Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) continues to face swashbuckling from customers and their advocates over its customer support procedures and processes. Now, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sued the second-largest PC maker over consumer complaints. While Dell's reputation on the customer support front has regained some semblance of competence lately, are there still lingering problems at the computer manufacturer?

The NY lawsuit is specifically related to consumer complaints in that state, so it's not indicative of an overall customer support problem, at least, not in this lawsuit. The AG's litigation stipulates that Dell and its financial services unit engaged in deceptive practices to sell computers. This, in effect, does not sound like a true "customer support" problem at all -- related to hardware or software support -- but to possible wrongdoings that include misleading promises of financing terms and interest rates.

Dell said that it would vigorously defend itself. Of course. A company representative also stated that "our customers are our top priority at Dell ... while even one dissatisfied customer is too many, the allegations in the AG's filing are based upon a small fraction of Dell's consumer transactions in New York." Was Dell really trying to boost profits in its service sector by fattening up warranty income costs and selling unnecessary contracts and parts to customers? It will be interesting to see what proof the New York AG comes forward with here to prove this case.