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Buying online? Read the user agreement
While
making an online transaction, make sure your rights are not violated and
that you don’t suffer loss of money or information.
When Mumbai resident Ritika Desai was browsing
through an online portal that offered free filing of income tax, a 10-page
‘terms & conditions and privacy policy agreement’ popped up on screen.
The print was too small and the sentences too long, so Desai clicked the ‘I
agree’ button without much thought and went ahead with the tax filing.
After a few days, she was flooded with calls from financial planning firms
and banks offering investment products. “I thought it was a tele-marketing
gimmick, but when some callers mentioned my bank account details, I knew
something was amiss,” she says. On probing one caller, she found that the
tax filing portal had released her information to them. When a livid Desai
called up the portal, they told her that she had given them the right to
share the information as per the terms & conditions. “Since I had
clicked on the ‘I agree’ button, there was nothing I could do to stop
them,” she says.
There are many like Desai, who accept the user
agreements on websites without reading them and give up many of their
rights. “People think these agreements are not significant enough to cause
damage. Besides, they are so lengthy that it is boring to go through each
and every point,” says Ravi Goenka, advocate, Goenka Law Associates. So
what should you do?
Watch out for
Ideally, you should read every line in the user agreement. If you find
it too tedious, here are some tips that will help you understand what you
are agreeing to. The first rule is to read anything that is in all-caps or
bold or highlighted. The fact that the text has been highlighted means it
is important. Second, hunt for key clauses that will be
most relevant to you by using CTRL + F and typing
in the keywords (see Keywords to find...). This will take you instantly to
the clause that matters. When you are availing of a service through a
website, the most important thing is to understand your ownership rights,
as well as
that of the website. For instance, while using a
website to share content like documents or photos, you need to be clear
about the website’s rights over these. Some user agreements are drafted to
give the website hosting your work the right to reproduce it. Some social
networking sites also reserve the right to use your photos for commercial
purposes. Apart from ownership, you must also understand the right of the
website to share your information with third parties. For instance, in
Google’s terms of services, there is an entire section dedicated to ‘your
content in our service’, which explains the service provider’s right to
your content. It also has a section that covers misuse of service. If you
use it in any way other than that mentioned in the service, you can be
sued.
If you are purchasing online products, you will
need to look out for points that are different from that for a service.
Watch out for disclaimers, which free the seller of liability in case the
product you receive is damaged or substandard. Second, understand the
website’s payment policy—whether it is online, through cash, or on
delivery. When it comes to monthly subscriptions, pay attention to the
cancellation policy. Generally, websites have an option that allows you to
unsubscribe, but it could come at a cost, say, without a refund or after
deduction of a certain percentage of payment. If you are buying software,
make sure the company does not slip in additional content like a program or
adware that you do not want. Usually, when the firm does this, it protects
itself by mentioning the content in the agreement.
What can you do?
You cannot ask the company to change the clauses if you don’t agree
with them. However, if you accept the agreement and realise that the
company has violated your rights, you can approach it. If it does not solve
your problem, you can file a case of deficiency of service in a consumer
court, but watch out for the arbitration clause. If there is such a clause,
you cannot file a case in the court and will have to mandatorily settle the
matter through arbitration, that is, via a panel set up to hear and settle
the issue. Typically, the arbitrators are decided by both parties, but
sometimes, the user agreement contains a clause that allows the company to
appoint arbitrators. Again, there is little you can do if you feel the
company is not being fair.
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