Dish Taking Away Users’ Right To Sue Company In Court. Here’s How To Opt Out

[dixiegrrrrl]

The updated Dish “Residential Customer Agreement” [PDF] includes a new provision that requires that all customers settle their disputes through either mandatory binding arbitration or in small claims court. Both situations put severe limits on the damages that can be awarded.

Additionally, Dish customers are barred from joining other wronged customers in any sort of class action. So even if the company were to do something that negatively affected millions of customers, each individual subscriber would need to file his or her own dispute with the satellite service… and then have it heard by a third-party arbitrator, or in a small claims court without legal representation.

However, Dish is providing subscribers with the ability to opt out of this provision, but only if they do so within 30 days. So if you’re a Dish customer, check your e-mail inbox because you probably have a boring-sounding message from Dish with details of the new arbitration rules. Your 30-day countdown started whenever that e-mail was sent.

http://consumerist.com/2015/08/31/dish-taking-away-users-right-to-sue-company-in-court-heres-how-to-opt-out/


Personally, I would drop them just for this trick alone.
forced arbitration has become a too common corporate practice of reducing consumer legal redress.

[arcane1]

1. I'm surprised it took them this long. Forced arbitration is the American Way now, it seems.

[RKP5637]

2. Dish in my brief dealings with them was a horrible company! And their customer support

was totally idiotic.

[jberryhill]

3. What possible claim against them could amount to more than peanuts?

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. One comes to mind..

When you move or when you cancel their service, they require you send back their channel boxes and wire and remotes.

There have been many cases where DISH reportedly claimed the boxes were never returned and then charged the customer hundreds of bucks.

That problem was so well known that when I cut the cord, I sent the boxes etc back signature required postage.

[jberryhill]

5. "hundreds of bucks"

Okay, well, the threshold for getting into federal court is $75,000.

And someone was going to hire an attorney and go to state court over "hundreds of bucks"?

[Lordquinton]

6. Thus the ban on class action

Cause several thousand people add up to a lot of bucks.

Personally I don't see how this is even viable, how can they get you to agree to not take any legal action and make it stick? Would that even hold up in court?

[jberryhill]

7. "how can they get you to agree to not take any legal action and make it stick?"

By having you agree to arbitration.

"Would that even hold up in court?"

Why not? This is done all of the time in contracts. Any contract can specify the manner in which disputes under the contract are to be resolved.

But even if a class action adds up to a lot of money, it's not as if you get any significant share of it.

[Rex]

9. Strange things happen.

You trip over your cable on the roof that was not installed properly and break your leg. You touch an ungrounded DishTV box and get a shock.

There is always something strange going on in the world, even toward boring shit like cable tv providers.

[jberryhill]

10. I was just thinking about that

Dish falls off the roof and lands on your head sort of thing.

Does the service contract also relate to installation?

In the event you had homeowner's/renter's insurance, then it would likely end up being a contest between your insurer and Dish anyway. But, absent knowing more about the arbitration rules and the provider, it's not as if the claim isn't going to be heard. Arbitration is a pain in the ass, but not as big a pain in the ass as litigation is.

[Rex]

11. Good point, they might sub-contract out the labor.

I know that is a big fad with AT&T right now. Then again, how many people actually read the full disclosure of all the legal stuff when we sign Terms of Agreement? I admit I don't at all. Maybe Dish can just punt these new rules out there with little protest. People just don't care imo.

As far as I know or don't know, I've signed my life a thousand times over to Microsoft.

[jberryhill]

12. The van from Apple showed up yesterday to take my wife's liver

I guess I should have read it closer, but ever since AT&T got my firstborn male child I figured, eh, it's only her liver.

[Rex]

13. True, she got off light.

I had to sell my soul...again...to get out of my 2 year wireless Sprint contract. What is the point of being deep if you cannot get any cell phone service in the Chamber of Souls?

[Rex]

8. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

Corporate tyranny. You have the mandatory right to stay silent.

[central scrutinizer]

14. Articles like this make me love my rabbit ears even more

Great reception for $0.00