Should they win the lawsuit?

Selden couple sues Dell Computer Corp.
BY RICHARD J. DALTON JR.

[email protected]

6:50 PM EDT, October 3, 2007

A Selden couple has sued Dell Computer Corp. for $50.5 million, claiming the company replaced a broken computer with other defective PCs four times and that a tech-support person repeatedly called them late at night and e-mailed vile photographs.

The lawsuit alleges that over a 45-day period ending March 30, 2006, a Dell tech-support agent sent plaintiff Crystal Collette e-mails with the subject "Devil people in East Asia," with photos allegedly depicting Asians dissecting and eating infants.

"This is the most outrageous thing I've ever seen," said Collette's lawyer, John Juliano of East Northport. "When you look at them, you get sick."

"It's the same kind of stuff with all American corporations lately," Juliano said. "They keep outsourcing everything, and what's happening is they're not controlling the people they outsource to."

Dell spokesman Bob Kaufman declined to comment because of the pending litigation.

The suit also claims Collette, 37, bought a defective Dell Dimension 4700 computer in July 2005 and that the company replaced it with the same model, which also was defective. In all, she received five defective PCs, including the original, the suit alleges.

The suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, claims Dell's agents and employees "began calling her at all hours of the night." Collette said the calls, between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m., were for technical support.

The actions, Collette said, led her to suffer "severe and permanent personal injuries and emotional distress." The suit claims her husband, Raymond Collette, 43, was deprived of her companionship.

Collette, who has two children, said she has had several miscarriages and so the photos particularly disturbed her. "I was throwing up," she said. "You wouldn't even mail it to a friend. Why would this guy be doing this?"

Collette said she had been dealing with a tech-support person named Sajjad, and the e-mail address of the sender contained the word "Sajjad." She said she complained to Dell about the e-mails and that a company representative said the employee had been fired.

Collette said her fifth Dell computer still goes to a blue screen, which indicates a serious error that requires the PC to be restarted. But she said that when she calls for technical support, she's often told she has to speak with Dell's legal department.

Juliano provided the e-mail printouts and photographs, but Newsday could not verify who sent them. A personal address was listed on the e-mail.

Lance Ulanoff, editor-in-chief of PC Magazine, said consumers are unhappy with outsourcing, complaining that they sometimes can't understand a person's accent or that tech-support staff can't resolve the problem. But this incident, he said, appears to be an "extraordinary" situation unrelated to outsourcing.

He also said that it's difficult to prove that the Dell tech-support person sent the e-mails. Someone could have spoofed the e-mail address or the tech-support person's computer could have been hit with a computer virus that sent out the e-mails, Ulanoff said.

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

Re: Should they win the lawsuit?

50.5 million i love lawsuits that waste time and money

Re: Should they win the lawsuit?

They should get something for the computer trouble.

As for the emails, if he did it on Dell's computers while working, they're liable for something in my eyes.

Also after 45 days of getting dispicable emails & cyber stalking, why not change your email address?

As for loss of companionship, you get nothing. If you dont' feel up to having sex with your husband because of nasty emails & a bad computer, you have more issues to you need to deal with.

Re: Should they win the lawsuit?

Not many people know that the replacement parts you get from Dell can be (and probably are) refurbished. Used. It stinks, to be sure.

So it's entirely possible for there to be problems with a computer and for the replacement parts to be bad too. It only happened to me once in the past 7 years of working on Dell machines for my jobs.

But a BSOD (Blue screen of Death) doesn't necessarily mean it's the computer. It could also be the operating system.

It will be very hard to prove that this guy is the one who spammed them. I get emails to my email address all the time that are variations on my name. Doesn't mean I'm the one sending them.

I don't know, this all seems so fishy. I'd need hard technical proof to make a determination.

But to sue because her husband can bang her is hilarious to me. I mean, they're married. How much sex could they possibly be having?

Re: Should they win the lawsuit?

Posted by greenfreak


But to sue because her husband can bang her is hilarious to me. I mean, they're married. How much sex could they possibly be having?

Re: Should they win the lawsuit?

$50.5M? excessive, beyond belief!

however Dell should be held accountable for the PC's and if that employee was in fact sending those disgusting emails, they are accounatble.

but again, $50.5M?

and btw - there is DEFINITELY a way to trace those emails. ever hear of IP?

Re: Should they win the lawsuit?

Posted by SweetestOfPeas

$50.5M? excessive, beyond belief!

however Dell should be held accountable for the PC's and if that employee was in fact sending those disgusting emails, they are accounatble.

but again, $50.5M?

and btw - there is DEFINITELY a way to trace those emails. ever hear of IP?

Re: Should they win the lawsuit?

Posted by greenfreak

Posted by SweetestOfPeas

$50.5M? excessive, beyond belief!

however Dell should be held accountable for the PC's and if that employee was in fact sending those disgusting emails, they are accounatble.

but again, $50.5M?

and btw - there is DEFINITELY a way to trace those emails. ever hear of IP?

IP's can be spoofed though, if you get someone who is knowledgable enough.

Unless they already had keystroke loggers on the outsourced company computers, it's not going to be easy to prove it was him.

But they must have fired him for a reason so maybe they were aware of a problem, or he did it to someone else.

Message edited 10/4/2007 4:34:37 PM.

Re: Should they win the lawsuit?

Posted by Kara

Posted by greenfreak


But to sue because her husband can bang her is hilarious to me. I mean, they're married. How much sex could they possibly be having?

Actually, it IS a valid claim in tort law suits, believe it or not.

As for THIS suit... Give me a break... over $50M?

What are their lawyers smoking?