General Mills Apologizes (And We Accept)

General Mills did the right thing.

Last it was reported that they had quietly changed their legal terms and conditions to contain language that stated that purchasing any product implied agreement to binding arbitration–i.e., waiving rights to sue.

The exact language was not completely clear, but appeared to be open to a very broad interpretation, which was both arrogant and highly unfavorable to customers.

This may not have been the intention, but somehow a lot of us do not trust the good intentions of billion dollar corporations.

When we learned of this, me and apparently everyone else sent them flames, to the effect that “I’ll never buy anything from you again.”

Evidently, grownups within the company intervened, and they dropped all that nonsense.  Today’s statement claims that the troubling language was misunderstood, and didn’t mean what it seemed to say.  It’s impossible for me to say–it looked pretty clear to me.

Anyway, I take this as a sign that General Mills isn’t completely off the rails.  I think they realize that they are held to a high standard, “everybody else is doing it” can’t really cut it for the makers of Wheaties, can it?

By the way, I think the response was well done.  Obviously, the apology is accepted.

Hooray! It’s safe to eat Cheerios again.