Binding arbitration policy change/statement

[RedDawgEsq]

I am very confused about the recent policy change/statement about binding arbitration, particularly this statement:

Unless you opt out: (1) you will only be permitted to pursue claims against PayPal on an individual basis, not as a plaintiff or class member in any class or representative action or proceeding and (2) you will only be permitted to seek relief (including monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief) on an individual basis.

Shouldn't the word "Unless" be "If"?

[oldschoolyoung]

I sent my complaint to the FTC as well.  I can't believe Paypal is tryign to do this, and not even responding in this, their own forum.  I believe this to be a violation of trade law, and something that could actually LEAD to a class action lawsuit if they do attempt to enforce this on December 1st.

[Ecantada]

I'd advise everyone to advise everyone they know who has a paypal account to opt out.  Arbitration is an incredibly unfair and expensive procedure.  You have to pay the arbitrator, you have to pay the attorney, they don't always follow the rules of procedure, making it even more expensive to get your issue resolved.  Most of the time, the cost of arbitration far outweighs the damages you've suffered in the first place.  Moreover, Arbitrator's aren't always the most qualified people.  

[MarkLE]

Unbelievable. 

PayPal sends us an email about a policy change.

They tell us we can 'opt out', but there is no mention in the email about how to opt out.

The procedure to 'opt out' of the policy change is buried somewhere in the middle of all the legal mumbo-jumbo (that is a technical term).

In order to actually 'opt out' of this policy change, we have to send a snail mail letter to the PayPal litigation department.

I'm starting to think PayPal does not want us to opt out of this policy change.

I can't understand why. They are only trying to take away our right to sue them.

Unbelievable.

[ihatethisco]

The only way Paypal will get this message that they can't treat customers this way is to close your accounts in large numbers. So long as customers let the company roll over them, Paypal will do exactly that.

[dutchputch]

Well Olivia, two non-Paypal employees responded to this question much better than you. They actually copied and pasted how to opt out of the agreement after jumping through hoops and weeding through BS to finally come across it.  As a Paypal employee I would have thought that was something YOU would have done. 

[ubrgeek]

Thanks for the explanation. Now maybe you can answer another: Is there a legal requirement for people to opt-out in writing or is Paypal just purposefully being difficult? eBay required the same thing. The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act says that clicking on a link saying we opt out is legally binding. My only assumption is PayPal (and eBay) are purposefully trying to make it difficult to reject your effort to alienate customers. (That said, I'm assuming I'm not going to get a reply to a logical, factual posting like this one.)

[AnnRoberts]

I agree. The only way is to cancel.  I suggested this very thing yesterday but it seems my post has vanished.

[garcia241274]

As an attorney with years of experience in commercial contracts and litigation, I HIGHLY encourage all users to spend the 5 minutes it takes to write a letter and the 45-cents it costs to mail it to OPT OUT of this provision (see Section 14.3(e) of the User Agreement).

PayPal wants to force you to sue them individually should you ever have a dispute with them.  Given that they have a dedicated legal department and much deeper pockets than you, it will be an uphill battle.  By preserving your right to bring a class action claim, there is far more legal leverage should you need to bring a claim. 

There is power in numbers and Users should opt out to preserve their ability to bring a successful claim against PayPal should it be necessary.

It's no coincidence that they've buried this in their updates to the User Agreements and have made it as inconvenient as possible for Users to opt-out (why no convenient link and click a box to opt out???).  Felt I was doing a disservice to the Users to not say anything and add my thoughts as someone with background in this field.

[fringer]

To everyone that is familiar with the law, can anyone just write a letter to anyone else and say "hey you owe me this or this and if you don't opt-out then I'll assume you agree"?  How do you stop people then from making claims and hoping that you don't opt out?

[LT2012]

It would be nice to know how to "opt-out" of this new policy that would involved relinquishing rights to participate in class action suits.  Has anyone figured out how to do it?