3 ms·

All-you-can-eat is a simple concept. Everybody understands that. No, not everybody does, which is why they have to have signs saying you can't take food home.

by caf 5y ago

All-you-can-eat is a simple concept. Everybody understands that. No, not everybody does, which is why they have to have signs saying you can't take food home. Unlimited is a different but equally simple concept with universally accepted meaning: no limits. Companies should not be able to twist this meaning while enjoying the benefits of their deceptive marketing. "Unlimited backup (of data stored on the internal storage of a single personal-use laptop or desktop running Windows or MacOS X)" is not fundamentally different from "Bottomless coffee (consumed by one person only in a single visit)" or "A year's supply of fuel (really a $3000 balance fuel card)". There's a "reasonable person" standard here, and the man on the Clapham Omnibus knows that these sorts of offers have fine print which it behoves you to read.

matheusmoreira 5y ago
> they have to have signs saying you can't take food home I don't understand how it's possible to misunderstand all-you-can-eat buffets. The words correctly describe the service: you can eat there until you're literally full. There is no "unlimited" anywhere. Those people must be acting in bad faith. > There's a "reasonable person" standard here It's perfectly reasonable to assume unlimited really means unlimited and not some industry-specific, lawyer version of the word. > these sorts of offers have fine print which it behoves you to read The presence of these hidden "fine prints" is proof of deceptive advertising. This is why marketing cannot be trusted and why consumer protection laws really ought to put an end to these industry practices. Nobody really reads or understands these terms. It's not like people will hire lawyers to analyze the legalese for them. This is not a deal between equal parties, consumers are severely disadvantaged. Just force them to deliver what they promised. They'll stop promsing soon enough.
- caf 5y ago
  This is not a deal between equal parties, consumers are severely disadvantaged. Just force them to deliver what they promised. They'll stop promsing soon enough. No-one is being "severely disadvantaged". The unsophisticated users backing up their regular PCs are getting exactly what they paid for - a backup of their PC without having to even know what a terabyte is - and the /r/datahoarder types with a rack of JBODs full of every TV series ever made knew full well that they weren't going to get away with backing that up on a $7/month consumer single PC plan. In the event that one among the latter really was that credulous, sure, give 'em their 7 bucks back and now they're square.

by caf 5y ago

matheusmoreira 5y ago

> they have to have signs saying you can't take food home I don't understand how it's possible to misunderstand all-you-can-eat buffets. The words correctly describe the service: you can eat there until you're literally full. There is no "unlimited" anywhere. Those people must be acting in bad faith. > There's a "reasonable person" standard here It's perfectly reasonable to assume unlimited really means unlimited and not some industry-specific, lawyer version of the word. > these sorts of offers have fine print which it behoves you to read The presence of these hidden "fine prints" is proof of deceptive advertising. This is why marketing cannot be trusted and why consumer protection laws really ought to put an end to these industry practices. Nobody really reads or understands these terms. It's not like people will hire lawyers to analyze the legalese for them. This is not a deal between equal parties, consumers are severely disadvantaged. Just force them to deliver what they promised. They'll stop promsing soon enough.

caf 5y ago
This is not a deal between equal parties, consumers are severely disadvantaged. Just force them to deliver what they promised. They'll stop promsing soon enough. No-one is being "severely disadvantaged". The unsophisticated users backing up their regular PCs are getting exactly what they paid for - a backup of their PC without having to even know what a terabyte is - and the /r/datahoarder types with a rack of JBODs full of every TV series ever made knew full well that they weren't going to get away with backing that up on a $7/month consumer single PC plan. In the event that one among the latter really was that credulous, sure, give 'em their 7 bucks back and now they're square.