*NEWS*UK:DELL ACCUSED OF FALSE ADV.

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Date: Friday July 13, 2007 10:50:00 am
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    Dell Accused of False Advertising in the UK
    July 
    2007A United Kingdom advertising standards group has accused
    Texas-based Dell of false advertising, and stipulated that all printer
    vendors should include the cost of cables in advertised prices of
    systems.The Advertising Standards Authority called Dell to task July 10
    for a common practice among print and IT vendors, saying it failed to
    include the cable costs in its ads. The group ordered Dell to make
    amends for a newspaper ad for the vendor’s Photo All-In-One Printer 926
    that failed to include the cost of the cable in the price.Dell claimed
    it assumed most customers would already have such a cable and would not
    need to buy a new one, but the ASA called the omission a violation of
    the Committees of Advertising Practice and ordered it to clear up the
    claims.The ASA, whose powers extend to UK advertising content only,
    said in an e-mail that they expect their wishes to be noticed and that
    if Dell chooses to ignore the ASA’s ruling, they might decide to send
    the complaint over to the Office of Fair Trading, which is able to
    prosecute advertisers under the Control of Misleading Advertisements
    Regulations.”The point here is that we consider that consumers would
    expect the cable to be included in that package unless it was otherwise
    stated,” said Donna Mitchell, a spokesperson for the ASA.Rob Enderle,
    an analyst with the Enderle Group, said the case could change the way
    technology and consumer electronics are advertised.”Game systems, DVD
    players and VCRs also often do not include cables and will likely be
    hit by similar rulings,” Enderle said. “It just means the industry will
    need to be more transparent with regard to what is and is not included.
    Strangely enough, it probably will lead to happier customers for the
    firms who were not providing the cables in the first place.”

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