Who Reads the Fine Print?

Fine print. The stuff that is hidden in some corner of a contract. Or worded in un-understandable language. Or displayed in the most unreadable font in the smallest possible size.

Nancy Kim feels things just got worse in the digital world with wrap contracts, online contracts “that can be entered into by clicking on a link or on an ‘accept’ icon” by citing this example:
“In [a] disheartening example of abuse by wrap contract, a company threatened to fine a consumer named Jen Palmer $3500 for posting a negative review about it on a consumer review website. The company, KlearGear, didn’t claim that the review was false; rather, it claimed that her review ran afoul of a non-disparagement clause in the company’s online terms of sale.”

But is that really true? I am more inclined to agree with John Kay on his “wisdom” in never bothering to read those “silly reams of terms and conditions”:
“(Any company’s) continued success depends on maintaining their reputation with their customers. It is unlikely that these agreements contain anything seriously damaging to my interests.”
In any case, says Kay:
“On the odd occasion when I have troubled to read similar agreements, I have found they are generally riddled with ambiguities and with conditions that are unenforceable in practice and probably unenforceable in law.”

Then again, maybe even companies should read the fine print! As this very amusing incident from Russia will tell you. Dmitry Argarkov didn’t like the credit card terms being offered, so he:
“scanned it into his computer, rewrote the terms to be much more in his favor, printed it out, signed it, and mailed it back.”
The bank (obviously) never bothered to re-read the signed doc that was mailed back and issued the card (on Argarkov’s modified terms, albeit unknowingly)! And when Argarkov refused to pay interest on his overdue monthly bills, they terminated his card. That is when he sued the bank. Turns out the (modified) fine print had a termination penalty that the bank had to pay him!

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