The ATJustice Fair Business Standards are based on the general principle that businesses should treat members of the general public in a fair, ethical and helpful manner, consistent with how most employees at the business themselves like to be treated.  Businesses may voluntarily sign on to these business standards if they comply with all of the following six principles and the associated guidelines under each principle.

Principles & Guidelines:

1. Protection of User Personal Information.   The Business agrees to take care to protect the personal information of its customers.  Personal information includes any information that reveals, or can be used to ascertain, a person’s name, address, email address, phone number, social security number, account number, credit card information, demographic information, biometric information, financial information, or other sensitive information.  This protection must include:

a. Taking reasonable and customary measures to secure the information and protect it from data breaches and hacking attempts.

b. If a price is advertised, and there are mandatory add-in costs beyond the advertised price (e.g. “membership” fees, “convenience fees,” etc.), that must be disclosed where the price is disclosed.

c. Limiting access to the information to Business employees who need to use it for the purposes for which it was collected.

d. Not selling or sharing customer data with other entities without the customer’s explicit advance permission, and providing an easy mechanism for customers to “opt out” of such data sharing at any time.

e. Not inputting customer data into versions of any ai engine that may use that data for training the ai engine and/or otherwise may expose that data to other users of the ai engine.

f. Not retaining the customer information longer than needed for the purpose for which it was collected– and under no circumstances longer than legally permitted or for more than 5 years after the last contact with the customer.

g. Promptly notifying customers in the event of a data breach that may result in any of their information being leaked or shared, and promptly taking reasonable steps to mitigate and remedy the results of any such breach.

h. Actively taking steps to discourage, investigate, and pursue attempts to defraud the Business’s customers.  It is not sufficient simply to direct the customer to law enforcement authorities– the Business must be proactive about preventing and addressing such fraud and pursuing anyone engaged in such fraud. This may include working with law enforcement authorities, and providing warnings to other customers about active schemes specifically targeting the Business’s customers. 

2. Cost Transparency.  The Business agrees to be open and honest about cost aspects of any transactions.

a. The Business must charge whatever price is advertised and/or labeled on an item. Where the company has made a significant mistake in pricing, such mistakes must be promptly remedied and customers should be given some benefit or accommodation for helping the Business identify the mistake.

b. If a payment is “non-refundable”, that must be conspicuously disclosed before payment is accepted. If the charge is refundable, but the Business imposes any time limitation, “restocking fee,” or other limit on the refund ability, that must be disclosed in advance as well.

c. If the payment includes a “tipping option” the Business must be transparent about how the tip will be distributed — e.g. in a restaurant situation if 100% of the tip will not go to the customer’s server.

d. Where a tip is already included in the total, that must be conspicuously disclosed, and if there is a line for the customer to add an additional tip, it must be labeled as an “additional” tip, not just “tip.”

3. On-line Fairness.  When offering goods or services on-line, the Business needs to make available to customers, early in on-line communications, and conspicuously, all of the important details of the offer, including the financial details.

a. If the advertised price has additional conditions, such as signing up for additional shipments or auto-renewals, that must be disclosed with the price.

b. If shipping and/or handling charges are extra, that should be disclosed up-front, and the amounts of those charges should be readily accessible. 

c. Where there will be a delay between payment and access or delivery, the customer must be informed, before customer payment is accepted, of the likely delay (e.g. estimated delivery date, or number of delivery days, or the date that an on-line service or on-line access will be provided).

d. Where there is an unanticipated delay after payment in fulfilling any customer order, the Business must immediately notify the customer and provide an opportunity for the customer to cancel the order for a full and immediate refund.

e. Where there are contraindications or exclusions for particular products or services (e.g. age, size or weight limits to use certain products, or food or beverage restrictions associated with taking any medications or supplements) those must be disclosed before payment is accepted.

f. The Business may not substitute similar products, or products that differ in any manner from those originally advertised and/ordered, without advance notice to the customer and an opportunity for the customer to cancel the order for a full and immediate refund. 

g. Where an offer is cancellable, the mechanism for cancelling must be conspicuous, easily accessible to the customer, and easy to execute (e.g. not requiring detailed actions such as filling out long forms or including account or order numbers that may not be readily available to the customer.

