I often get calls from people who want to cancel a contract they made. Maybe they just bought a special refrigerator, or a security system, or a cellphone, or a car. Sometimes they made a contract to purchase a house or maybe just rent an apartment. For whatever reason, they now want out of it and think they have the right to cancel the contract within 3 days. With very few exceptions, they are wrong. There is generally no right to cancel any contract, unless you have a reason within the contract or within the law that allows you to rescind the contract.
I know where the myth about cancelling contracts started. After World War II, door to door salespeople were common in our country. They would sell roofing, or siding, or vacuum cleaners or encyclopedias. If they came to your door and you answered, because of the expectations of courtesy back in those days, you probably would have invited them to step inside. They would tell you that your own home was about ready to fall apart, or show you how much dirt you had on your bed sheets that their vacuum cleaner could remove. They would keep it up until you signed on the bottom line, agreeing to an overpriced version of whatever product they were selling. In rare occasions, these products were worth what you paid for them, but in many instances, the sale was being made to someone who did not entirely understand what they were purchasing. Sometimes, if the buyer was a divorced woman, a widow or an elderly person, the tactics felt like strong-arm tactics. The implication was that the salesperson would not leave you in peace until you purchased his product. Little old ladies, fearful that their house was about to come crashing down and having an arm twisted by a salesperson, would agree to a bad contract, and then a few days later their son-in-law would come over and get furious over mom being cheated.
Consumer groups started springing up and pushed for laws that would protect consumers from the worst of these tactics. After all was said & done, the laws only covered situations where you did not solicit the encounter, where the person came to your house and got you to sign with tactics that feel excessive. These “right to rescind” laws are usually very limited, and do not cover most situations. As a result, the contract you made with the cellphone company may have a way to help you get some relief from an excessive bill, but this is usually not the law that will help you with that.
In states that have these laws, sellers usually do not count your transaction as a sale and would not make a move to help you or schedule the service until the three days passed. If you are one of the few who has the right to rescind because your contract falls under the statute, you need to make sure you rescind it correctly, giving notice in the proper way, and keeping proof that you gave the notice of your intention to exercise the right to rescind, as well as proof that you gave this notice to them within the correct amount of time.
But even if your contract does not come under the very limited right to rescind, all is not lost. If fraud truly occurred in your situation, you may have a way out. Or certain services may have different rules entirely. For example, some states have written laws about high-pressure time share sales. And most states have specific rules about getting out of a rental or real estate purchase contract. Often, when the sale is real estate, there are specific rules within the contract about how to get out of it. The contracts are very long, so it is worth having a lawyer review it if you have decided that you want to cancel it, to find out what your rights are if you cancel. It is possible or likely that you will have to pay some money in order to cancel a real estate contract, for example, but the amount you would pay would be far less than following through with a bad contract to buy a house, so it is worth looking into it.
The general rule to follow, if you are an adult, is to take adult responsibility for your decisions and do not allow someone to badger or embarrass you into spending money you do not have to spend or do not want to spend. However, if you find yourself in the unpleasant circumstance of having made a purchase that you now regret, run to a lawyer with the contract in hand, to have a contract review. Give the lawyer every reason that you want to get out of the contract, along with a copy of the contract and an explanation of how you got into it. Somewhere among that information there may be an exception in your state, that would allow you to get out of it. Only a lawyer licensed in your state who has experience in contract law, will be able to know this. The lucky thing is that it will not take more than a brief consult about the contract with maybe a demand letter written by the lawyer to the seller, to know whether you have a chance to get out of your contract.
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