T & C stands for Terms and conditions and I am just going to pen my thoughts based on some of my observations. There is a survey which says close to 90% of the people don't read terms and conditions and the percentage is even higher with youth population. Every organization or entity when they sell a commodity or a service are bound to provide you with terms and conditions and as a buyer you are supposed to read and endorse them acknowledging that you are aware of everything you sign up. In a world where people find emails to be lengthy imagine the fate of 'Terms and conditions' which runs over few pages with font size as small as kutty kamal in apoorva sagodhargal; Sometimes language is so complex that you tend to think whether these were drafted by Christopher Nolan and proof read by Kamalhaasan. At times content is so very generic and you cannot make out what is the intention of the conditions something similar to Bala sir movies where movie is over all of a sudden with wordings "A film by Bala" which then makes you leave the cinema hall realizing movie is over.
I would like to go over few examples of T&C :
Social media & Privacy: One of social media's giant says in its terms and conditions that they use the data provided by consumers to improve the overall experience of the consumer. Such a sentence is very generic and we can interpret it in multiple ways and we have no clue whether the data is used for commercial purpose. EU comes up with their own set of ground rules on how they want to to govern the data posted in social media by their public. By coming up with their own standard they stand a chance of pulling the company to their respective court in case of any violations rather than relying law and order to be enforced by the country of the parent organization. Consumer data privacy is the next big thing since any of your posts, pictures you post can be used for commercial or various other purposes and the only catch for us is to 'Disagree' on the Terms & conditions.
E-commerce & rules: Post Corona E-commerce has picked up big time and number of shoppers grew in huge numbers for online shopping. Imagine you are about to buy a brand new scientific calculator online which belongs to an electronic product. Normally electronic products comes with a warranty period and strict return policies. If you see the terms and conditions there would be a point which would state any tampering of sticker or screws violates the return policy. Due to some carelessness of the buyer or logistics person you may receive the product where sticker or screws may be misplaced and unfortunately the buyer has little room for negotiation since he/she has already signed the terms and conditions regarding the product.
Health Insurance & rules: When people sign up for Health insurance there is a tendency amongst people not to disclose pre-existing diseases like Diabetes, Hyper tension etc., When people switch from Insurance A to Insurance B some tend to provide coverage for pre-existing illnesses whereas some companies has a waiting period which is clearly mentioned in terms and conditions. People overlook this clause and finally when a claim is processed this clause haunts them big time since as per Insurance company the waiting period may be far from over.
Terms & Conditions are the talking point once we get into an incident/accident - no one pays attention unless we get our hands dirty. Organizations cleverly phrase the wordings in such a way when a problem arises they use the lawyer to work terms and conditions to their advantage. Consumer related issues will be on the rise in future and terms and conditions will play a prominent role.
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