Cancellation Fee

annachunt

Dear all

I contacted a carpet cleaning company last week to come and clean tomorrow (7th December). Over the weekend our boiler broke and all our money is going on that. On ringing up to cancel with the carpet cleaners this morning I was told that I would need to pay a cancellation fee of £24. I explained the situation and that we now had no money at all. He said we had 7 days to pay then it was going to the small claims court. He said they could come and pick the money up. I don't want somebody turning up on my doorstep. No contract was signed. Do I need to pay to avoid a poor credit rating.

Thanks for any advice in advance

Anna

alanobrien

As nothing was signed i assume you had a verbal agreement which is difficult to prove in law.

The trader may of course have lost business or had to move work around to accomodate your job so could be out of pocket or perhaps just miffed by cancellation on such short notice.

If it were me i would most likely agree to pay but at my next payday if i were short of cash. That or agree to have the job done but just put it back a month.

However you may like to review the link below before making any decision.

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/business/contract_law.html

DVardysShadow

alanobrien wrote: »

However you may like to review the link below before making any decision.

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/business/contract_law.html

Take the link with a pinch of salt. US law does not apply here yet. Although the principles will be similar, the detail will almost certainly be different.