Mandatory Arbitration

Three years ago I purchased a new car. It was the first time I have ever purchased a car by getting a loan. Up until then I had always paid cash and owned cars outright. (try it, it's very liberating) Although I am aware that most financial advisers would cringe at the thought I actually bought a car via loan I was kinda in a bind.
I went through the long drawn out process of contract signing. I hated it then but I really had no choice. I needed a car.
Yesterday I was listening to a local talk radio program, (Francene on WHAS) and they were discussing Binding Mandatory Arbitration. I remembered the phrase on one of the contracts I signed while buying my car so my ears perked up.
Turns out that almost every contract you sign, cell phone, car, home loan and credit card contracts, have this clause in it. Most people either don't notice it or have gotten so use to it they fail to see it anymore.
I'll explain how I have understood this clause up until now. Oh, and a brief disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, legal analyst or anyone who would know how to understand legal jargon. I have always understood it to be that the purchaser agrees to attend arbitration first should there be any conflict with the service/product. If the arbitration does not end to my satisfaction then I can then proceed with legal action. That's even how it's was explained to me when I bought my car.
Well guess what? Not true. Not true at all. The clause literally means you have waived your right to legal recourse when you are dissatisfied with service/product or even if total negligence is taking place. In other words when you have a dispute it has to go to arbitration. If you initiate it you pay all the fees. Lawyers have no weight in the proceedings and in 94% of the cases the company prevails. Not to mention no matter what is decided in arbitration you have no right to appeal and certainly no right to sue.
Wow! To think that if I were sold a lemon I couldn't sue. Or worse, if the car blew up and killed me my relatives would have no legal recourse. I have heard terrible stories that doctors now require you to sign this clause and so do utility companies. There is virtually no choice in signing contracts with this clause.
I've read you can cross out this section on the contract and initial it but there is conflict as to how legitimate this may be. Plus it depends on the state as to whether or not you can force the company into court. You may very well have signed your constitutional right to due process away.
According to the radio show it was started to try and alleviate some of the court congestion. That if a company needs to sue to get you to pay your cable bill then that would be more reasonably handled in arbitration not the courts. So it started with good intentions. Like all good intentions, once corporate lawyers got hold of it they managed to twist it so profit wins out no matter what. Did you know more corporations sued on the basis of the 13Th amendment than former slaves? (sorry, another story another day)
Well this story has a happy ending. I have completely paid my car off and the contract is no longer important. But be wary when you are getting cable, having surgery or just renewing cell phone coverage. You may be signing a contract that legally allows Sprint to sell you off in to slavery, along with other waived constitutional rights.