Article Check - The End of Contract Law?

There are several new trends in the creative use of contracts by telecommunications corporations that not only threaten to vastly limit the growth of Internet commerce, but also threaten the very foundations of contract law. The idea that a contract should spell out what is to be purchased, and for what price, as agreed to p by buyer and seller, is all too frequently viewed as ancient history by the sellers of telecommunications services.

For instance, a number of American phone companies have adopted a tactic of making it close to impossible to cancel any kind of phone service, despite printed assurances that customers had the right to cancel the contract at any time.

As Business Week recently reported, some companies are going even farther, and billing customer's credit cards for goods and services they never agreed to purchase in the first place. This is fairly easy to do once the company has acquired the customer's credit card number, and difficult for a customer to do anything about.

Customers are increasingly finding that they have little recourse against these practices, since many of these companies require customers to waive the right to take them to court, and instead agree to contractually binding arbitration, through a service of the seller's choice. A new variation of this trend has been to use an arbitration service that charges the consumer a substantial fee just to hear the case.

An even more insidious tactic by some telecommunications companies is to adopt the famous credit card company line of reserving "the right to change conditions of the contract without notice." This allows them to jack up the rate for a call several hundred percent, sometimes with no more notice than just posting the rate increase on their Website.

A Bay Area newspaper reported the case of a businessman, who, after signing up for a ten cents a minute long distance service months earlier, found the telecom service had raised the rate to sixty nine cents a minute, without notifying him. By the time the first bill came with the new rate, he had been using the service for several weeks and had run up a substantial bill.

Recently, the service provider for this magazine's Website, Verio, increased the monthly rate by 50%, and applied it retroactively to the previous month as well. The increase was in the form of a charge for new services we had not requested, and no one at Verio's billing office could say what the new services did, just that we would be very unhappy if we cancelled them. When we told them that a dispute would be filed with the credit card company, their comment was, "It won't do you any good, we've already got your money." Eventually, the problem was settled by going through Verio's sales department. Still, we have to wonder how many other customers were subjected to this, and how it affected their confidence in e-commerce.

Internet marketing will never be capable of reaching anywhere near its full potential unless the average consumer, and the average business, have a justified feeling of confidence in the entire e-commerce system. The customer needs to trust Internet marketers as much, or more, than they trust their banks, and Internet marketers need to have an equal in trust their e-commerce service providers.

According to a number of surveys, most of the people who don't shop on the Internet, don't because of a basic lack of trust of the system. Since this group includes about half the population, it means e-commerce will never become a true mass market until the trust issue is addressed, even if 100% of the population has high speed Internet access.

If anything, consumers' distrust of Internet commerce is increasing. There have been a number of high visibility cases where hackers acquired customer's credit card numbers from major Internet sites. In addition, the recent decision by many online businesses, like Amazon.com, to consider their customer databases an asset to be sold in case of bankruptcy has also increased distrust by consumers. These events, combined with the new trends in telecommunications contracts, indicate a very problematic future for e-commerce ahead.

It is unthinkable to imagine an advertiser making media buys under a system that allowed media the unlimited ability to increase rates after the contract had been signed. It would virtually be giving media a blank check on the company's bank account. Budgeting would simply be impossible. Yet increasingly, telecommunications companies, that both business and consumers depend on for e-commerce, are offering service on exactly those same terms.

Unless advertisers and consumers are very careful, they may find the "Information Superhighway" has turned into a toll road, with speed traps, and has become no place, as the ancients would say, to put a trade route. But even worse, if this trend of one-way contracts continues to grow, the real question may prove to be not whether we're facing the end of the e-commerce boom, but whether we're facing the end of contract law.

From Quick Tips - Foot Out of Mouth Apologies
Who would have thought a year ago that Don Imus, Mel Gibson, and Michael Richards would find themselves drowning in a negative sea of publicity over something they said. Worse yet, many said their initial apology wasn’t genuine.I hope you never put your foot in your mouth and offend someone or a group. But if you do, here are some tips for damage control. These suggestions are for verbal mistakes. A slightly different series of rules apply for written gaffes.Admit and own up to your mistake. If you said something that you know is wrong, then you should have no problem immediately apologizing. Everyone knows what it’s like to have something come the wrong way and regret it. They’ll likely urances that customers had the right to cancel the contract at any time.

As Business Week recently reported, some companies are going even farther, and billing customer's credit cards for goods and services they never agreed to purchase in the first place. This is fairly easy to do once the company has acquired the customer's credit card number, and difficult for a customer to do anything about.

Customers are increasingly finding that they have little recourse against these practices, since many of these companies require customers to waive the right to take them to court, and instead agree to contractually binding arbitration, through a service of the seller's choice. A new variation of this trend has been to use an arbitration service that charges the consumer a substantial fee just to hear the case.

