FTC to investigate Dell's mispricing practice

The sources said that once the Consumer Protection Commission, also under the Cabinet, hands over the case to the FTC for investigation, the FTC will immediately proceed with the investigation.

Broadly speaking, the pricing mistake is little different from running misleading ads or intentionally spreading false information to solicit patronage from customers. But the final judgement on Dell's undesirable practice will be done only after further probes are completed, FTC said.

The pricing mistake appeared on Dell's online shopping Web site www.dell.com.tw from 9:17 p.m. June 25 to 6:56 a.m. June 26, when a 19-inch monitor and a 20-inch monitor were quoted at NT$500 and NT$999, respectively — far below their regular prices of NT$7,500 and NT$7,999. Dell later said the prices had been incorrectly quoted due to a mistake in their computer system.

But news of the offer spread quickly via e-mails, blogs and Web sites. In the nine and a half hours before Dell corrected the prices last Friday, over 46,000 Taiwanese customers had placed orders online for 140,000 liquid-crystal-display (LCD) monitors.

Not until Thursday did Dell confirm that it would not accept the orders for the mispriced monitors, but would provide NT$1,000 to NT$3,000 coupons to compensate consumers for their losses. The coupons, however, can be used only for online shopping of Dell's products.

Dell's announcement came although the Consumer Protection Commission on Tuesday called for Dell to sell the monitors to shoppers at the misquoted prices.

The commission, which had received over 470 complaints, stressed that firms must honor all promises made in their promotional campaigns.

Meanwhile, online shoppers lashed out at Dell for showing little sincerity in dealing with its pricing mistake. s“Dell is tarnishing its own reputation, and will have little chance to fare well in the Taiwan market in the future,” said one shopper, according to ETTV.

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