text: Completely wrong.  Mandatory arbitration clauses force both parties into arbitration and bar court involvement.  The Federal Arbitration Act is extremely broad, and preempts local state laws that might allow you to circumvent arbitration.  
  
  Arbitration is extremely biased towards the corporations, because arbitrators make their living by being selected by the parties (it is not like a court where you just get assigned to a judge) - a typical consumer might go to arbitration once, while the corporation might have hundreds - you can only guess which side the arbitrator is likely to favor if they want repeat business.
  
  The most you can do when the decision goes against you is appeal the arbitration decision, and that is almost a guaranteed loser in court because the court presumes the validity and binding nature of the arbitration process absent exceptional circumstances.
  
  So yes, this is a widespread problem for consumers generally, and a bad thing for the bike program.