I had a great experience on the phone with an AT&T representative when I called to transfer my number from an existing corporate plan to my own personal plan. I selected my options, and the representative explained to me that because it was a transfer, I would get a standard zero-month contract. He explained to me that I was free to change my service or transfer my number to another provider whenever I wanted to. This all went through successfully, and I was set.
Two weeks later, I noticed that my account had been slapped with an 18 month contract. When I called, AT&T had no idea why I would have had no contract, and they said that a standard transfer of service contract is 11 months. They told me that the first representative I spoke with was mistaken and that there is no record of my zero-month contract. Luckily I got my contract bumped down to 11 months; however, it doesn’t explain what happened to the zero-month contract.
Edit: 11 months is the standard length for a transfer of service. However, I did not agree to that over the phone. If they can slap me with a contract without any change in service or without my acceptance, their word and their contract are meaningless.