Living Scriptures, Inc. Sells various religious media door-to-door. A young sales rep displayed his wares to my wife and began his pitch. It is important here to note that my wife has a thick accent and speaks some English but struggles but to be frank, not very fluently. She has not lived in the US for long and is not even a US citizen. But she was assured by the sales rep that she could cancel at any time and she understood his words. She did as she was told, signing on the form, knowing she could cancel.
Now that I have read the form, I undertand what it says (but she did not). She is locked into a long term contract and had no way of knowing this when she signed. There are several legal defenses available here, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that the sales rep lied to her, telling her she could cancel. Adding insult to injury, he could certainly tell (as can everyone) just by talking to her that there is no way she could possibly understand the written terms of the contract.
This is wrong. This is unethical. It might even be illegal.
But in fairness to LSI, I have not contacted them yet but am about to. I only put this entry here as an initial bookmark with plans to follow up and provide updates based on my experience.
I do believe that if someone signs a contract in their own language, they have no excuse but to be bound by it. But someone who does not read English should most certainly not be bound by those terms (since there was never any mutual assent). Any agreement to arbitrate, mediate, use certain state laws, etc. Would also be null and void because there was no mutual assent to those terms either.
My first inclination, if denied relief, will be to draft a one-page memo to all members in my area and send it out via email. Just a short message describing my experience.
I'll close now with a promise to follow up with all of you in the very near future.
Thank you,
Steven
Annapolis, MD
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