US Mobile CEO on arbitration clause backlash: "Every national carrier has it"

US Mobile customers have been lashing out at the company after receiving a T&C update email this week. The updated terms, effective February 20, include a binding arbitration clause and a class-action waiver. This essentially means if you ever have a serious dispute with the company, you’re giving up your right to take them to court or join a class-action lawsuit.

As expected, the anger on r/USMobile was quick and loud, but a lot of it was directed at the opt-out process. 

The original T&C said you had to mail a physical signed letter to US Mobile’s New York address, within just 14 days of the February 20 effective date. Customers on r/NoContract noted that it’s just a friction layer designed to reduce the number of people who actually bother opting out.

Since the backlash came to a stage where it was hard to ignore, CEO Aamir Khattak showed up in one Reddit thread to explain. He said US Mobile was apparently the only carrier that didn’t already have arbitration language in its terms, as every major national carrier and scaled MVNO does. He called it a governance cleanup as the company grows, and mentioned that long-term structural plans, including a possible IPO, made standardizing the legal framework necessary. He was clear that an IPO doesn’t mean selling the company.

On the opt-out, Khattak said customers can just email [email protected] instead of mailing a letter. That calmed some people down, but others weren’t satisfied until they actually saw it in the written terms. As one user put it, “Reddit comments don’t overrule contracts.” Khattak replied that the email option would be added to the T&C by morning.

The IPO mention rubbed some users the wrong way too, with a few predicting the usual shift toward pleasing investors over customers. Others were more pragmatic. The most anyone has tied up in a US Mobile plan is a few hundred dollars, and small claims court remains an option even under arbitration.

That said, consumer advocates have long argued that forced arbitration typically benefits the company over the customer, since arbitrators are often selected by the business itself.

Worth noting: this type of clause is legally valid under the Federal Arbitration Act, so opting out is the only real way to preserve your rights here. If you’re a US Mobile customer, email [email protected] before February 20 and keep a copy of that email.

We stand out from the tech-media crowd because we break news stories; we mainly bring you stuff that you won’t find anywhere in the mainstream tech media. Our stories have been picked up by some of the world’s most popular websites and media outlets—more info is available here.