An even more insidious tactic by some telecommunications companies is to adopt the famous credit card company line of reserving "the right to change conditions of the contract without notice." This allows them to jack up the rate for a call several hundred percent, sometimes with no more notice than just posting the rate increase on their Website.

A Bay Area newspaper reported the case of a businessman, who, after signing up for a ten cents a minute long distance service months earlier, found the telecom service had raised the rate to sixty nine cents a minute, without notifying him. By the time the first bill came with the new rate, he had been using the service for several weeks and had run up a substantial bill.

Recently, the service provider for this magazine's Website, Verio, increased the monthly rate by 50%, and applied it retroactively to the previous month as well. The increase was in the form of a charge for new services we had not requested, and no one at Verio's billing office could say what the new services did, just that we would be very unhappy if we cancelled them. When we told them that a dispute would be filed with the credit card company, their comment was, "It won't do you any good, we've already got your money." Eventually, the problem was settled by going through Verio's sales department. Still, we have to wonder how many other customers were subjected to this, and how it affected their confidence in e-commerce.

Internet marketing will never be capable of reaching anywhere near its full potential unless the average consumer, and the average business, have a justified feeling of confidence in the entire e-commerce system. The customer needs to trust Internet marketers as much, or more, than they trust their banks, and Internet marketers need to have an equal in trust their e-commerce service providers.

According to a number of surveys, most of the people who don't shop on the Internet, don't because of a basic lack of trust of the system. Since this group includes about half the population, it means e-commerce will never become a true mass market until the trust issue is addressed, even if 100% of the population has high speed Internet access.

If anything, consumers' distrust of Internet commerce is increasing. There have been a number of high visibility cases where hackers acquired customer's credit card numbers from major Internet sites. In addition, the recent decision by many online businesses, like Amazon.com, to consider their customer databases an asset to be sold in case of bankruptcy has also increased distrust by consumers. These events, combined with the new trends in telecommunications contracts, indicate a very problematic future for e-commerce ahead.

It is unthinkable to imagine an advertiser making media buys under a system that allowed media the unlimited ability to increase rates after the contract had been signed. It would virtually be giving media a blank check on the company's bank account. Budgeting would simply be impossible. Yet increasingly, telecommunications companies, that both business and consumers depend on for e-commerce, are offering service on exactly those same terms.

Unless advertisers and consumers are very careful, they may find the "Information Superhighway" has turned into a toll road, with speed traps, and has become no place, as the ancients would say, to put a trade route. But even worse, if this trend of one-way contracts continues to grow, the real question may prove to be not whether we're facing the end of the e-commerce boom, but whether we're facing the end of contract law.

From How To Make Money Online With Podcasting
In case you don't know what podcasting is, here is a brief definition about it.Podcasting is audio content, such as a MP3 Player, that is sent over a RSS feed. Podcasting is a file that is downloadable for use over the internet. Podcasting is similar to radio station broadcasts. (Except that anyone can do it with little more than a microphone).Most people think that you must necessary own an ipod to use Podcasting. The great thing about podcasting is you don't necessary need an ipods or mp3 players. Simplement with your computer or laptop, you can use podcast. The feed aggregators download the file to your computer and you listen to it whenever you want.The number of podcasts hav just posting the rate increase on their Website.

A Bay Area newspaper reported the case of a businessman, who, after signing up for a ten cents a minute long distance service months earlier, found the telecom service had raised the rate to sixty nine cents a minute, without notifying him. By the time the first bill came with the new rate, he had been using the service for several weeks and had run up a substantial bill.

Recently, the service provider for this magazine's Website, Verio, increased the monthly rate by 50%, and applied it retroactively to the previous month as well. The increase was in the form of a charge for new services we had not requested, and no one at Verio's billing office could say what the new services did, just that we would be very unhappy if we cancelled them. When we told them that a dispute would be filed with the credit card company, their comment was, "It won't do you any good, we've already got your money." Eventually, the problem was settled by going through Verio's sales department. Still, we have to wonder how many other customers were subjected to this, and how it affected their confidence in e-commerce.

Internet marketing will never be capable of reaching anywhere near its full potential unless the average consumer, and the average business, have a justified feeling of confidence in the entire e-commerce system. The customer needs to trust Internet marketers as much, or more, than they trust their banks, and Internet marketers need to have an equal in trust their e-commerce service providers.

According to a number of surveys, most of the people who don't shop on the Internet, don't because of a basic lack of trust of the system. Since this group includes about half the population, it means e-commerce will never become a true mass market until the trust issue is addressed, even if 100% of the population has high speed Internet access.

