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Mythbuster: ‘Entire agreement’ clauses lock out misrepresentation claims

People are often confused about the effect of clauses that say ‘You acknowledge that we have made no other promises or representations to you.’

Often you see such clauses quoted in support of an argument that a claim for misrepresentation cannot succeed where a contract contains this clause.

But that ain’t necessarily so.  In fact, it ain’t even normally so.

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Mythbuster: Communications Alliance Codes aren’t ‘the law’

There’s a myth around that industry codes, formerly known as ACIF Codes but these days generated by the Communications Alliance, are merely voluntary.  They are not ‘the law’.

This myth is based on a misunderstanding of the process behind codes and the reasoning behind the process.

Communications Alliance Codes sure aren’t just voluntary.

The confusion arises because the Telecommunications Act tries not to be heavy-handed on this topic.  But there’s a gloved hand not far away.

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Mythbuster: A CSP can’t cut service just because a payment is late

A surprising number of people, both service providers and consumers, believe that an overdue payment entitles a CSP to suspend or terminate service.

For consumer and small business contracts, that simply isn’t true.  If there’s nothing more to it, the credit management rules in the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code preclude a CSP from immediate action.

Not much commentary required on this one … we’ll let the TCP Code speak for itself.

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Mythbuster: A CSP can’t change its contract instantly

Many ISP and telco contracts contain a term to the effect that the service provider can change the contract at will.  It’s normally followed up by something like ‘so you must check this T&C page frequently.’

The truth:  In consumer and small business contracts, this kind of term isn’t permitted.

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