What you are really agreeing to
A signed contract is presumed read, and courts are unmoved by the claim that nobody reads these things. A typed name or a tapped box on a screen binds you as firmly as ink. Nearly every contract also carries an entire agreement clause, which says the written pages are the whole deal. The salesperson's promise of a free month or an easy exit is worth nothing unless it appears in the document. Have any promise that matters written in before you sign.
Read in this order
Start with the parties and confirm that the company named is the one you think you are dealing with. Then find the money: the price, every fee, the due dates, the late charges, and whether the rate can rise during the term. Then find the way out, which means the length of the term, the renewal mechanism, the notice you must give to cancel, and what cancelling costs. The remaining pages mostly describe what happens when something goes wrong, and that is where the expensive surprises sit.
Clauses worth slowing down for
- An arbitration clause sends disputes to a private arbitrator in place of a court, and it usually waives your right to join a class action.
- An indemnification clause can make you pay the other side's losses and legal fees, including for events you did not cause.
- A limitation of liability clause caps what the company owes you, often at the amount you have paid.
- A liquidated damages or early termination clause fixes in advance what breaking the deal will cost you.
- A personal guarantee makes you, and not only your business, answerable for the debt.
- A governing law and venue clause decides which state's courts hear a dispute, which may be far from yours.
Changing the terms
Printed forms are more negotiable than they look. Strike the line, write the new term beside it, and have both parties initial and date the change. Leave no blanks, because a blank can be filled in after you have gone. Keep a complete copy bearing both signatures. A purchase agreement for a home, a job offer with a non-compete, a business partnership, a settlement or release, and anything with a personal guarantee all justify an hour of a lawyer's time before you sign.
Note There is no general right to change your mind. The federal three-day cooling-off rule covers door-to-door and similar off-premises sales, and it does not cover a car bought at a dealership or a lease signed in an office.
