Why eCommerce Sucks for Consumers

8 replies
Imagine going to your grocery store and loading up your basket with milk, bread, cereal, strawberries, and so on.

You wheel up to the register, start unloading, and then ...

You are asked to sign a 10-page long form of legal terms with plenty of fine print about giving up various rights, not being able to sue, limitations of liability, etc.

If you don't sign you don't get your milk.

Your reaction?

But if you buy those same groceries from the same store using their website, perhaps to be picked up at the store, that is what happens with website terms of service.

From the merchant's perspective digital terms that limit lawsuits and liability is a great deal.

But consumers may have a different point of view.

Why are there one set of rules for shopping at a store in person and another for shopping at the store online?

Some make sense, since a website can be accessed worldwide and a merchant does not want to be sued worldwide.

But other tos terms are easily imposed that a physical store would never try to use.

Does this have a discriminatory impact on the disabled and thus run-afoul of state and federal law?

Your thoughts...

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#consumers #ecommerce #sucks
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

    Does this have a discriminatory impact on the disabled
    No - it's perhaps more the fact that they're disabled and therefore less able to frequent bricks-and-mortar stores that has the negative/discriminatory impact? Maybe ...

    Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

    and thus run-afoul of state and federal law?
    We're not qualified to know that: you tell us. (I'm guessing from the fact that you're asking that there's no precedent for that being held to be so, but you're suggesting that it might be at least an arguable proposition?).
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    Not to take away from your focus on the legal hassles, but another hassle is if you put your milk, bread, eggs, etc. on the little belt and they had to be all paid for separately (ala Clickbank).

    In the real world the venue for lawsuits (forget the term right now) is never discussed even though if I break my foot at a store in Miami, when I return home to Los Angeles I may try to sue there. At a hotel, though, they may have that in the agreement you sign.

    Also the little yellow sticker that says "if you open this DVD case you don't get a refund" is an "agreement" of sorts.

    I'm not sure how having to agree to terms of service is discriminatory for anyone if everyone has to accept them. But then again I don't know what you're fishing for here.

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
      Mark and Alexa, I'm not fishing for anything. Maybe I need another forum account without the attorney label.

      I'm just looking for a discussion and thoughts about walking into a store and having certain policies apply, but having far different policies apply if you shop online at the same store.

      There have been several instances where I have abandoned a shopping cart and decided to walk my butt into a store to avoid certain online legal terms.

      Thank goodness I did that a year ago when buying a refrigerator. It was better being able to tell a manager in person to refund a couple thousand dollars or a lawsuit would be filed the next day, than to have an online rep based in another country point to tos boilerplate telling me to go have fun filing an arbitration in Chicago.

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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Thanks, Brian - I hear you. It is an interesting question. (I'm posting again mostly because apparently I've already run out of "thanks" for the day ).
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
    Brian,

    To a large degree consumers can't fill a shopping basket up with real merchandise in a brick and mortar business and then simply ask for an immediate refund while getting to keep the merchandise.

    That's a real problem with online sales.

    Try doing that at your local Piggly-Wiggly and see how well that works.

    ~Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      I tend to believe that ecommerce companies put those "gotcha" clauses in the TOS because they can, knowing that most of the people using the site don't actually read the TOS before agreeing to be bound by them.

      I know I get a sense of satisfaction from making salespeople squirm while I actually read sales contracts, especially for more expensive items. And the look on their faces when you strike through something, initial it, and hand it back to them is priceless. 'You can't do that!'

      'Yes, I can. Now you can choose to accept my terms, make me another offer, or tear it up and I'll buy elsewhere.'

      Like you, I've abandoned shopping carts and refunded software because I did not like certain terms in the TOS or EULA. One software program would have required me to leave my connection open so they could use my computer in one of the shared-processing deals. Yeah, right, that's going to happen...
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Bill Farnham View Post

      Brian,

      To a large degree consumers can't fill a shopping basket up with real merchandise in a brick and mortar business and then simply ask for an immediate refund while getting to keep the merchandise.

      That's a real problem with online sales.

      Try doing that at your local Piggly-Wiggly and see how well that works.

      ~Bill
      I don't know about Piggly-Wiggly, but you can come pretty close at WalMart.

      My wife works there as a cashier who sometimes has to cover the service desk. More than once, she's had people buy steaks, cook them, eat half to two thirds, and return the rest complaining of tough meat or something. And get their refunds.
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      • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        My wife works there as a cashier who sometimes has to cover the service desk. More than once, she's had people buy steaks, cook them, eat half to two thirds, and return the rest complaining of tough meat or something. And get their refunds.
        John,

        Sorry for your wife's predicament.

        Yea, W-M and some of the other big box stores have very liberal return policies. A friend of mine likes to do most of the maintaince on his house, and every few years ends up with a box of spare parts like sink hoses and door locks, etc. He says he can take all the still new parts to H-D and get a refund even if he didn't buy them there.

        The other day I was at our local major food store and one of the clerks was taking all the wedges of an expensive cheese off the shelf. I asked her why and she said the sell-by date was today and they needed to be taken off the shelf.

        I told her if she would discount the cheese I'd buy a few wedges but she said no, the cheese will be given to the local food bank for the tax write-off.

        Same with the half eaten steak, I'll bet. But just the tax write-off part, hopefully.

        ~Bill
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