4. Ongoing Payments and/or Contacts.  When customers are invited to subscribe to ongoing communications, payments or auto-renewals, there must be an easy and accessible mechanism for unsubscribing, opting out, and/or cancelling. 

a. In the case of emails, texts, or other communications, the mechanism for opting out needs to be included on each communication, and at least as simple to execute as the original mechanism for signing up (e.g. through a “stop” or “unsubscribe” message or link).  Users should not have to remember and use any username or password in order to unsubscribe. 

b. In the case of auto-renewals, the customer needs to be given at least 30 days notice, and an easy mechanism to cancel, before any new charges are imposed or auto-billed.  

5. Responsiveness to Customer’s Attempts to Contact the Business.  The Business agrees to remain accessible to customer communications, including giving customers easy access to one or more human representatives to try to address their concerns.  This accessibility must include:

a. Having a “contact us” option on the business website that provides both an email address and a phone number that customers can use to make contact.

b. Promptly responding to written communications, in no event more than two business days after an inquiry.  Where it may take more than two business days to investigate, the original communication should at least be acknowledged within two business days.

c. Having humans “in the loop”, whom customers can easily access if any automated or ai-driven response system is not meeting the customer’s needs.

d. An easy mechanism for customers to download a transcript of the communication chain between the customer and the Business, should the Business use a written communication platform other than email.

e. Not restricting communications in instances where customers do not know, or do not have access to, their account number, complaint number, or username and password, or where the communication does not fit into a preset list of allowed types of communications or issues (unless an “other” option is also provided).

f. If the Business contact phone number leads to an automated response system, having the customer be able to a be channeled toward a human representative within the first 3 minutes of their call being answered, and not limiting access to those whose concern necessarily fits into a preset list.  Human telephone access must be available at least from 9 am to 4 pm weekdays in the time zone(s) where the Business regularly conducts business.

g. Not putting customers on “hold” for an average of more than 3 minutes, without providing the estimated wait time and not for an average of more than 10 minutes without providing an option for the customer to be called back as soon as a representative becomes available.

h. Taking reasonable steps to ensure that customers are not disconnected by the business in the midst of a call, and/or getting the customer’s phone number and calling them back promptly should there be any such accidental disconnection.

i. Taking measure so to pass along information provided by the customer from one system or representative to the next so that the customer is not forced to undergo repeated detailed security checks or repeat their inquiry more than once or twice during the same communication session.

6. Dispute Resolution.  The Business must make readily available to customers mechanisms for reasonable resolution of customer complaints and disputes without forcing customers to resort to burdensome and expensive lawsuits or arbitration procedures.

a. What is reasonable may depend on the magnitude of the claim but should be set up based on principles of fairness, minimizing burden and expense for the customer, and maximizing the speed of the resolution.

b. Customers should not be left at the mercy of only a lower level Business representative, but should have the ability to access a supervisor or business owner if the initial representative cannot resolve the matter to the customer’s satisfaction.

c. The Business must comply with all of the representations made in its advertised offers, and not rely on disclaimers or “fine print” terms or conditions to disclaim or eliminate its obligations to fulfill advertised terms.

d. If/when a customer or user notifies the Business that false or fraudulent information has been posted about them at the Business website, or that their personal information or likeness has been posted without their permission, the Business must promptly investigate, take affirmative action to help resolve those claims, and keep the customer/user informed about the actions taken and results achieved.

e. If/when a customer notifies the Business that they have been cheated when ordering a product or service offered or advertised through the Business platform, the Business must promptly investigate, take affirmative action to resolve those claims, and keep the customer informed about the actions taken and results achieved.