Let’s review “binding arbitration”: here’s a fun game about how it’s designed to screw the consumer in a kangaroo court. Oh, and it’s also probably illegal. But when has that ever stopped Microsoft?
As part of their much ballyhooed and actually incredibly disappointing Dashboard update, Microsoft also revised their terms of service to say that “by agreeing to this, you can’t sue us.” Of course, it is possible to opt out of this…but you A) probably won’t even know it’s there and B) you have to send them an actual, physical letter, at this address:
Microsoft Corporation, ATTN: LCA ARBITRATION, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399
We actually find this more troubling than amusing because, as we’ve noted elsewhere, there’s a pretty major scandal brewing over FIFA 2012 where players get their account hacked, lots of money stolen, and then they get their Live account shut down for a month for their troubles. EA and Microsoft are insisting that this is entirely a phishing problem and that idiot customers are giving away their passwords…but even people who are careful about their passwords are getting hacked.
So, yeah, we’re pretty sure this legal language wasn’t put in for the hell of it. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next.