In Australia, we have some beneficial consumer laws (eg prohibiting misleading conduct in trade or commerce), and I have heard of some people deliberately not reading contracts so that they can rely on favourable oral representations made to them by the other party, which could be a big business representative or (more commonly) a shop assistant or clerk. The idea is that it doesn't matter whether the contract (often handed to you at the same time) says anything different to what you were told by the representative, provided that you don't know what the contract says and are genuinely relying on what you were told (and can later prove what they told you). There are some other caveats too but you get the idea. You do leave yourself open to the risk of agreeing to other nasty clauses in the contract wholly unrelated to what was said to you though.