Taking a company/client to small claims court

spidereyes

My partner set up his own company in May this year, in about June time he was contacted by a marketing company (one guy company) to do some work for one of their clients.
Originally he was asked to do a brochure, which he did and was paid for.
He was then asked to provide a quote for a website which was agreed and was told that the websites content was going to be similar to the brochure.

He went on to build the website and it went live, but was told that content was not yet available. He left this for a couple of weeks, but after a month or so he sent his final invoice. 6 months later this invoice still remains unpaid.

He has tried contacting both the company and the marketing guy on a daily basis for the past few months but rarely gets through/emails unanswered or when he does speak to someone gets fobbed off.

They told him about 2 months ago they were refusing to pay because there wasn't the content on the site - which they were to provide.
He said he was more than happy to put the content on there but couldn't until they provided it to him (baring in mind when he started the project he was told that it was already written).

Its not a huge amount of money really (well to us it is) about £450, plus interest.

Firstly we have copies of all the emails that went between everyone but that's our only proof, ie some stuff was agreed over the phone but I think in the main the emails cover most things.

Secondly do we claim against the marketing guy who instructed us or the company the work is for as both are refusing to pay up...

My partner is getting so stressed over this and we just need it sorted.

Advice very gratefully appreciated

Equaliser123

Sounds obvious, but was there actually a instruction to proceed to do the work?

Not quite sure I understand the distinction between the marketing company and the guy. Is there any evidence in the emails, etc?

Who was the invoice addressed to?

whitepaper

spidereyes wrote: »

My partner set up his own company in May this year, in about June time he was contacted by a marketing company (one guy company) to do some work for one of their clients.
Originally he was asked to do a brochure, which he did and was paid for.
He was then asked to provide a quote for a website which was agreed and was told that the websites content was going to be similar to the brochure.

He went on to build the website and it went live, but was told that content was not yet available. He left this for a couple of weeks, but after a month or so he sent his final invoice. 6 months later this invoice still remains unpaid.

He has tried contacting both the company and the marketing guy on a daily basis for the past few months but rarely gets through/emails unanswered or when he does speak to someone gets fobbed off.

They told him about 2 months ago they were refusing to pay because there wasn't the content on the site - which they were to provide.
He said he was more than happy to put the content on there but couldn't until they provided it to him (baring in mind when he started the project he was told that it was already written).

Its not a huge amount of money really (well to us it is) about £450, plus interest.

Firstly we have copies of all the emails that went between everyone but that's our only proof, ie some stuff was agreed over the phone but I think in the main the emails cover most things.

Secondly do we claim against the marketing guy who instructed us or the company the work is for as both are refusing to pay up...

My partner is getting so stressed over this and we just need it sorted.

Advice very gratefully appreciated

What do the terms of the contract say?
Who was the contract with?

Why does your partner not have the required content for the website. He was told it was to be similar to that of the brochure ... a brochure you say he supplied.

If this marketing company ordered this website 6 months ago and it's still not up & running with proper content, then I suspect the marketing company is getting stressed over this too ... or have already gone elsewhere to get it sorted!

spidereyes

whitepaper wrote: »

What do the terms of the contract say?
Who was the contract with?

Why does your partner not have the required content for the website. He was told it was to be similar to that of the brochure ... a brochure you say he supplied.

If this marketing company ordered this website 6 months ago and it's still not up & running with proper content, then I suspect the marketing company is getting stressed over this too ... or have already gone elsewhere to get it sorted!

It was the guy from the marketing company who instructed the work, no written contract at the time unfortunately except for emails agreeing to the work at the quoted price etc.
Basically the marketing guy was to be supplying the content which at the time said was already written and would be *similar* to the kind of thing he supplied for the brochure, upon chasing him he says he will "chase the content" from the company.
I'll have to check the invoicing terms, I think at first he said invoice the company direct but then changed it to say to invoice him.

The website is live and has been for months but limited info on it as the content was never supplied (its not changed since it was put live), I'm pretty sure there's emails saying to put it live and the content would follow shortly. it's just one of these things going round in circles, they won't pay till there's content but they won't supply us with the damn content in the first place (because they didn't want us to put on the exact same thing as the brochure).

To be honest I think it's more of a case that the company never wanted the website in the first place, but obviously the marketing guy instructed us to do it.

podperson

If the marketing guy instructed you and he was invoice then direct it to him. I would send a Letter before Action - stating that you still haven't received payment and if nothing is resolved within two weeks then you will be taking legal action - make sure it's sent recorded. No response then put a claim in online - it's not a complicated process these days and I would say that a lot of people wouldn't bother defending for that amount anyway.