[ Post a Response | Heads Over Tiels ]
Posted by Cindy in OK/AZ on 11/7/2009, 1:21 am
This site has a lot of information about how consumers give up their legal rights when they get a credit card, phone service, buy a house, computer, etc. www.fairarbitrationnow.org How this happens is through the "arbitration" clause that takes away people's right to sue. Once they've lost the leverage that affords, there is usually nothing they can do in a dispute but submit to the company's privately run arbitration process. The bias, disregard for law, and secrecy of this set up is definitely anti-consumer. If you've had to research a business lately, know that many complaints against it could be hidden in arbitration since it is a private record.
I became involved in this issue while volunteering for a consumer advocacy org and the org was very pleased to see this report come out on abuse of arbitration in housing: http://www.fairarbitrationnow.org/content/home-court-advantage-how-building-industry-uses-forced-arbitration-evade-accountability With the tax credit extended for home buyers, a lot more people may be thinking of buying a house. They need to know not to give up their legal rights in the process.
I hope that you'll explore the site and sign their petition to pass the Arbitration Fairness Act in congress, which makes these mandatory arbitration clauses unenforceable so that parties in a dispute can choose whether to arbitrate, sue, etc, instead of having one party decide it for them. Petiton: http://action.citizen.org/t/9119/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1904
Thanks!
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