back to article Brit watchdog spanks Microsoft, Amazon, Apple into promising fairer cloud contracts

Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have committed to providing cloud storage users with fairer contracts after a crackdown by the UK's Competition Markets Authority (CMA). The companies are the latest cloud storage providers to improve their terms and conditions following the CMA's review of compliance with consumer law in the sector …

  1. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    Now they need to haul Blinkbox over the coals...

    After they arbitrarily removed PS3 support and then refused to refund me the £70 for the content I had bought through their service that I subsequently lost access to. After trawling through 10 pages of small print I finally discovered that they apparently retain the right to withdraw any services at any time they see fit.

    Charlatans and wan*ers the lot of them.

    1. RealBigAl

      Re: Now they need to haul Blinkbox over the coals...

      Just because it's in the Ts & Cs doesn't mean it's legal. I was going to suggest complaining to the office of fair trading but I forgot HMG shut them down.

      There are still other options at https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights

      I'd complain to Watchdog at https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/LQyn3TXVN9q005R8xM0v9/team-watchdog.

      They seem more effective than any current government regulatory department.

    2. TonyJ

      Re: Now they need to haul Blinkbox over the coals...

      "...After they arbitrarily removed PS3 support and then refused to refund me the £70 for the content I had bought through their service that I subsequently lost access to. After trawling through 10 pages of small print I finally discovered that they apparently retain the right to withdraw any services at any time they see fit.

      Charlatans and wan*ers the lot of them..."

      Take them to small claims court.

      Chances are they wouldn't even turn up.

      We took a national furniture chain to court for my wife's lost earnings after they failed to deliver on four separate occasions - they arranged to deliver then simply failed to show. We cancelled the order and I asked them to refund the time my wife took off from work+stress.

      They refused claiming they had a clause claiming deliveries were on a best efforts basis...

      So we took 'em to court. They failed to show for mediation and then out of the blue I received a letter of apology with a cheque for the full amount.

      As others have said - just because they claim it's in their T's and C's doesn't trump consumer law.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    For MS the Office365 contract could also do with some scrutiny

    I installed a few days ago after I made a control container for it (net and disk access restricted, exceptions only by permission) but I read the Terms while it was installing. That is, I tried. It's a flaming tangle of verbiage that seems to be aimed at putting off any determined reader - frankly, as a UK consumer I think it's plausible to assert that you're not bound by it due to fair contract laws.

    Maybe I should entertain myself by forwarding that scandal and see the political running around to prevent this from blowing up. Might be a nice pre-beer project for today.

  3. Bill M

    The terms of service required them to give up their first born

    Quote from

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/07/nobody-reads-tos-agreements-even-ones-that-demand-first-born-as-payment/

    A study out this month made the point all too clear. Most of the 543 university students involved in the analysis didn't bother to read the terms of service before signing up for a fake social networking site called "NameDrop" that the students believed was real. Those who did glossed over important clauses. The terms of service required them to give up their first born, and if they don't yet have one, they get until 2050 to do so. The privacy policy said that their data would be given to the NSA and employers. Of the few participants who read those clauses, they signed up for the service anyway.

  4. BitDr

    What nonsense...

    Now we start to see the shenanigans being played with fees and tweaking of services.

    The Personal Computer (in all of its forms) gave us information processing power, placed it in our hands and took it from the service bureaus. The compute cloud is retrograde to that revoloution. Why go in reverse when we can keep moving forward? When an inexpensive compute-cluster/cloud can be had in your server-room why would you want to rent time on someone else's? it's yours it can be used as you see fit, you are the one making the terms and conditions, when it's rented from someone else you don't have that freedom.

    1. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: What nonsense...

      It's ridiculous isn't it? I truly do not understand the rush back to the old time share terminal mainframe model.

      1. Adrian 4

        Re: What nonsense...

        It's not unreasonable. If your data is of low value and you haven't the knowledge or inclination to handle backups yourself, free or cheap cloud storage heavily marketed is going to get some takers.

        Presumably the commercial users see the costs / risks as a straight tradeoff against owning staff and equipment. That's their choice. I couldn't say whether they're right, but it's not my business.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like