By Chris Moran
When it comes to fine print on user agreements and terms of service, I’ve found that there are those who blame companies for making these documents so long and complicated that most people will never read them (and might not even be able to understand the terms even after reading them), and then there are those who say consumers can’t complain if they don’t first read and understand everything they agree to. Here’s a story out of Russia that should appeal to both sides of that debate.
RT News has the story of a man who looked at an unsolicited credit card offer from Tinkoff Credit Systems back in 2008 and wondered what would happen if he signed the agreement, but only after writing in his own additional terms by hand.
Among the amendments in his version of the contract — unlimited credit, 0% APR, no fees, including the stipulation that he “is not obliged to pay any fees and charges imposed by bank tariffs.” Since the contract included a URL for a web page containing the full terms of service, the customer also wrote in a new URL of his own so that the bank couldn’t just say “but these terms are different than what’s published on the site.
Read the rest here.
I'm not sure how it works in Russia, but in the US where the banking system is the fourth branch of government this kind of thing would never fly. Not only would the courts find the bank not guilty of any wrongdoing, but the man would probably be prosecuted for fraud and found guilty. Nice story though.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should join Snowden in Russia then.
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