Recover money after customer cancelled order

AnnOyd_2

Hi there

I'll be a little vague because you never know who's reading.

Basically I supply web design and hosting. I had a costomer who has several sites setup with me. To make my prices more attractive I sell the hosting for a monthly fee, but I pay for the full year from my supplier.

All my customers pay me by Standing Order, but this one asked me to invoice them quarterly. I had been doing this, and as they added sites the quarterly bill obviously increased.

This most recent quarter I sent the invoice as usual, then a week later the finance director emailed to say they are having financial difficulties so would like to cancel all web hosting. I know for a fact this is a load of rubbish.

I responded explaining I pay in advance so would need paying for this quarter, and that I can't get a refund.

I have sent reminder invoices and now am at the point where I've added a charge according to late payment legislation and added the interest.

Next step is Moneyclaim Online. My main question is if people would consider me having any chance, seeing as there are no written contracts. Would the fact they were paying regularly count as some sort of contract?

Thanks

Annisele

I think the fact that the paid regularly probably would show that there was a contract (but I'm not a lawyer). IMO your problem is going to be showing what the terms of that contract were.

If they say "but we thought that we could cancel at any time", would you be able to show that that was untrue? If you can't, then I think you'll struggle to sue.

AnnOyd_2

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess it might be difficult. I just. find it annoying they cancelled after the invoice and I'm out of pocket

swbrua

That's the cost of working with your supplier and without contracts. If the invoice is for something paid for in advance and they don't pay the invoice you just withhold the services, you can't chase them for the money as they have no obligation to pay -- unless you have a signed contract.

If they have evidence of:

emailed to say they are having financial difficulties so would like to cancel all web hosting

then your invoices you're sending now aren't valid (unless you have a cancellation period?) because they've made it clear they do not want your services.

bris

Contracts do come in different forms and not all need to be signed to be valid. In this case his previous payments does prove there is a contract. If you pay in advance then it may be seen as reasonable to expect them too.
If it's for a sizable amount and is worth the relatively small cost of the small claims court, then you would have a decent chance of getting a judge to agree with you that notice is required to cancel, it is required in nearly all other contracts so why not this one.

ffacoffipawb

AnnOyd wrote: »

Hi there

I'll be a little vague because you never know who's reading.

Basically I supply web design and hosting. I had a costomer who has several sites setup with me. To make my prices more attractive I sell the hosting for a monthly fee, but I pay for the full year from my supplier.

All my customers pay me by Standing Order, but this one asked me to invoice them quarterly. I had been doing this, and as they added sites the quarterly bill obviously increased.

This most recent quarter I sent the invoice as usual, then a week later the finance director emailed to say they are having financial difficulties so would like to cancel all web hosting. I know for a fact this is a load of rubbish.

I responded explaining I pay in advance so would need paying for this quarter, and that I can't get a refund.

I have sent reminder invoices and now am at the point where I've added a charge according to late payment legislation and added the interest.

Next step is Moneyclaim Online. My main question is if people would consider me having any chance, seeing as there are no written contracts. Would the fact they were paying regularly count as some sort of contract?

Thanks

Change their website to advise that the FD has stated that they are short of funds and that anyone who deals with them should therefore proceed with caution?

bengalknights

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

Change their website to advise that the FD has stated that they are short of funds and that anyone who deals with them should therefore proceed with caution?

+1 on that!

texranger

AnnOyd wrote: »

To make my prices more attractive I sell the hosting for a monthly fee, but I pay for the full year from my supplier.

I run a hosting company and how you pay your supplier has nothing to do with your clients.

I have several VPS servers i paid one of these annually other i pay monthly, but i have clients who pay monthly and some annually. My TOS state a clear cancellation procedure. some clients follow this some dont, in hosting you will always have difficult clients and will always lose some this is the nature of the business. we use WHMCS and have a clear invoice structure, which include late fees and if needed LBAs. I have been in this game since 1999 and in my first year i ran at a lose yr 2 breakeven and since then i run at a profit.

If this client has always paid ontime without fail then to say something like "I know for a fact this is a load of rubbish" when they say they are have financial issues especially with the way the economy is at the moment. i would speak to the client and if their is a way they can still host even if it means reducing their fees for a short period and make it monthly. advertise to get more clients that will help the supplier costs.

Re Contracts.

In hosting if they pay monthly then on each payment they are accepting your TOS which in effect is a new contract period. This is what i was told by TS

stephent82

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

Change their website to advise that the FD has stated that they are short of funds and that anyone who deals with them should therefore proceed with caution?

Personally, I wouldn't do that encase they hit you with legal action for defamation. I think you should take down their sites and add advertising for their competitors blocks along with a statement along the lines of "The owner of this website has not paid their recent bill. If you are the former owner of this website and would like to re-activate your account click here. If you would like to purchase this domain name click here"

texranger

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

Change their website to advise that the FD has stated that they are short of funds and that anyone who deals with them should therefore proceed with caution?

As a webhost it is not your website to change or add such statements

you can suspend the site and place a suspension notice on the site something like this

This Account Has Been Suspended because ...

- The customer has out standing invoices
- The customer has cancelled his/her hosting account
- The customers web hosting account trial has ended
- The customer has exceeded his/her bandwidth limits
- The customer has violated our terms of service

Please contact Your Host if you are the owner of this website for more information.

AnnOyd_2

The sites have gone, and I'm not uploading a page saying things that could see me in trouble.

I suspect they just went elsewhere that's cheaper, and I know the financial difficulties is rubbish bvecasue I spoke to the managing director shortly after the finance director sent the cancellation email. He said they were not having problems, and agreed it was unfair I should be out of pocket.

A short while later he sent me an email saying all future enquiries go to the finance director, who doesn't answer his phones or emails.

I didn't get any signed contracts becasue I was creating a single site for them originally when they first started. As they grew they added more sites, just speaking over the phone to tell me what they wanted.