openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL
 ·AT&T Southeast
 ·Mediacom
| reply to Bri
Re: Throw the rascals out
As funchords mentions, a market exists due to both a supplier and a consumer. I guess I should have clarified that in my first post.said by Bri :
Terms of service should not be dictated by a business: these terms need to be agreed upon by the consumer and the service provider. The ToS is agreed to by both the supplier and consumer each and every time a service is purchased. Am I missing something? |
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funchords
Robb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Hillsboro, OR
·Verizon Online DSL
 ·Skype
·Comcast
| said by openbox9  :The ToS is agreed to by both the supplier and consumer each and every time a service is purchased. Am I missing something? That Comcast does not have a TOS, for one.  (They call theirs a "Subscriber Agreement," but it isn't even that.)
The customer is already using the service before they learn about the surprises hidden in in the paperwork. Again, Comcast isn't doing anything unusual -- all service companies behave this way:
The company publishes a set of terms and conditions (under whatever name) for whatever service they are providing. These are not negotiable, and only rarely can certain terms be waived. Usually, you may settle your account and cancel your service -- under the old terms -- within a set amount of time.
Because companies know that most consumers never read the original terms, and even fewer read any updates, they often take advantage of the consumer's ignorance. Although the Subscriber Agreement should be a straightforward recap of the customer's and supplier's expectations of one another, a service company can quietly turn it into a one-sided legal tool cutting only in favor of the company.
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon USA
Are you affected by Comcast's RST forging? How to test it! -or- Read my original report. |
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openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Navarre, FL
·AT&T Southeast
·Mediacom
| ToS = Subscriber Agreement
In the residential telecommunications arena it is fairly commonplace for a customer to "agree" to the provider's ToS/Subscriber Agreement before receiving any paperwork. In my experience, when you initially sign up for service, or immediately after install, the customer signs a form agreeing to the companies various agreements...whether the customer reads the material or not. It is well within a customer's rights to review the documents before signing any paperwork. Otherwise the agreement is in effect upon signature and is implied with the customers payment for services every month. Yes I agree that very few customers actually read their ToS. What's humorous IMO is that a lot of those customers that don't read their agreement are some of the first ones to jump on the "I hate my provider because they did xxx" bandwagon.
Anyway, of course a for profit industry will do the most to slant the playing field in their favor. As an investor and shareholder of various companies, I would expect nothing less. As this whole thread points out though, the ability of companies to totally run away with the fine print and turn the unread agreement into a one-sided legal tool is questionable in the legal realm. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about this in the future. |
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