It's been a while since i did the "law for business people" class. You're right, promissory estoppel applies to arrangements made on the anticipation of a cont

It's been a while since i did the "law for business people" class. You're right, promissory estoppel applies to arrangements made on the anticipation of a contract or more formal agreement. The courts recognize that it's not unreasonable that people do things on the promise of some future agreement. As the other comment notes, such a claim must pass a number of tests with regards to the reasonableness of actions, the beliefs of both parties at the time the actions are taken, etc.