Terms & conditions help
Discussion
Hope someone can help.
I've had a problem with a customer of mine. (A borough council typically).
Situation is we sent a quote to a customer which he accepted by email. We then sent him a copy of our terms and conditions which he received by email. These include a clause which if they change the agreed date to start testing then we will charge 15% of the order value.
We set a date to start work in August which he changed with less than a days notice. This meant we had 2 engineers with no work for at a week. Put this down to experience and made another date in Sept which he has now cancelled with less than a days notice again. So again 2 engineers with no work for a week.
I have now emailed him to tell him we are going to invoice the 15% charge as in our terms and conditions. He has written back saying he has not signed a contract so no penalties are due.
So where do I stand Phers? Can I say that by accepting the quote and not objecting to the T&C's he has agreed to them and so the penalty is due according to some Blah Blah Act 1985?
Edited to add before now we have only dealt with commercial organisations-are all government agencies this bad?
I've had a problem with a customer of mine. (A borough council typically).
Situation is we sent a quote to a customer which he accepted by email. We then sent him a copy of our terms and conditions which he received by email. These include a clause which if they change the agreed date to start testing then we will charge 15% of the order value.
We set a date to start work in August which he changed with less than a days notice. This meant we had 2 engineers with no work for at a week. Put this down to experience and made another date in Sept which he has now cancelled with less than a days notice again. So again 2 engineers with no work for a week.
I have now emailed him to tell him we are going to invoice the 15% charge as in our terms and conditions. He has written back saying he has not signed a contract so no penalties are due.
So where do I stand Phers? Can I say that by accepting the quote and not objecting to the T&C's he has agreed to them and so the penalty is due according to some Blah Blah Act 1985?
Edited to add before now we have only dealt with commercial organisations-are all government agencies this bad?
Edited by greenie on Wednesday 20th September 16:41
This is a contract issue - you offered to do the work, they accepted and agred to pay. When you sent your T's and C's they did not back out so the contract was still in place and the variation caused by your T's and C's was therefore accepted. This is how I would see it. Having succesfully fought two claims in the small claims court on the basis of breach of verbal contract I think you may have a strong case. In my case when they refused to pay a cancellation %age I took them for the full amount. Admittedly we aren't on each others Christmas card lists any more....
The weak spot in the argument is that the contract is made on acceptance of terms but the T&C's were sent afterwards
There is a contract but it might not include the right to charge the 15%
For the time being stick to your claim to see what they do. Point out that they accepted your terms and crank up the pressure.
And next time get the T&C's in with the quote
There is a contract but it might not include the right to charge the 15%
For the time being stick to your claim to see what they do. Point out that they accepted your terms and crank up the pressure.
And next time get the T&C's in with the quote
You don't need to have a contract to commence work or charge either.
Many rush jobs in construction are carried out under "letters of intent" which authorises work to commence rather than hold things up over legal wranglings around the contract.
I would suggest that their e-mail of acceptance constitutes a letter of intent and see how you get on with that.
Many rush jobs in construction are carried out under "letters of intent" which authorises work to commence rather than hold things up over legal wranglings around the contract.
I would suggest that their e-mail of acceptance constitutes a letter of intent and see how you get on with that.
Well that's a good result. Got a check from the BC today for the 15% cancellation charge. That is less than 30 days after I invoiced.
The actual contact has continued to say it wasn't chargeable for loads of reasons (e.g. he hadn't agree to the dates
). But obviously the accounts/legal department took one look at it (called the bloke an idiot) and paid up.
Top result!
The actual contact has continued to say it wasn't chargeable for loads of reasons (e.g. he hadn't agree to the dates
). But obviously the accounts/legal department took one look at it (called the bloke an idiot) and paid up. Top result!
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