Why do the regulators allow use of "lifetime" or "unlimited" for items that are arbitrarily limited?

For instance Verizon says "unlimited data" and has a little star that says "5GB data cap". How is that not false advertising?

Or the new Magellan GPS units that say "lifetime map updates!" but on the back of the box say "3 years from date of purchase" - wtf is that?

Post other examples

6/9/2011 11:25:24 AM

u mad?

6/9/2011 11:26:11 AM

free refills at ANY restaurant

free pizaa for a year (limited to one pie per week)

6/9/2011 11:28:33 AM

Quote :

"For instance Verizon says "unlimited data" and has a little star that says "5GB data cap". How is that not false advertising?"

They probably get around it because of the little star.

6/9/2011 11:32:18 AM

I agree with the OP.

6/9/2011 11:34:19 AM

Quote :

"Or the new Magellan GPS units that say "lifetime map updates!" but on the back of the box say "3 years from date of purchase" - wtf is that? "

maybe the expected "lifetime" of the device is 3 years

and then it will break, just as it was designed to do

6/9/2011 11:36:26 AM

yeah, lifetime is the life of the device or product, not actual human life. But I agree with you on the unlimited feature. Pretty damn annoying specially all of the caps on twc, cox and att. Really surprised congress hasn't done more to combat this (unless I miss something in the news lately).

6/9/2011 11:39:36 AM

^my understanding on those is that they'll throttle you (I'm with centurylink. Couldn't turn down fiber to the house.) Which is still unlimited, and I don't have a problem.

But I do get annoyed when I pay for 10Mbit and NEVER see it. I understand congestion in the heat of the day, but at 3AM I should be able to saturate that pipe I'm paying for.

6/9/2011 11:45:04 AM

When my mom's younger sister died the guy at the funeral home offered Grandma a lifetime guarantee on her casket...what the hell does that mean?

6/9/2011 2:27:29 PM

^haha. I work in the funeral industry and commonly that roughly translates into they'll deliver the same casket or a better model of the cost you pay now. So if you get the $3000 casket and live 26 more years it's obviously not going to cost $3000 anymore. But the $3000 you paid (in most states) went into a trust fund and collected interest - meaning they'll get you the $20K model that's equivalent, guaranteed.

In fact anything you preplan/prepay in any home worth it's salt will carry this guarantee.


EDIT: If you're talking about the sister and not the grandma (I may have read that wrong) than the lifetime guarantee applies to the casket in the ground. Reputable companies like batesville or wilberts will guarantee that the liner/vault/casket will remain hermetically sealed for usually 80-120 years or roughly "lifetime". The wilberts are the cadillacs of the industry - they ship with a 1" thick acid belt that you put around the vault when you put it down that chemically/permanently bonds metal around the edge. You'll see areas on the news where there has been a bad flood and the liners will float (they're basically filled with air). They even include little pieces of plastic paper in a tube that can be read by cleanup people. Without the information they have to crack the thing open with a backhoe and find out who it is.

[Edited on June 9, 2011 at 2:38 PM. Reason : .]

6/9/2011 2:31:21 PM

A window company completely fucks over the area legally and is still fucking the area over today.

What they do is go around selling windows for your house. You replace all of them and get a lifetime warranty for leaks, broken glass (human or nonhuman made), weather related breaks... they guaranteed a new window for any reason! no questions asks for YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!


The catch:

The company disbands itself and starts a new corporation every year.


BAM! They aren't liable for anything.

[Edited on June 9, 2011 at 2:43 PM. Reason : .]

6/9/2011 2:43:29 PM

Quote :

"If you're talking about the sister and not the grandma "

Yes, the casket was for my aunt (mom's sister) who had already passed away

6/9/2011 2:45:26 PM

^^you should talk about the free pizza for a year deal.

[Edited on June 9, 2011 at 2:47 PM. Reason : ]

6/9/2011 2:47:31 PM

Okay. Everyone currently on TWW has free pizza for a year.




Good luck trying to redeem it I guess.

6/9/2011 3:03:07 PM

really old photoshop lol

6/9/2011 3:07:12 PM

I used to work for a local dialup ISP back in 99 or so that didn't offer unlimited dialup access for this specific reason.

It always sucked explaining to people the difference between unlimited and metered. They just wanted to know why AOL had unlimited and we didn't.

6/9/2011 3:08:43 PM

I agree with the OP. Remember Pizza Hut's "Any Pizza, Any Crust, Any Size, Any Toppings" for $10? With the commercials with people saying "Wow! ANY pizza for $10!" Then they charge you extra for stuffed crust or double toppings?

I usually don't advocate big government but I wish some agency made them do what they advertised. I don't expect "any size" to mean 10 feet but I do expect "any crust" to include the crust they sell every day.

Hell, they might as well advertise FREE PIZZA!!!!!*

*free pizza offer applies after minimum payment of $10

6/9/2011 6:01:52 PM

I am at 9.3gigs on my tmobile data. I got a text saying that they were going to cap it, but i've been downloading torrents on my computer at like 800KB/s so....

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

6/9/2011 6:05:03 PM

6/9/2011 6:27:58 PM