If anything, consumers' distrust of Internet commerce is increasing. There have been a number of high visibility cases where hackers acquired customer's credit card numbers from major Internet sites. In addition, the recent decision by many online businesses, like Amazon.com, to consider their customer databases an asset to be sold in case of bankruptcy has also increased distrust by consumers. These events, combined with the new trends in telecommunications contracts, indicate a very problematic future for e-commerce ahead.

It is unthinkable to imagine an advertiser making media buys under a system that allowed media the unlimited ability to increase rates after the contract had been signed. It would virtually be giving media a blank check on the company's bank account. Budgeting would simply be impossible. Yet increasingly, telecommunications companies, that both business and consumers depend on for e-commerce, are offering service on exactly those same terms.

Unless advertisers and consumers are very careful, they may find the "Information Superhighway" has turned into a toll road, with speed traps, and has become no place, as the ancients would say, to put a trade route. But even worse, if this trend of one-way contracts continues to grow, the real question may prove to be not whether we're facing the end of the e-commerce boom, but whether we're facing the end of contract law.

From What To Look For In A Burbank Mold Inspector
Are you a homeowner or a business owner who would like to have your home or business inspected for mold? If you are and you are from the Burbank area, you will need to find a Burbank mold inspector to do business with.When finding a Burbank mold inspector to do business with, you will find that you can find Burbank mold inspectors by speaking to those that you know, using your local phone book, or by using the internet. The only thing is that you shouldn’t pick a Burbank mold inspector out of a bunch of business listings. Mold can have a serious impact on your health, as well as the value of your home or business. For those reasons, you will want to be sure that you don’t do business with just any ole Burbank fected their confidence in e-commerce.

Internet marketing will never be capable of reaching anywhere near its full potential unless the average consumer, and the average business, have a justified feeling of confidence in the entire e-commerce system. The customer needs to trust Internet marketers as much, or more, than they trust their banks, and Internet marketers need to have an equal in trust their e-commerce service providers.

According to a number of surveys, most of the people who don't shop on the Internet, don't because of a basic lack of trust of the system. Since this group includes about half the population, it means e-commerce will never become a true mass market until the trust issue is addressed, even if 100% of the population has high speed Internet access.

If anything, consumers' distrust of Internet commerce is increasing. There have been a number of high visibility cases where hackers acquired customer's credit card numbers from major Internet sites. In addition, the recent decision by many online businesses, like Amazon.com, to consider their customer databases an asset to be sold in case of bankruptcy has also increased distrust by consumers. These events, combined with the new trends in telecommunications contracts, indicate a very problematic future for e-commerce ahead.

It is unthinkable to imagine an advertiser making media buys under a system that allowed media the unlimited ability to increase rates after the contract had been signed. It would virtually be giving media a blank check on the company's bank account. Budgeting would simply be impossible. Yet increasingly, telecommunications companies, that both business and consumers depend on for e-commerce, are offering service on exactly those same terms.

Unless advertisers and consumers are very careful, they may find the "Information Superhighway" has turned into a toll road, with speed traps, and has become no place, as the ancients would say, to put a trade route. But even worse, if this trend of one-way contracts continues to grow, the real question may prove to be not whether we're facing the end of the e-commerce boom, but whether we're facing the end of contract law.

From The Working Mother and Its Chance of Improvement
The technological advancement and the continuous innovations had made everything under the sun to be excruciated by changes not everybody benefited from the realm of development as they say. Only small part of the world determines what really lays ahead, but on the deeper side of the communities whose family experiencing uncomfortable life made the mother work to augment the growing financial gap of the family.In the 3rd world countries where most of the businessmen establish their manufacturing industries had seen the capacity of the available manpower and depending the on the product, most of the laborers are ladies and mothers. What I’m trying to focus is that the father is also working, but due to insufficold in case of bankruptcy has also increased distrust by consumers. These events, combined with the new trends in telecommunications contracts, indicate a very problematic future for e-commerce ahead.

It is unthinkable to imagine an advertiser making media buys under a system that allowed media the unlimited ability to increase rates after the contract had been signed. It would virtually be giving media a blank check on the company's bank account. Budgeting would simply be impossible. Yet increasingly, telecommunications companies, that both business and consumers depend on for e-commerce, are offering service on exactly those same terms.

Unless advertisers and consumers are very careful, they may find the "Information Superhighway" has turned into a toll road, with speed traps, and has become no place, as the ancients would say, to put a trade route. But even worse, if this trend of one-way contracts continues to grow, the real question may prove to be not whether we're facing the end of the e-commerce boom, but whether we're facing the end of contract law.

From Advertising & Marketing Review August, 2001.

Copyright © 1994 - 2006 by Glen Emerson Morris

All Rights Reserved

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