Just because they are a big company doesn't mean everything they do is legal. The legal system exists exactly to stop this kind of behavior. You can go to small claims for under $100 out of pocket, and you generally get these fees reimbursed if you win. In many cases just filing a lawsuit is enough to get them to settle and provide a refund, because they would spend more money sending someone to court(and probably lose anyways).
Also having a small claims court case will quickly rack up the costs for the company if they hire a lawyer. For something like $3500 they may choose to settle.
Typically large companies won't bother sending a lawyer if you sue them in small claims court. It's not worth the trouble for them. So as long as you are coherent and have a reasonable argument you will win by default.
Small claims is an excellent option. Or alternatively take them to arbitration if the ToS provides for it. Either way the expense to you will be minimal.
Once you realize that legal is the big tech company’s first line tech support things go considerably more smoothly.
Not clear I guess, but I meant small claims for anyone facing the same issue. Over and over we get bullied by these big companies looking to solve their problems at the expense of the little guy. And have no recourse.
I know little of the US legal landscape, or if there's a small claim system. I've threatened legal response here in the UK, usually after months of failing to get resolution without, as last step in the chain. So I've issued a small claim against those companies (UK has a cheap option when the claim is small, somewhere under £5 - £10k. Basically fill form, give fixed low fee, wait). Those have had a 100% success rate.
> Once you threaten to sue, most Big Companies will stop talking to you
That would be fine. When I have threatened to sue someone and got no response, I will do the small claim as next step. One threat, one opportunity to resolve. More talking would enable more delays. No more communication from me aside from in writing from the court.
Generally gets a panicked phone response at speed and offering full settlement. I've had several expansive apology letters. A couple ignored the summons and waited for the default judgement before it got settled. Those were big, very well known companies, which could be pure coincidence. Most have asked "why did you sue?". Waiting for months to get that promised refund, whilst only getting excuses or lies, maybe? :)
It's surprisingly easy, just time-involved, to sue large corporations in small claims, at least in some jurisdictions. Yes, they've got lawyers, but if you have a case you may still win. I sued one of the largest telecoms in Canada for not honouring a verbal contract, and won quite easily once I proved the facts in dispute. Businesses assume people won't have the commitment to carry through and actually take them to court over malfeasance. Probably mostly correctly. I'm not sure it was really worth the hassle.
Small claims court has very low limits. Beyond that, it’s very easy for a large company to make a lawsuit cost more than it’s worth - you’re paying court costs up front, they’re going to litigate every single detail to say that you didn’t complete everything (both to lower the total and to prevent you from being able to do full time work for someone else), and delay things hoping you’ll give up or make some mistake.
It’s not super common but every freelancer I know has a client from hell story. The abusive ones get pretty good at calibrating the amount they can screw someone out of while still being only marginally worth the cost and effort of suing.
You can take them to court you know. It's not as complicated as many people make it sound. File a few forms and show up when needed. You barely even need a lawyer. Half the time for something that simple, the company will just want to settle for a simple shakedown.
The sweet spot for companies is the low tens of thousands. At that level, you're disqualified from small claims and it's not really worth an actual lawsuit. It's a very narrow band, though.
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