Some time ago, I was purchasing online tickets to an event. When I got to the end of the checkout flow, I got this:
Your seats will be held for only a limited time. If you do not complete your transaction in time, your seats will be released.
Time remaining: 3210:00595857565554535251504948474645444342414039383736353433323130292827262524232221201918171615141312111009080706050403020100¹
You must accept the following terms to complete the purchase.
☐ I agree to the Purchase Terms
☐ I agree to the Terms and Conditions
☐ I agree to the Payment Terms
Complete purchase
The countdown timer gives me only three minutes to read the Purchase Terms, Terms and Conditions (which in turn incorporates by reference the Privacy Policy and Supplemental Terms), and Payment Terms. Given that these documents add up to several thousand words, I think I have a case for claiming that the terms are unenforceable.
¹ I wonder how many people stuck around to watch the clock count all the way down. There is no Easter Egg, sorry.
The RSS feed shows the timer as
3210:00595857565554535251504948474645444342414039383736353433323130292827262524232221201918171615141312111009080706050403020100
So I didn’t need to watch it count down for 3 minutes. I got all the content in one shot.
And clearly the solution is to select a seat, let it expire while you read the terms and conditions, then go back and select another seat that you can then purchase. This assumes they didn’t change the terms and conditions in between the two seat selections.