statements and contact individual clients on Friday.