How to Deal w/ Dubious 'Contracts'? 589
phorm asks: "It seems that for almost every service out there nowadays businesses want to fix customers into a contract. Some are pretty obvious (cellphone service, etc), but others are downright sneaky. About a year ago, my grandparents signed up for internet service with one of the bigger ISP's (Telus). They were offered an lesser rate for the first year, followed by $10/month more for following years, as well as their DSL modem for free (to be returned when service ends). None of the documentation received with the modem indicated that any 'contract' was being entered, nor were any documents signed. However, when they recently tried to cancel their service, Telus has indicated they will be charged a fee due to being within the 'contract'." Similar to EULAs, sometimes companies will enter you into a "contract" without providing anything to sign and will hold you to terms you may not even know about simply by your use of the service. How can you deal with companies practices, especially if dealing with their representatives becomes...difficult?
"On first questioning of this, they believed that they had somehow been contracted by agreeing over the phone when initial service was setup (despite that they don't remember being told about such a thing). However, when I called the ISP to dispute this, they indicated that upon connecting the service they would have been presented with a dialog indicating the contract terms and had to click 'OK' online.
My assumption would be that this was done through their setup CD, which comes with the modem. However, the ISP's software is not installed on their machine (I don't trust it not to have snoop-ware), as I had their machine manually registered through a web-interface (which did not indicate contracts at that time, I am not sure about now).
Despite this, calls to their hotline have indicated that they will not rescind the cancellation fee. Moreover, the last operator from the 'Loyalty Department' I talked to refused to separate the internet bill from the phone bill despite being told they would no longer be authorized to bill the given VISA account (they said they will not change that billing process unless given another account, and refuse to just 'send a bill' in the mail). When I questioned the legality of this the operator told me to 'get a lawyer and have them contact the legal department.' Obviously, this is an option but seems rather to be a bit extreme and I'm sure the company realizes it. So what does one do when a big company is bilking pensioners with contracts they have no proof of? Certainly there are no signed documents, and whether a particular button was clicked or not seems to have no proof except in the ISP's say-so, as well as the dubiousness of button-click legality under local law. My next step will likely be to explain the situation to VISA but then things can definitely get ugly as the ISP is also the local telco.
By the way, this is in Canada, so Canadian law would apply, but I would definitely appreciate suggestions as such cases seem more and more common."
My assumption would be that this was done through their setup CD, which comes with the modem. However, the ISP's software is not installed on their machine (I don't trust it not to have snoop-ware), as I had their machine manually registered through a web-interface (which did not indicate contracts at that time, I am not sure about now).
Despite this, calls to their hotline have indicated that they will not rescind the cancellation fee. Moreover, the last operator from the 'Loyalty Department' I talked to refused to separate the internet bill from the phone bill despite being told they would no longer be authorized to bill the given VISA account (they said they will not change that billing process unless given another account, and refuse to just 'send a bill' in the mail). When I questioned the legality of this the operator told me to 'get a lawyer and have them contact the legal department.' Obviously, this is an option but seems rather to be a bit extreme and I'm sure the company realizes it. So what does one do when a big company is bilking pensioners with contracts they have no proof of? Certainly there are no signed documents, and whether a particular button was clicked or not seems to have no proof except in the ISP's say-so, as well as the dubiousness of button-click legality under local law. My next step will likely be to explain the situation to VISA but then things can definitely get ugly as the ISP is also the local telco.
By the way, this is in Canada, so Canadian law would apply, but I would definitely appreciate suggestions as such cases seem more and more common."
Here's how to get out of that contract (Score:0, Funny)
Have all of them jump off to their death, after that jump to yours. Then you will be out of your contract, and we will be rid of your endless whining.
How to Deal w/Dubious 'Contracts' you say? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:You already have the answer. (Score:5, Funny)
I disagree. With so many companies staffing their 800 lines with people who really can't do anything, a quick bbb complaint often gets a call back within a day or so from someone who is actually empowered to fix your problem. It isn't really the BBB that companies are worried about, it is the reporter for a news startion saying something like, "So, Mr. Jones, why does your company have over 350 unanswered BBB complaints?"
Compusa got forcibly delisted from the BBB (mostly for the rebate bullshit the ftc later punished them for) a couple of years ago and it was a pain in the ass for them to get back on and their reputation suffered.
That said, if a company just doesn't care about negative PR - tiger direct comes to mind - yeah, filing a bbb report won't do shit.
One of your options can be to do amusing things to companies. Phillips was suposed to give me a refund on a set of headphones but were apparantly retarded and kept losing / not receiving the receipt (I think the shitbirds were hoping I would just go away, however I'm... passionate about getting my money when companies owe me something.)
So I called one day and informed them they were going to receive 1701* copies of the receipt if the cheque didn't ship that day. So that night, 1701 faxes of the receipt [vehiclehitech.com] (ok, so a few errored out) were sent. Later that day, I received a polite call from an american woman (the fucking filipinos on their 800 line can't tie their own fucking shoes without approval from the us office) and they sent me a cheque.
*about 1701 - I used to watch star trek a lot and I did a quick estimate on how many faxes I could send while I slept - it was around this number, so I just used it. I suppose this made a lot more sense / was funny to me when I was full of angst over this. Not so much anymore.
Re:Get out your conversation hat.... (Score:3, Funny)
Anyone else read this as "the $89.3 million plan"?
Re:Many companies abuse the idea of contract.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:And if your company offers an EAP... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:2 tricks for getting out of service contracts (Score:3, Funny)
Hi Neighbor! I live at 125 Islam Way in Kandahar and I noticed that your Anti-aircraft battery was firing last night at about 11:30pm. The terms of our HOA state that AA guns may only be used between the hours of 7am and 9pm.
PS. I saw an SBC rep near your house last week so I had him shot.
Peter
Re:You already have the answer. (Score:2, Funny)
Besides, there's a CompUSA right up the street from me right now, near the Best Buy and Circuit City, and I'm north of the Mason-Dixon.