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AT&T Uses Forced Arbitration To Overcharge Customers, Senators Say (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Five Democratic US senators allege that AT&T's use of forced arbitration clauses has helped the company charge higher prices than the ones it advertises to customers. The senators pointed to a CBS News investigation that described "more than 4,000 complaints against AT&T and [subsidiary] DirecTV related to deals, promotions and overcharging in the past two years." But customers have little recourse because they are forced to settle disputes with AT&T in arbitration, according to Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and Edward Markey (D-Mass.). "Forced arbitration provisions in telecommunications contracts erode Americans' ability to seek justice in the courts by forcing them into a privatized system that is inherently biased in favor of providers and which offers virtually no way to challenge a biased outcome," the senators wrote in a letter yesterday to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. "Forced arbitration requires consumers to sign away their constitutional right to hold providers accountable in court just to access modern-day essentials like mobile phone, Internet, and pay-TV services." Forced arbitration provisions such as AT&T's also "include a class action waiver; language which strips consumers of the right to band together with other consumers to challenge a provider's widespread wrongdoing," they wrote.
..is stupid to allow.
anyone knows that. only americans don't.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
There are many common contract clauses that courts have found to be unenforceable. Arbitration-only and class-action-blocking clauses both seem like prime candidates to be found unenforceable.
Is there any case law along those lines?
Arbitration panels are always filled with industry insiders. They are always unfair. (The financial services industry does the same thing. )
They claim it's for the "good of the consumer" but as we see, whenever an industry says that, it is never the case.
And too many folks have drank the "government regulations are bad" Kool-Aid and we are going end up with even less protections when the Republicans get done. The pendulum is swinging way too far to the right.
No, this IS a partisan issue. The Republicans only care about big businesses like AT&T and we can all just get some knee-pads and KJ and bend over a take it.
They alter the deal all the time, and you pray they don't alter it further.
I am shocked, shocked to hear that corporations abuse arbitration clauses to profiteer and engage in dishonest billing practices.
I'm sure that arbitration can be abused. However, until the US fixes its damned court system, companies have no choice but to insist on this.
Personal example: I used to run a small company that produced a niche ERP system. Our Swiss attorney told us: Whatever you do, never sell to a customer in the US." We made one exception. We sold the system to a small organization that was just determined it was what they needed. A few months later, for reasons we were not privy to, the company fired someone who was a major user of the system. So she goes to a lawyer, to sue us, because she lost her job. I mean, really, WTF?
The tort system is a lottery, and both lawyers and plaintiffs use it as one - hoping to strike it rich off the back of someone else. The lawyers are the ones to tell their clients "no, you don't have a case, go get a life". A lawyer who takes a frivolous case to court should be fined, and required to personally pay the other side's legal expenses.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Contracts should NOT be allowed to block both personal court cases and class actions.
I.E. If you require arbitration, then you must allow class actions. If you block class actions, then you can not require arbitration.
Also, all arbitrators should be required to participate in some kind of YELP like ranking system, allowing the suer to have SOME idea of how the arbitrator works, because the contract writer surely did research on them before they picked them.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Broadband internet, cable tv, and cellular service are not essential services. First world problems.
Seems appropriate. The United States is a first-world country, why wouldn't it have first-world problems? And yes, broadband Internet and cell phones are essentials in the modern world; cable TV not so much. Try working a professional job without them. Go ahead, tell the interviewer you don't have a cell phone or Internet in your home and see how they react. Just tell them when you'll be home to receive a call and that the rest of your correspondence will be by mail.
As society increases its capabilities and comes to rely on them, modern technology and equipment become essential for living and participating in society. But I'm guessing you already knew that.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
I'm not a fan of AT&T. In fact I don't much like them at all.
But I'm even more skeptical of lawyers and courts and of National Socialist senators like Mr. Franken.
So as much as I hate it, I think I'm going to cheer for AT&T in this case.
This is how Republicans keep getting elected (well, that and gerrymandering). You don't like AT&T, but you'll side with them because you think Al Franken is a "socilaist". Not even that, but a "National Socialist"! He's a State Senator, so I'm not sure how he could be considered national. Ooooh, you meant like the National Socialist German Workers party! Very clever, you sure nailed him with that one. Well played
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
First world=NATO, Second world=Warsaw Pact, Third World=non-aligned countries. That's the "original" definition that developed in the 1950s.
Well, there's the problem. The arbitrator needs to get paid. Inevitably, he is dealing with 2 parties. One that will likely never need arbitration services again and another that could just about fill his calendar single handed, if they like the results.