This is round 2 in our Worst Company In America contest, Facebook vs The American Arbitration Association. Their major crimes: The American Arbitration Association is the main supplier of kangaroo courts to companies who want to deprive consumers of most of their rights in the event of a legal dispute. Most contracts you sign with companies these days contain a mandatory arbitration clause. Facebook is a social networking site for yupsters that for a while was spying on all your purchases and selling the data to big big advertisers so they could sell you more ads. Which is the greater threat to our way of life? Choose!
PREVIOUSLY: Comcast vs Menu Foods
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/
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@nequam:
“The results of this poll have given me the same stomach upset as when I see a poll showing that the majority of Americans do not accept evolution.”
Perhaps you should have that looked at. Walking into a supposedly “unbiased” arbitration where the arbitor knows that a judgement against the corporation would result in no further work would give me something worse. AAA is generating this perception themselves by letting the corporations use arbitration to avoid the consequences of their behavior. Sell a defective or dangerous product? No problem, as long as the consumer can’t sue you.
The AAA is an organization that allows arbitration to happen between parties who agree to arbitrate. If a corporation misuses arbitration in the consumer context, it is the corporation’s fault, not AAA’s.
@nequam: Would corporations even be able to abuse it if the arbitrators were actually fair?
@Tracy Ham and Eggs: You’re right of course, but don’t expect to convince anyone. I gave up arguing about arbitration when it became obvious that everyone was just going to swallow Consumerist’s bias and misinformation on the subject hook, line, and sinker. As numerous posters have demonstrated, few people really understand how AAA actually works and “arbitration” is a convenient scapegoat for the CC companies and utilities that most people are actually angry at.
Just save your energy for a battle you might be able to sway people on. (No, this does not include discussions of receipt-checking or showing ID to use a credit card). Trust me, you’ll be happier.
AAA all the way. What a bunch of schmucks.
Plaintiffs lose some 97-98% of Arbitration Courts. Never agree to these kangaroo courts.