Public Justice has a blog post on the new Capital Bikeshare user agreement and its inclusion of a forced arbitration clause and class action ban.
Capital Bikeshare’s new “User Agreement” forces users to give up their right to go to court, and instead sends dispute that would typically be heard by a court into arbitration, which almost always favors corporations over consumers. That’s because arbitrators—who are often hired again and again by corporations to hear these disputes—unsurprisingly tend to rule in favor of the company that is bringing the arbitrator repeat business.
But that’s not the only reason arbitration is bad for consumers. It also provides fewer safeguards, restricts access to evidence, and can end up costing you hundreds or even thousands of dollars if you lose. And because forced arbitration is more secretive than litigating in a public court, corporations can hide serious safety concerns from the public for years. Imagine if Capital Bikeshare could keep certain bike defects from its customers, keeping you from knowing about preventable injuries! That’s a real danger under the company’s new agreement.
I'm not vouching for any of this, I'm just drawing attention to it. It goes on...
Capital Bikeshare’s User Agreement allows its members to avoid this arbitration clause by following these simple steps within thirty days of your first use of its service:
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From the email account you used to register with Capital Bikeshare, address an email to [email protected];
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In the subject line write “CAPITAL BIKESHARE ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER OPT-OUT”
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In the body of your email write, “I opt out of Arbitration and the Class Action Waiver” and optionally include your member id if you have it handy.
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Send the email.
Just sent the opt-out email. I hope enough people do, that they reconsider the effect on their relationship with their members (and their host governments).
Posted by: Shalom | January 04, 2017 at 05:24 PM
http://www.wweek.com/news/2016/07/27/biketown-is-a-rarity-a-portland-city-service-that-bars-users-from-suing/
Portland Hometown just ran into this too. Will bring this up with Alexandria staff before they resign a contract.
Unrelated note, they were kind of unpleasant about refunding my money for an improper lock. I couldn't remove the bike so it seemed locked.
Posted by: Zack Rules | January 05, 2017 at 12:41 AM