Help over invoice

reeves1985

Hi people
I'm new to the forum and am not sure if this is in the correct place so mods please feel free to move it

I have a situation with a invoice I received and it is starting to worry me now so I'm hoping somebody can help me out

Background:
I am a footballer and had brief discussions with a club in Scotland (spl) over a possible transfer
The talks didn't go very far (through agents etc) and I didn't agree to sign nor was a contract or paperwork signed at any stage. A plane ticket was booked for me to travel over there which I didn't go because I was unhappy at the way things had gone in the preliminary discussions, this was a 1 way plane ticket
Anyway long story short I didn't go and they are now sending me a invoice every 30 days for the money for the plane ticket (which isn't exactly cheap) and I don't know what to do

I was not bound by any terms to travel and there was no paperwork or contract tieing me to the club in question
I don't feel that they should be invoicing me for the money and also threatening legal action to reclaim the money
But I don't know enough about law etc to be in a position to know if they have any sort of legal power to be able to hassle/harass me into this which I don't think I have any obligation to pay

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

matttye

Will they have anything in writing where you agreed that they would only pay for your plain ticket if you joined their club or actually went to the meeting? If not, I highly doubt they could claim it from you.

reeves1985

hi thanks for the reply
there is nothing whatsoever in writing
there was a phone converstion directly to me from the manager and then through a third party (agent)
the only thing i ever received was a email detailing the airfare which was booked and paid by them in my name

matttye

reeves1985 wrote: »

hi thanks for the reply
there is nothing whatsoever in writing
there was a phone converstion directly to me from the manager and then through a third party (agent)
the only thing i ever received was a email detailing the airfare which was booked and paid by them in my name

Presumably you've authorised the agent to make decisions on your behalf.. you should find out what they agreed to.

reeves1985

the agent in question has no authority to make decisions in contractual terms on my behalf
that would be a violation of the authorised FIFA agent contract

in theory he could have agreed with the other club for me to go over but he couldnt actually sign anything on my behalf to say i would go

it is a bit of a mess

the way im looking at it is if i havent signed any paperwork or any contract then i have no legal obligation to pay anything and there is nothing detailing i have to foot any expense

matttye

reeves1985 wrote: »

the agent in question has no authority to make decisions in contractual terms on my behalf
that would be a violation of the authorised FIFA agent contract

in theory he could have agreed with the other club for me to go over but he couldnt actually sign anything on my behalf to say i would go

it is a bit of a mess

the way im looking at it is if i havent signed any paperwork or any contract then i have no legal obligation to pay anything and there is nothing detailing i have to foot any expense

I agree with you - logic tells me you shouldn't have to pay anything if there was no formal agreement. They're probably just trying to bully you into paying.

reeves1985

thats exactly what i think

but the last thing i want is to end up getting a court judgment for it

i am thinking about writing a letter but wouldnt know where to start and how it should be written

happy_bunny_2

If it did go to court, and say they won, you could pay within a month and the CCJ would not show on your credit report etc. As long as they have your current address then you would get the court papers to defend any claim.

I would be tempted to say that you never agreed to pay the fare and that you won't be paying it and see what they do.

bargainbetty

Ask them for a copy of the agreement stating that you would reimburse them for the ticket if the talks broke down and you did not attend the meeting. State that unless and until they can produce that agreement, you are under no obligation to pay for a ticket they purchased of their own volition.

moohound

I wonder if its worth asking on Legal Beagles?

They might be able to draft a letter up for you.

eddddy

Hi Reeves


Just to play devil's advocate - it's worth clarifying that a verbal agreement would be perfectly valid. Just because nothing is written down, it doesn't mean there was no agreement.

Obviously I have no idea what was said in discussions, but for example, if they said "If we buy you a ticket, will you come for a meeting" and you said "Yes" - you will have made an agreement.

If you then did not attend the meeting, you have broken the agreement, and they could legitimately ask you to cover their associated costs (i.e. the plane ticket).

Having said this, if it were me, I would start by writing them a very polite informal letter saying something like "I don't recall agreeing to cover the cost of the plane ticket, can you clarify why you believe I agreed to pay...?"

I don't know the mindset of the people involved, but in my experience a polite informal letter often gets better results than an aggressive 'legalistic' letter. (And the polite informal letter will carry just as much weight in court, if it comes to that.)