Dell is in hot water, according to one New York Judge, after he ruled that the computer giant committed consumer fraud. The Judge decided that Dell's no-interest financing program, aimed at people looking to get computers on a loan, was actually an illegal scheme intent on making “no-interest” into “high-interest”.

The courts found that Dell along with Dell Financial Services used bad tactics to get money from people, including false advertising, abusive debt collecting and outright fraud. It wasn't a Dell customer that filed suit again Dell but rather the State. The Judge has demanded that Dell halt engaging in “illegal” business practices and now supposedly more hearings will be held to see how much money Dell is liable for. Supposedly that money will ultimately end up in the hands of consumers. Dell disagrees with the ruling, at least vaguely, despite the fact that Dell has outright admitted that they are at least partially guilty – after stating that they believed the courts would find only a “small number of customers” as actually being affected.

Small or not, even if you admit to such shameful practices even once it can harm your reputation. Dell might be better off trying to appease the people affected. The company’s longtime status as king of desktop PCs was recently lost to HP, which many have attributed to poor customer service.