NJ Man's Lawsuit Against Dell Settled

PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) -- After five months and 19 phone calls to Dell employees, a New Jersey man sued the computer giant for losing his laptop, and his novel method of doing it has paid off.

Pat Dori, of Hackensack, sued Dell Inc. in small claims court, and had the papers delivered to a Dell kiosk at a shopping mall in Paramus rather than to the company's headquarters in Texas.

When no one from Dell appeared in court to answer the complaint, Dori won a $3,000 default judgment, and a ruling empowering court employees to shutter the kiosk and seize merchandise there if the judgment was not paid.

Now, Dell has settled the case out of court. Neither side would reveal terms.

Dori, 49, said he hopes his experience will inspire other aggrieved customers to stand up to big companies.

"I think any regular person can do this,'' he told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Friday's newspapers. "But the key is to have the law on your side -- and to get them at the kiosk.''

Dell had planned to appeal, but decided to settle, spokesman Dwayne Cox said.

"Our concern is doing all we can to deliver a positive customer experience to all our customers,'' he said. "We've got a concerted effort that involves the entire company.''

Dell says it is spending more than $150 million to improve customer support.

Dori's problems began when the cooling fan in his Inspiron laptop malfunctioned. He sent it to Dell for repairs, and even offered to insure it at his own expense, but says he was assured the company covered such costs. Then Dell lost his laptop, eventually returning only his hard drive.

The company offered him a refurbished model without an extended warranty.

"My big issue was, they never wanted to talk to me, never wanted to hear me,'' he said. "The little guy found a way to hit them in the head with a rock. You get their money, you get their attention. God only knows how much their legal team cost them.''

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