Am I going to be sued ?

[dfaz]

Not necessarily up the creek but it is something you should think about for the future as terms and conditions protect both parties.

We have been in business 21 years and have had to deal with some sh#t but you have to protect yourself as everybody wants a piece of you.

I would recommend joining the federation of small businesses it will cost you less than 200 a year and then you have access to their legal team who will advise you ,fight for you and protect you against tax investigations worth every penny.

If it does go to court make sure you have copies of all letters and documents relating to your case in triplicate one for you the judge and for the prosecution.
They must also provide any evidence that you have not completed the work to a set standard or why they are taking you to court in the first place,you then have time to prepare evidence to the contrary letters photographs advice you gave her, hearsay will not help you need hard evidence.

If it does go further see if you can have another meeting with her take a camera every time you make an effort to resolve this issue goes in your favour, logg it time place notes on conversation if you have been seen to bend over backwards to put anything right the judge will take this all into consideration.

They are savvy people and can see through these people like they are transparent. we had cause to take national clamps to court as we had a permit but still demanded a release fee,the judge ripped him a new one because he opened his mouth and tried to tell the judge the law it was hilarious don't be intimidated answer the questions when asked don't but in .

Hopefully she will hang herself. Best of luck and don't worry

 

[lostinfens]

Just picked up on this thread, it seems to be at least 2 months & the client has not yet issued proceedings. If this is correct, then it must be encouraging. I would have no further contact other than basically say sue & be damned, then the ball is firmly in her court . This being the case, the burden of proof lies with her, if you're confident of your workmanship then no amount of argueing or worrying will realistically alter your prospects.
I took a guy to court this year, the initial cost is based upon the amount in dispute, but isn't enough to dissuade someone with a fair claim.
A judge would decide if the case should go to the "Small Claims Track" & if so may allow it to go through the "Small Claims Mediation Service".
Should you go to court, it is fairly informal and all required documents would be listed on the courts notice. Both sides must submit statements and include any documents or supporting evidence to the court and each other a couple of weeks at least before the hearing date. This in itself should give you sufficient prior knowledge of your chances and allow you to proceed or not.
In court the claimant must first argue their case, after which you may give your defence, both referring to the evidence previously submitted.

Judges are not stupid, a judge will be influenced by the demeanour of a participant as well as their argument.
If this does go as far as court, which I seriously doubt, then prepare well, be succint and dont get personal whatever is said.
The best of luck.

 

[transam]

Good advice from a number of posters on this thread , if you are in buisness for your self long enough , the odds are you will end up in court one way or another over some dispute , large manufacturing companys seem to think that they can ride rough shod over the little trades persons !

Got a court case next month against a boiler manufacturer , all sorts of how can we put it threats ?? made by there legal reps to get the case dropped , lot of porky pies (maybe ?) as well !!!!

If nothing else it should be an education ?? nothing ventured nothing gained , don't let the bu**er* get u down

 

[mkb]

Cheers transam.
Think she's being totally unfair...could give her the money back ...£800 or risk losing up to £2000ish at court but have read all the advice on here and am going to bite the bullet and wait for the court papers and put my faith in the standard of the work I did and also the judicial system and hope I can convince the judge... Still not sure if judge could go 50 - 50 or is it either I win or I lose ?

 

[Bahco]

We are with you all the way!

Reread all the replys you have had and take it on board.

It probably won't get to court anyway as she has been trying to scare you with her silly threats.

Shame that

 

[mkb]

Your right Bahco. My intention is now to hang on til I hear from her ( which I think I will ) and then sit down and go all through the replies and digest all the info and prepare my case. Cheers all.

 

[Bahco]

My intention now is to go all through the replies and digest all the info and prepare my case.

 

[feva]

just picked up this thread, theres some really good advice in here, not just for you but for other people just to bear in mind for the future.

MKB whats the update? i take it you never got the court summons.

one thing to think about would be, if she has had another decorator in for a quote and with his being nearly double, do any else get the feeling that he senses trouble and has out priced him self? i would think about giving him a ring just to warn him, id appreciate that type of phone call, stop him from being the next victim.

one thing thats bugs about people like this is, if you are a honest hard working tradesman and do try to give your customers the best, and they then turn round and make you out to be a cowboy, it makes you question your self and really knocks your confidence. when theres shockingly amazing cowboys out there who rip people off, fold the current business and start a new one, who seem to get away with it every time.

i had a slight run in with a customer nothing major like this and from hearing other peoples horror stories of customer but after that i made sure i have terms and conditions on the back of every quote i send out, to me there a must, and my final term is

Upon accepting the quote you are agreeing with the above terms and conditions in full.

just out of interest how many other people have terms and conditions?

 

[lostinfens]

Take it or leave it--

 

[dfaz]

We had our terms and conditions written up originally in 1998,we have updated them a few times since to keep up with changes and to cover those little things you think of as you go along,one that springs to mind customers cannot invoice you for countercharges without our go ahead and without giving us reasonable time to attend to rectify a problem,we had a customer overzealous with a hoover rad started leaking on a Sunday we were not available so called emergency plumber tried to charge us for call out,we attended monday morning to tirade of abuse from customer the 10mm pipe to radiator was nearly flattened needless to say she didn't get paid.This is just one instance unfortunately people are not reasonable make sure you cover yourself,our first contract was from the federation of small businesses who were very helpful at that time since then we have written our own and had it looked over by a solicitor it cost us about 120 quid but worth every penny.

Dave

 

[mkb]

feva,
No not heard from her again....as yet !! Four weeks now since I sent my 'final' letter....Fingers crossed that might be the end....don't think so though, don't know why but keep expecting a summons on the door mat when I get home from work.
Good idea about the Tems & Conditions and will bear that in mind.

 

[1john]

mkb, dont worry about it any more matey, she would have acted by now, i suspect that after a bit of time she has calmed down or infact seen things from your point of view.

 

[sparkiedave]

or she's had some legal advice from someone who's told her not to be so f#####g stupid

 

[transam]

mkb, dont worry about it any more, she would have acted by now.

Not necessarily. Any court action we have ever instigated we deliberately leave for a long time. They think they have got away with it or you will not do anything.

Non payments generally file in December Christmas post
One I am going to be involved with this month started in 2008 .

Company in question were informed or threatened with court action in Oct 2009, and filed in August 2010

 

[DiyNov1ce]

Passage of time may well encourage a "leave it alone now" stance, thus doing exactly that.

However, I wouldn't agree that payment means anything: payment - of itself - means nothing with regard to quality of work. All payment means is that one party has fullfilled their part of the contract.

I'm with the poster that suggested sending a recorded delivery response. There is nothing like recording neutral fact and this would include recording your previous conversation (quoting "what" she said and "when" she said it is plain fact) and including also that you inspected the work and record the minor marks or the customer's cat's paw marks etc.

I would also be inclined to record that you inspected the work, that it was satisfactory. Also, bland allegations alleging about work not to specification etc - they would require to be very specific in detailing "what" exactly was not to specification or per contract/agreed requirements. If it is per your quotation then refer to that and if the customer made particular requirements then the customer would require to describe exactly "what" requirement wasn't met and "how" it wasn't met.

In the end its all about what was in the contract - what were you actually contracted to do.

I'm a diy novice yes, in my working life I prepare contractual correspondence and have a degree in construction law.