Hi Law-libbers,
In early May CRIV contacted West about a practice that had been
brought to our attention by several AALL members. In some of their
e-mail order confirmations West included language that had the
potential to make individuals liable for late fees, interest
payments, attorneys fees, etc. The attached document has the full
text of the confirmation language.
In response to CRIV's inquiry West made some changes to the text to
protect individuals acting on behalf of their institutions. The
revised language is also included in the attached document and
highlighted in red.
It was also felt that West's practice of including this language in
the e-mail confirmation was not in compliance with the AALL Fair
Business Practices Guide 3.2(b) which requires that consumers have a
fair opportunity to negotiate. In response to that concern Anne
Ellis, Director of Librarian Relations at West, responded as follows:
>It is important to note that the confirmation language quoted in
>your May 6th email only applies to a very limited number of
>subscription orders. The notification is sent to any customer who
>places an order for print publications totaling less than $2,000
>through our telephone sales department (inbound and outbound
>calls). The email order confirmation is only utilized in these instances.
>
>The delivery of the email order confirmation is not a new
>process. It has been our standard business practice since 2005,
>which was the first year of West's assertion under the Sarbanes
>Oxley Act. Specific procedures for standard arrangements
>(including verbal agreements) were developed to comply with the
>Act's requirements. Please be assured that our procedures relating
>to sales agreements are reviewed annually through a rigorous audit process.
>
>Addressing your specific concern regarding the opportunity to
>negotiate, the process for print publication orders totaling less
>than $2,000 through our telephone sales department is as
>follows: When a customer calls into our telephone sales
>department, or receives a call from a telephone sales
>representative, and a verbal order for a subscription results, the
>order confirmation language is sent via email to the ordering party
>to ensure that the terms of the arrangement are communicated in
>writing. An opportunity to negotiate is present both during the
>telephone conversation, and after the confirmation is received. A
>customer is also given the opportunity to terminate the arrangement
>by returning the product ordered for full credit.
>
>To summarize, the email order confirmation process applies to a very
>limited number of orders, and is a standard business practice
>utilized to facilitate the telephone ordering process. The order
>confirmation process was implemented to ensure that terms relating
>to verbal agreements were fully communicated to the customer. The
>customer has the opportunity to negotiate terms at the time of the
>order or after the confirmation has been received, or can terminate
>the agreement by returning the product.
CRIV would like to thank West for responding to our concerns and
resolving the language in the e-mail order confirmations going
forward. This is a great example of how we can work together to meet
our needs. If anyone has any questions or concerns about this issue
please feel free to contact CRIV.
Cheers,
Tracy
******************************************************
Tracy L. Thompson-Przylucki, Executive Director
New England Law Library Consortium (NELLCO)
55 Main St.
Keene, New Hampshire 03431
www.nellco.org
603-357-3385 (voice)
603-357-2075 (fax)
tracy.thompson@yale.edu
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson
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