This is sort of timely; I just got a packet from my bank saying that my T&Cs were changing to include arbitration-only. I thought it was interesting that it notes that I can decline and nothing will change. So I was thinking I would take the trouble to do so.
This is absolutely right. Always decline arbitration when given the option. I was able to decline it on a contract to buy a new car once. The US constitution guarantees a right to trial, but that has been gutted by the SCOTUS.
Terrifying.
Just FYI: Some doctors won’t take patients unless they sign an arbitration agreement. I had to do this for a doctor visit about seven years ago. She claimed it was insurance-mandated.
Arbitration is more prevalent in the USA than in the EU, I have noticed. In fact, one of the more loathsome parts of the TTIP was how corporations could force arbitration – or as the European press calls them, “privately run secret courts”.
Hmm, I am going to use that term from now on for arbitration.
And now I have “The Arbiter” from Chess stuck in my head.
Oh, and I always found it funny that arbiter sounds like Arbeiter (worker).
One law for the rich and another for the poor.
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