Scary terms and conditions

A sizable portion of the T&C also provide for the company to alter the T&Cs...which isn't even legal. Companies just take a chance and throw as much crap as they can in there on the off chance that it might help them.

Or take one of the local ISPs that didn't update their "old" sketchy T&C even after it was publicly pointed out that its an issue. (Wouldn't be surprised if its till the same - couple years and much legislative changes later).
 
I like this article. Thanks for showing us which companies to avoid.

I'll remember to never do business with OLX or Tracker.
 
Scary terms and conditions in South Africa

Did you know that you can be fined R100,000 per day by OLX, or that you may be charged R10 per MB for VoIP traffic by Vodacom?

Why haven't you got someone from the MyBB panel of lawyers to assess those for legality? Most will fall foul of the CPA (even if it's just the "fairness" requirements), which is why I don't bother reading them - I have the right to assume that the fine print I sign is legal. The CPA also insists on any unusual terms being brought to my attention, and if I need to read about it in the media, they're in breach of the act.

TL;DR, None of those will stand up in court.

Does OLX specifically mention US dollars, or could I assume those are Zim dollars? :D
 
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Those are some pretty serious conditions, but it would be interesting if we could find out if OLX has ever fined anybody one of those amounts, especially the $10000 one.
 
Huh I sold product through OLX, it say post free ad as it never told me the term and condition?
 
10 000+ words to say "we accept no responsibility".

Such bs that companies like tracker can get away with selling you a service and then hiding a clause that states they are not at all responsible for said services and you cant do anything about it.
 
Can it be thus construed that OLX is guilty of misleading the SA public?
As their site does read "free classifieds"
Or is it free as in free speech not free beer...:D Linux jibe...
 
Why haven't you got someone from the MyBB panel of lawyers to assess those for legality? Most will fall foul of the CPA (even if it's just the "fairness" requirements), which is why I don't bother reading them - I have the right to assume that the fine print I sign is legal. The CPA also insists on any unusual terms being brought to my attention, and if I need to read about it in the media, they're in breach of the act.

TL;DR, None of those will stand up in court.

Does OLX specifically mention US dollars, or could I assume those are Zim dollars? :D

Even without CPA, law of contract provides a legal obligation to highlight unusual terms and conditions.
The privacy and limited liability clauses are to be expected and would probably hold up, however OLX's penalties would be unexpected and they would need to prove that they specifically highlighted these to the user for them to be valid.
 
Standard-form contracts
Express terms in standardised contracts are dealt with differently from express terms negotiated by the parties, in that a party presenting a standardised contract to another for signature is expected to draw his attention to any unexpected terms, failing which the signatory may not be bound.

Consumer Protection Act
The Consumer Protection Act provides that customers’ attention must be drawn to certain categories of clauses or notices that could be prejudicial. In respect of serious or unexpected risks, customers must indicate their assent by signature or by other positive conduct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_contract_law
 
People should realise where OLX is based and to which regulations it must abide to, there terms are pretty much standard within their law.

Did you know that you can be fined R100,000 per day by OLX, or that you may be charged R10 per MB for VoIP traffic by Vodacom?

If you aggregate, copy, display, mirror, reproduce, or otherwise exploit for any purpose any Content (except for your own Content) in violation of these Terms without OLX’s express written permission, you agree to pay OLX ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each day on which you engage in such conduct.

The same with this OLX clause:

If you post a message that (1) impersonates any person or entity; (2) falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity; or (3) that includes personal or identifying information about another person without that person’s explicit consent, you agree that OLX in its sole discretion may disclose identifying information about you to the victim, and that should OLX bring a claim against you in court, that you will pay OLX one thousand one hundred dollars ($1,100) for each such message.

The above have nothing to do with the CPA, it is FRAUD, spamming, cloning... in the end the mechanisms are produced to protect the intellectual property and the law-abiding user's experience. So don't reproduce the OLX brand and website. There will also be legal proceedings enclosed with the above. Mybroadband was not clear on this matter as seen in the above posts, as these terms are introduced to combat abuse, especially within online listings.

Then people complain in these threads that they are being scammed, unethical trade, bad business practices... by SA-based websites which is listing enabled.

Mybroadband have their own terms covering "Website Intellectual Property". I'm sure MyBroadBand will held any person responsible breaching their terms liable to any costs incurred.
 
Like all of those who voted ANC. Their terms and conditions gives the right to tender corruption, money wastage, fraud, corruption, basic services breakdown, neopotism, crime, corruption, no leadership, ineffectual President, strikes etc
 
Thanks great article! Now buyer beware! Caveat Subscriptor.
 
WOW, those Tracker t's and c's are absurd. I read the quoted section in the article as:
"We provide you with a service, however, if we do not provide the service as advertised, we hold no responsibility....basically you're paying us a fee under false pretenses"

My initial insurance company "forced" me to go with Tracker, but looking at Tracker's amended t's and c's, I'm definitely going to have a word with the insurance company and request a change (at their cost) or "threaten" to take my insurance needs elsewhere.
 
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