I for one will not be cashing the check and am already in talks with an arbitrator.
Can you provide more details on this? I need to look into this as well.
According to the ToS we can only use AAA or JAMS. Have you contacted any of these? I'd also like to know more about associated cost & fees.
The arbitration shall be administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) or JAMS (or a substitute forum if both are unavailable).
Unless otherwise directed by the arbitrator(s), the parties will bear their own costs and expenses that are reasonable and necessary to participate in such arbitration, including attorneys fees.
The arbitration will only resolve the dispute. Even if you win, you still need to take steps to enforce it. From Wikipedia:
Unlike court judgments, arbitration awards themselves are not directly enforceable. A party seeking to enforce an arbitration award must resort to judicial remedies, called an action to "confirm" an award
Also arbitration seems to have a number of downsides:
Arbitration may be subject to pressures from powerful law firms representing the stronger and wealthier party
In some arbitration agreements, the parties are required to pay for the arbitrators, which adds an additional layer of legal cost that can be prohibitive, especially in small consumer disputes
In some arbitration agreements and systems, the recovery of attorneys' fees is unavailable, making it difficult or impossible for consumers or employees to get legal representation
Never been through an arbitration process before so any advice would be appreciated.