I'm pretty sure the opposite is in the customer agreements.
Something to the effect that... "You cannot sue us for anything and if you have a grievance it will go to the arbitrator of the company's choice from which we may appeal any decision that goes against the company to a 2nd arbitrator but you cannot."
Pretty much covered it. Agreement to arb - barring access to the courts - including class actions.
And it’s not just AT&T - it’s virtually every financial institution or subscription service now.
They realize most people are lazy and or stupid. Arbitration is actually not hard - but it takes a skilled writer and actually sitting down to make your claim. 99% of people won’t do it or can’t write effectively.
Hell - I occasionally take on hearing as an arbitrator at work and the complaints/rebuttals of PROFESSIONALS is at times shockingly stupid.
A lot class actions are pushing back and filing mass arbitrations - signing up individuals to a firm - copy/pasting the same complaint on each and then trying to settle all cases as a class (and taking 40% plus cost of the settlement). For the first few I know there were some big numbers (relative to what you get out of a class action on the courts - reports of people getting $600-2800 vs a few bucks tops). Of late that seems to be dropping as companies get more aggressive in defending. Remember a good class action payment is one that’s large enough to command serious money - but not so popular that alot of people participate.
There is a large firm out there signing up people and filing arbitration against AT&T now - only real proof you need is the email that was sent out identifying you as part of the breach (another just came today I saw with an update). I doubt we will ever see any big money here - but hey it’s something.
