Let’s be honest, Do you read the terms and conditions when you sign up for anything? Probably not. Nobody does. Well, 22,000 people accidentally signed up to carry out 1,000 hours of community service in exchange for free WiFi. The community services might include cleaning toilets at festivals, scraping chewing gum off the streets and “manually relieving sewer blockages”.
Funny right!!
What if I say they are now legally bounded to do so?
Manchester-based public Wi-Fi provider Purple added a spoof term to its T&Cs on its network of branded hotspots to illustrate the lack of consumer awareness of people are signing up to when accessing free Wi-Fi portals. The company operates wifi hotspots for a number of brands, including Legoland, Outback Steakhouse and Pizza Express.
The user may be required, at Purple’s discretion, to carry out 1,000 hours of community service. This may include the following. Cleansing local parks of animal waste. Providing hugs to stray cats and dogs. Manually relieving sewer blockages. Cleaning portable lavatories at local festivals and events. Painting snail shells to brighten up their existence. Scraping chewing gum off the streets.
The user may be required, at Purple’s discretion, to carry out 1,000 hours of community service. This may include the following. Cleansing local parks of animal waste. Providing hugs to stray cats and dogs. Manually relieving sewer blockages. Cleaning portable lavatories at local festivals and events. Painting snail shells to brighten up their existence. Scraping chewing gum off the streets.
Purple also offered a prize for anyone who actually read the terms and conditions, and flagged up the community service clause. Surprisingly, only one person spotted the term during the two-week long prank.
It’s no surprise that people will agree to anything to get a free wifi. It remains unclear whether terms and conditions, in general, are actually applicable to the typical customer. While they are contracts, and usually considered legally binding as such, some have argued that the inability to negotiate them violates common law principles of fairness, leaving them void.
Make it a habit of reading the terms and conditions before availing any service.
