When MetroPCS Says 'No Contract,' They Mean 'Contract' > Nuts! Consumer has no rights in the digital world.

Nuts! Consumer has no rights in the digital world.

I'm sorry but in a world where greedy people sue McDonald's for there coffee being hot and burning them when they spill it, when they would be furious if they were sold coffee that wasn't hot.
these things are required.

So now they have a warning: this coffee is hot!
wtf, of course it is.

If everyone was still decent and honest, these wouldn't be required, but everyone the customer and the corporations are just out to make a buck.

Way back in brick sized phone days, I signed up for GTE MobileNet and when presented with the contract, I read it, crossed out the spots that were unacceptable...me and the dumb kid initialed the redacted pieces and then I signed the contract, and took home a photocopy of the contract.

When I stopped my service, and they tried to hammer me for a $500 ETF. I had scratched that piece from the contract and it was accepted by the "authorized agent" who should have sent me out of the store. They could have attempted to sue me, but their agent was the one in control of the situation. My kids play with that phone today.

Now the contracts are electronic, can't be altered, but if a buyer finds themselves in an understaffed office signing up for service and there's a long line of angry customers building up, a person could claim that the contract was signed under duress and that reasonable accommodations were not provided.

Of course, there's going to be some kind of contract. You're not gonna wander into a telco of any kind and not have to sign SOMETHING. They need to be indemnified if you use their service to commit some heinous act, and to keep the buyer from suing them in court for false advertising or sub-par service.

reply to MovieLover76
True but no one should have to give up the fundamental ability to sue someone/some company in front of a jury of his/her peers.

reply to ChuckDeuce
I was about to post a note about how it was in the good old days when telephone service was regulated and customers were not jerked around by contracts and ETF's, but I forgot one thing. The telephone companies had tariffs to hide behind. In view of the fact that the tariffs were an implied contract, whenever a customer had a problem with their service the company would hide behind the tariff. When there was a complaint the customer service representative would always ask it the customer had read the tariff. When the customer would admit that they had not the CSR would say SEE, refer to the tariff it plainly states we can provide crappy service under certain circumstances.

Most telephone companies give their new sales personnel a one week class on how to read the tariff. How does an ordinary consumer have a chance. These days, service providers make their contracts so complicated that even a Philadelphia Lawyer could not unravel them.

reply to MovieLover76
Please do some research on this lawsuit before you make such statements. It was McDonald's that was stupid in this case as you will see if you do the research.

reply to MovieLover76
The case you are referring to was legitimate. She didn't sue because the coffee was hot (and most definitely not because she was greedy), she sued because it was negligently hot (185 °F/85 °C), enough to cause third degree burns to 6% of her body within seconds and 16% of burns overall. She had to have two years of medical treatment to recover.

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v.···taurants

For what it's worth, my coffee finishes brewing at 65-70 °C (150-160 °F), but I can't touch it until it's about 50 (120).

reply to MovieLover76
That lady suffered third degree burns and needed serious surgery. The temperature mcdonalds had been selling their coffee at the time would have killed anyone stupid enough to drink it in one gulp. Not only did mcdonalds add the warning but they also lowered the temperature at which they sold their coffee because IT WAS A REAL SAFETY HAZARD.

Stop being a corporate white knight when you don't even know the story. This particular ditti gets resung every so often and is always spun in favor of mcdonalds. That is good PR at work, ladies and gentlemen.