Silicon Valley: "Would thou wouldst burst!"

in #technology6 years ago

Not a single day goes without the big Silicon Valley companies abusing their clients with little recourse. In this particular case AirBNB takes the PayPal strategy, and decides to close the account of a regular customer, with no actual reason given.

https://medium.com/@jacksoncunningham/digital-exile-how-i-got-banned-for-life-from-airbnb-615434c6eeba

Sudden account closures can be especially frustrating when any hope of figuring out what went wrong is met with this: "...we are not obligated to provide an explanation." If you've ever suffered this circumstance, the important thing is not to take it lying down. As financial contributors (through purchasing), filing transaction disputes and chargebacks will quickly force them to the negotiation table. Card providers are easily willing to reverse charges in favor of the customer, thus, the company must quickly negotiate a resolution with you.

Another method that can be used is a formal intent to sue letter mailed to the company's business address. Note that I said mailed. Yes, a physical letter. Any yahoo can fire off an e-mail with a vaguely threatening letter. All of those get ignored, if not outright filtered. But the typical perception by companies is that anybody making physical complaints is only one step removed from actually taking them to court. Even if you agreed to binding arbitration agreement before, the company knows they still have to deal with the hassle of retainer fees and actually showing up just to dispute jurisdiction. 

It's up to you to put the fear into companies that stiff you. If even as little as 10% of people "bit back" at these abusive companies, it would not be long at all before they would be forced to change, or simply shrivel away.

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