How I Deal With Contracts

[theocelotninja]

Crossing off things from a contract in front of the guy that gave it to you is a power move

[TheRealChais]

My father taught me long ago to do the same with contracts, cross out and initial any changes, sign the doc and return it. Only once did I get negative feedback and it was from a leasing office trying to claim it was an “accident” the rent showed $800 more per month than we agreed upon and to “just sign it, we’ll fix it later”. I knew they’d stick to the signed higher amount so I corrected it, signed the whole doc, and they were upset but honored it

[DkryptX]

I've done this with EVERY contract I've had to sign since the day I've turned 18. Thank you for the validation.

[tricktaylor]

I paid like $200k for college and law school. You're goddamn right im going to use every bit of that knowledge to my advantage. I don't care who gets upset.

[Khaltazar-]

Oh yeah, I did that for my apartment. There was a clause saying "We have the right at any time to enter your unit with or without notice to confirm the unit is being properly maintained." I crossed it out, initialed next to it and the person who was having me sign it initialed next to it too. Another I had to cross out was "We have the right to use your unit if we so desire to give potential tenants a tour of what their unit would look like if they choose your floor plan. We will provide 24 hour notice in most cases and ask you to not be there." I said heck no to that. I said while I pay for this unit, it is mine. You aren't coming in unless I call for maintenance.

[stacye]

I learned this from a lawyer that I used to work with. I was like "you can do that?!?" Yes, you can. And I take a picture of it. And one time it helped me out. Worth it. I do it with doctor's agreements and everything.

[Jimmy-Mc]

I remember reading the fine print for my car loan, and the sales manager said "Wow, most people don't actually read that." Pro tip: read the document that puts you tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

[amjPeace]

When my son was buying his first house he kept everyone at the table waiting while he read every single word on every single paper he was asked to sign. The agent and lawyer were acting all put out but he ignored their impatience. I am so proud of him.

[Nezarus]

Never done that to a contract but I do it when shopping for cars all the time. They hand you a quote, I start adjusting the quote with intitials then sign it and hand it back. They always tell me I can't do that. I blink and say I just did. Then they just get crazy flustered and I start leaving. Then the sales manager comes running over and suddenly I have a new quote. It is so much fun.

[bicyclist]

Smart, Very smart!
Here's a True story.
A guy got a credit card offer in the mail. He read it. Then he scanned it to his computer. Edited it to give himself a 0% interest rate. Then he printed it out, signed it and sent it in. The credit card company, didn't know that he had edited it, and charged him the regular rate. He sued them for violation of the contract and won. They had to give him the 0% interest. Thanks.

[ScottGrammer]

I used to do this with cable TV contracts. I'd ask the installer to give me the contract before he did anything. While he or she was running wires and hooking up stuff, I was reading and redlining the contract. I always signed it and handed it to them and they never said a word. Did that three or four times in different homes. It saved me a lot of money once. I decided to cancel and they wanted to charge me a cancellation fee. They said "it's in the contract." I said, "You better look again, because I redlined that clause on the contract I signed and you accepted." That was the end of that.

[Natalia-jvbz]

Literally was in a car collision yesterday. They didn’t take me seriously and didn’t look at my Medical ID when I told them repeatedly. When asked to sign all the forms, I FaceTimed my lawyer and painstakingly read through each page. Even with a head injury, I’m not signing it without reading it.

[fallencaryatidcv]

I did that to a contract for the first time when signing up with a personal trainer through my gym. It said they could cause my death, intentionally or unintentionally, and my survivors could not sue.
Made my edits, initialed them, and signed. Employees were flummoxed but took it, and I never heard anything else about it. 😂
The trainer was excellent and didn’t murder me even once, so no complaints.

Edit to note: I’m not a lawyer; I’m a copy editor. 😅

[sabinrawr]

I do the same thing. One organization I did this with added a provision near the top that says something like, "No part of this document may be stricken nor modified from its original form; doing so shall have no effect."

I struck out that clause.

[NerdsTravels]

As an airline employee: PLEASE read the contract of carriage! It’s on every airline’s website, and it details *everything* you need to know about your ticket.

[commentercommentypants]

The fact that you can just... Cross things off a contract and initial it, at least in that context, makes me very, very happy.

[jana]

I learned to do that from a lawyer i knew. Ive done it on hospital contracts when going into surgery...just cross out and initial the part that releases the doctor and hospital from any negligence...

[KGTiberius]

SAME here. ALSO, photograph the modified agreement as well as a video of the entire vehicle both before accepting and after dropping off.

[eeeeee]

Wait, you can do that? You can just cross out certain parts of the contract, sign it, and then hand it back, and if they sign it, that's what goes?

[royaltyfree-copyrightfreem]

My rental said "don't drive to other states". I drove to Mexico. I told them that's technically not another state 😂