Every time you sign up for a new app or make a new account, you’re presented with the standard terms and conditions. Most people assume they’re standard, but if you don’t review them, you won’t know what you're agreeing to.
A company’s T&Cs are dry and boring. We can acknowledge that reading terms and conditions is time-consuming and often confusing, but it is also important. A wise consumer knows they shouldn't neglect with this step for every account or company, but they do.
There is a lot of opportunity for companies to sneak in hidden conditions, and their users are none the wiser. Before blindly agreeing to terms and conditions, it is critical to know what you’re agreeing to. And you’ll only know what you’re agreeing to by reading.
Key Insights
- Many customers find terms and conditions to be too long or time-consuming to read.
- 20% of survey participants skim the terms and conditions, while 80% skip them all together.
- Terms and conditions often include information about consumer privacy, issue resolution options, and even rights to content or material.
What Are Terms and Conditions
The importance of terms and conditions is relatively straightforward. Companies design the “rules” for using their product or website. If the customer does not agree to the terms and conditions, they often are not allowed to create an account, download software or otherwise use the company's products or services.
So, are terms and conditions legally binding? In a word: yes. The terms and conditions presented by a company and signed by or otherwise accepted by consumers are a contract protected by contract law. If you agree to the terms and conditions, you are effectively bound by them as a consumer. This is the crux of many consumer issues, of course. Customers discover what they have agreed to after checking the Agree box for terms and conditions they haven’t read.
What to Look for in Terms and Conditions
The terms and conditions of a company can be lengthy. The smart consumer typically looks for the most impactful areas including customer privacy, returns and refunds, cancellation and auto renewals, and any limitations on disputes with the company. The majority of terms and conditions scams happen in these areas of the contract.
Payment terms and fees
You don’t want to play games with your money or trust your bank account details to strangers. But we do it all the time when we skip the fine print. Read the payment terms and fees carefully for every action online, or you might wind up paying far more than you imagined, like this couple did when they thought they were agreeing to pay $1.47 for IQ test results and wound up paying $104 once all the fees were added to the bill.
Source: tiktok.com
This is not an isolated terms and conditions example, of course. The FCC has recently taken a stand on the hidden fees TV providers provide as well to create “all-in” pricing that is visible to consumers.
Source: x.com
But even with oversight, issues remain. One PissedConsumer user was rained out of an event, but has contacted Ticketmaster with no recourse or exchanges. The original ticket was $49, but with the “mark up and junk fees”, his final purchase price was $298.58 and he is now unable to exchange the ticket.
Auto renewal
Beyond hidden fees, you should be looking for auto renewal clauses in the terms and conditions. It means that your subscription would be automatically renewed every week or month or year, and charge you each time. Additionally, some companies make it tedious or even impossible to cancel the auto renew to ensure they continue to be paid whether you want to pay them or not.
eHarmony review #6049932 discovered this the hard way when he discovered a pending payment. The customer “tried to contact eHarmony to cancel” before the payment was posted but was charged $550.80.
While frustrating for the customer, the eHarmony terms and conditions include information about the auto renewal in bold red font. They state:
“EHARMONY AUTOMATICALLY RENEWS ALL PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE SERVICES ON THE DATE SUCH SUBSCRIPTIONS EXPIRE UNLESS YOU CANCEL AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE THE END OF YOUR CURRENT TERM.”
The terms additionally state:
“BY ENTERING INTO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE SUBJECT TO THE ABOVE DESCRIBED AUTOMATIC RENEWALS.”
Source: eharmony.com
The frustrated customer technically agreed to the charge whether he read the fine print or not.
Dispute resolution
Companies are not interested in going to trial or paying out if customers find fault with their products. Instead, they may try to limit consumer actions with arbitration clauses or very specific processes for resolving disputes.
In a particularly wild example of this, a Disney Springs resort visitor died after eating a meal containing allergens. Disney initially attempted to block her widower from taking legal action, citing the Disney account he used to arrange the trip and meal, including the original Disney+ streaming terms and conditions. Those terms included the verbiage:
“ANY DISPUTE BETWEEN YOU AND US, EXCEPT FOR SMALL CLAIMS, IS SUBJECT TO A CLASS-ACTION WAIVER AND MUST BE RESOLVED BY INDIVIDUAL BINDING ARBITRATION.”
Company has since dropped the claim that the terms and conditions of its TV streaming service bind the theme park customer.
If you search companies on PissedConsumer, you’ll often find frustrated customers sharing ideas about lawsuits. Unfortunately for many of those customers, they may have already signed away some of their legal rights to take companies to court, no matter how egregious the issues.
Cancellation terms
Terms and conditions may also limit options when it comes to cancellations of services. These policies may vary, of course, but the similarity is in the complicated options for canceling.
A counseling company clearly states on its website that it has a “no cancellation policy” on their website, telling customers that they will be charged a full session fee if they do not reschedule more than 48 hours in advance.
Source: bncounseling.com
Also, there is always a lot of conversations in forums like Reddit about the challenging of canceling gym memberships. LA Fitness, for example, generated a great deal of discussions by requiring would-be-quitters to cancel membership in writing by mail or in person during very specific operating hours.
Source: lafitness.com
Complaints and subsequent information about contacts for cancellation are one of the main PissedConsumer features. Each company profile includes information about the best options for contact and the experiences of other customers. New users wondering whether PissedConsumer legit often find extremely useful information in the reviews of others who have had similar issues with cancellation.
Privacy policy
Consumer privacy is an increasing concern as company after company seems to experience data losses. But not all companies even try to keep your data private. The terms and conditions of companies will outline if they share, protect, or even sell your personal information.
The popular virtual meeting software Zoom, for example, explains that outside parties “may receive information about your activities” on the site.
Source: zoom.com
Instagram also offers interesting explanations about how they collect and use your information. The company is clear that they use information collected about you to “help advertisers and other partners measure the effectiveness and distribution” of various ads.
Source: instagram.com
They also use information they have gathered for research, “technological advancement,” and “public interest.”
Source: instagram.com
Finally, the information they gather is not just what you write or what you read on the site. It includes “what you see through the app’s features,” including the camera of the app, effectively making everything around you share information.
Source: instagram.com
Taking Steps to Protect Yourself
It’s a shame we can’t trust companies in our best interests, but that is simply reality. You must protect yourself from common scams because you can’t rely on companies to do it for you. Ultimately, one of the best smart shopping tips is to stop, read, and understand what you’re signing up for before worrying about discount codes or free shipping offers. Make an informed choice to buy only from companies you trust. Have experiences with a company’s suspect terms and conditions? Why not write a review and warn others?
Legal disclaimers:
- While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide any legal, medical, accounting, investment or any other professional advice as individual cases may vary and should be discussed with a corresponding expert and/or an attorney.
- All or some image copyright belongs to the original owner(s). No copyright infringement intended.
