Arbitration Clauses

It seems that more and more corporations and businesses are trying to force consumers into binding arbitration. This is a very serious practice and should not be taken lightly.

In short, arbitration is not bound by the rules of the courts with regards to the discovery process, the ruling process, or any other process. It also forces you to give up your rights as a consumer.

Arbitrators rule against consumers 98% of the time. Think about it. That’s a huge number. I wouldn’t think much of it if it was closer to 60% of the time or even 70% of the time as I believe most people do not have a legitimate grievance most of the time. But 98%??

The National Arbitration Forum has come under scrutiny and lawsuits over the whole process. Yet, businesses still put the clauses in their contracts and consumers continue to sign away their rights.

And, I’m not completely against arbitration. Arbitration can expedite what could otherwise be a lengthy and costly dispute for both the corporation and the consumer. But the arbitrators cannot be hand selected by the companies or their affiliates and associates and this is exactly what is happening.

The only way we are going to get this practice to stop is to stand up for our rights as consumers and tell companies that we will not agree to binding arbitration. One in a thousand won’t cut it. A company will simply say that is too bad and move on down the road. But what if they lost even 30% of their business because consumers stated that they had enough? Then you would see change.