The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
What, exactly, am I signing?
Monday - February 26, 2007 02:58 PM in
Mark Hurst blogged about a recent Home Depot experience. After purchasing some stuff, he was asked to sign a credit slip which stated "CUSTOMER HAS HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ AND ACCEPTS THE TERMS OF THE ABOVE CUSTOMER AGREEMENT."
The "ABOVE CUSTOMER AGREEMENT" as printed on the slip? It read: "CUSTOMER AGREEMENT #156326"
It isn't clear what Customer Agreement #156326 might actually contain, though it is possible that it is printed on the register receipt (my local Home Depot tends to give me about three feet of receipt every time I buy $0.79 worth of flathead screws).
Nevertheless, Mark was mystified, and so am I. Googling around failed to turn up any evidence of said customer agreement, and Home Depot has yet to respond to my e-mail request for a copy of the Agreement (if they respond, I'll post it here).
All of which is just a wind-up for one of my favorite pet peeves, which is all these crazy "Agreements" and "Contracts" a typical consumer is bombarded with. For example:
* "Click wrap" agreements on software where you have to click the "agree" to use the program. Some of them are 30 pages long, many can't be printed out for future reference, nobody reads them, and yet you're supposed to believe that this is a legally enforceable contract (though it has never actually been tested in court).
* Credit card agreements, which usually come in the form of a small booklet printed in five point type and dense legalese. At least you have a chance to actually sign your name to the contract, but again, nobody reads them, and even when you do, it's almost impossible to comprehend. These have been known to sometimes contain landmines designed to trap the unwary into paying fees, such as requiring payment by 4 AM on the due date rather than by the close of business, even if the payment processing center doesn't open until 9 AM.
* Car rental contracts, which are usually printed in light gray type on a the back of a yellow page in a miniscule font. Guaranteed impossible to read, even if you had the time--which usually you don't because you just stepped off an airplane and have to get to a meeting.
How many of these are actually legal contracts? The companies would have you believe that they're all binding in a court of law, though that's a dubious proposition. Something you have to actually sign (like a credit card application) is more likely to be enforceable than an agreement you "agree" to merely by buying something or opening a package. If you don't have the chance to actually read the contract--for example, the store doesn't have a copy--then it is going to be very hard for the company to enforce.
Of course, companies have the right to refuse to do business with people who don't agree to their terms (within limits: consumer protection laws may trump whatever policies the stores try to implement; this varies by state). On the other hand, I think everyone can agree that if a company wants you to agree to something, the agreement should be (a) available to read, (b) understandable to the average consumer, (c) short enough to read in a reasonable amount of time, and (d) the consumer should have the ability to refuse to agree, even if that means taking his business elsewhere.
Agreements in Practice
Here's my amusing story....
A few weeks ago I filled a prescription at Target using my Target Visa card. When I checked out, the pharmacist asked if I wanted to enroll in the "Pharmacy Rewards Program," basically a loyalty program which gives you a coupon after filling a certain number of prescriptions at Target.
I agreed, and the pharmacist punched the appropriate button on her cash register. A message appeared on the credit card validator asking me if I wanted to enroll in the program. It offered me two choices: Enroll or Cancel. I clicked "Enroll."
Then another message appeared, asking if I agreed to the terms of the Pharmacy Rewards Program. I could click "I Agree" or "I Don't Agree."
I asked the pharmacist for a copy of the terms of the program, a question which she was clearly unprepared for. After several minutes of searching came up empty-handed, I said, "Forget it, I'll enroll some other time," and clicked the "I Don't Agree" button.
The punchline (if you haven't guessed) is that when I got my next Target Visa statement, I found that I had been enrolled in the program anyway.
So I'm reaping the coupon rewards without having agreed to whatever soul-destorying terms and conditions were hidden in the legalese. Whether this makes any practical difference, I'll probably never know. But it's funny that Target can't seem to tell the difference.
Posted by Peter Leppik
It isn't clear what Customer Agreement #156326 might actually contain, though it is possible that it is printed on the register receipt (my local Home Depot tends to give me about three feet of receipt every time I buy $0.79 worth of flathead screws).
Nevertheless, Mark was mystified, and so am I. Googling around failed to turn up any evidence of said customer agreement, and Home Depot has yet to respond to my e-mail request for a copy of the Agreement (if they respond, I'll post it here).
All of which is just a wind-up for one of my favorite pet peeves, which is all these crazy "Agreements" and "Contracts" a typical consumer is bombarded with. For example:
* "Click wrap" agreements on software where you have to click the "agree" to use the program. Some of them are 30 pages long, many can't be printed out for future reference, nobody reads them, and yet you're supposed to believe that this is a legally enforceable contract (though it has never actually been tested in court).
* Credit card agreements, which usually come in the form of a small booklet printed in five point type and dense legalese. At least you have a chance to actually sign your name to the contract, but again, nobody reads them, and even when you do, it's almost impossible to comprehend. These have been known to sometimes contain landmines designed to trap the unwary into paying fees, such as requiring payment by 4 AM on the due date rather than by the close of business, even if the payment processing center doesn't open until 9 AM.
* Car rental contracts, which are usually printed in light gray type on a the back of a yellow page in a miniscule font. Guaranteed impossible to read, even if you had the time--which usually you don't because you just stepped off an airplane and have to get to a meeting.
How many of these are actually legal contracts? The companies would have you believe that they're all binding in a court of law, though that's a dubious proposition. Something you have to actually sign (like a credit card application) is more likely to be enforceable than an agreement you "agree" to merely by buying something or opening a package. If you don't have the chance to actually read the contract--for example, the store doesn't have a copy--then it is going to be very hard for the company to enforce.
Of course, companies have the right to refuse to do business with people who don't agree to their terms (within limits: consumer protection laws may trump whatever policies the stores try to implement; this varies by state). On the other hand, I think everyone can agree that if a company wants you to agree to something, the agreement should be (a) available to read, (b) understandable to the average consumer, (c) short enough to read in a reasonable amount of time, and (d) the consumer should have the ability to refuse to agree, even if that means taking his business elsewhere.
Agreements in Practice
Here's my amusing story....
A few weeks ago I filled a prescription at Target using my Target Visa card. When I checked out, the pharmacist asked if I wanted to enroll in the "Pharmacy Rewards Program," basically a loyalty program which gives you a coupon after filling a certain number of prescriptions at Target.
I agreed, and the pharmacist punched the appropriate button on her cash register. A message appeared on the credit card validator asking me if I wanted to enroll in the program. It offered me two choices: Enroll or Cancel. I clicked "Enroll."
Then another message appeared, asking if I agreed to the terms of the Pharmacy Rewards Program. I could click "I Agree" or "I Don't Agree."
I asked the pharmacist for a copy of the terms of the program, a question which she was clearly unprepared for. After several minutes of searching came up empty-handed, I said, "Forget it, I'll enroll some other time," and clicked the "I Don't Agree" button.
The punchline (if you haven't guessed) is that when I got my next Target Visa statement, I found that I had been enrolled in the program anyway.
So I'm reaping the coupon rewards without having agreed to whatever soul-destorying terms and conditions were hidden in the legalese. Whether this makes any practical difference, I'll probably never know. But it's funny that Target can't seem to tell the difference.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Posted at 02:58 PM by | | | |