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Adjacent to WD's recent scumminess, I recently purchased an Ultrastar drive (no longer HGST-branded) and it came with a slip in the box informing me that by pur
by Fej 6y ago
Adjacent to WD's recent scumminess, I recently purchased an Ultrastar drive (no longer HGST-branded) and it came with a slip in the box informing me that by purchasing this product (from B&H) I had somehow agreed to binding arbitration.
Companies have been abusing the ability to force consumers into binding arbitration but this is another level. I'm not a lawyer but it doesn't seem to be clear if this would hold up in court; it is however pretty clearly a scare tactic, which is almost worse.
- bleepblorp 6y agoThe USSC has ruled that binding arbitration clauses in shrink-wrap consumer contracts are legal and enforceable. For the usual reasons, congress has refused to change the law to vacate the ruling.
- Fej 6y agoIt's not quite so clear, the Wikipedia article on the subject has a bird's eye view of the relevant case law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_wrap_contract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_wrap_contract For this drive, there is no explicit acceptance of the terms given and the terms are unavailable before not just purchase, but before opening of the box. Thank you for the comment, I've edited mine to reflect the ambiguity.