Self employed problem

DevilsAdvocate1

I'm self employed and one of my customers short paid my last invoice by £750. I had no notification from them that they were going to do this.

When I contacted them to point out the mistake I was told that they would look into it. A week later I received an email to say that my work had been substandard and that they had deducted my invoice for this reason. I'm not going to get the £750.

I was thinking of taking them to the small claims court. However, I can't see how I can disprove what they are saying about my work. Can they just deduct money like that with no notification and no option for my to improve?

They've reduced my invoice by more than 50% which even if their claims were true seems excessive. Their answer is that it was written in the brief, so I was aware. However, I didn't receive the brief until after comitting to the work. They have told me that if I'd asked they would have provided it beforehand, so its my fault as they have provided it to other clients.

Where do I stand on this. I was thinking of starting a small claim action but don't want to throw good money after bad.

Comms69

What was the work, what did you do wrong?

steampowered

Yes, you can take them to small claims court. It is cheap and easy to do.

If the Defendant refused to pay despite being served with a small claim, the judge would have to decide the case on a 'balance of probabilities'.

The judge would look at the evidence presented to him, and would have to make an assessment as to whether your work was in breach of contract or not. The burden of proof would be on the company to prove what was wrong with with your work.

If the judge concluded that the work was in breach of contract, the company would be awarded damages which can be off-set against your invoices. Damages should put the company in the position it should have been in if the contract was properly performed, i.e. they will be the financial cost to the company of fixing the dodgy work. It is up to the company to prove this cost.

If you were not told about the issues or given an opportunity to fix them, you could argue that the company has failed to 'mitigate their loss' and should not be allowed the deduction.

If you didn't receive the brief until after both sides had committed to the work, then the brief will not form part of your contract. It is their responsibility to make sure that any contract terms they want are provided before the contract is entered into.

If you want to take this further the next step would be to prepare a 'letter before action' requesting payment within 14 days and stating that you will be bringing a county court claim if the money is not paid.

DevilsAdvocate1

Comms69 wrote: »

What was the work, what did you do wrong?

They say the work was submitted after the deadline. Sometimes by 1 day. They have then deducted over 50% from my payment.

Its a bit confusing as there were 2 deadlines - one for the project and one for individual pieces of work. I met the project deadline in all cases. However, they also stipulated that individual pieces of work had to be submitted within a certain timeframe of being completed and I did not always hit this separate condition. And even this is not straightforward.

For example, I might have completed the work on Thursday and they wanted it sent with 48 hours. But I was away from home and arrived back at home in the early hours of Saturday. I then had Saturday off to spend time with my family and sent the work in on the Sunday. This is over 48 hours, but should it not be 48 working hours. They are not open on a Saturday or Sunday, so even if I sent it to them on the Saturday they would not look at it until the Monday morning. So I haven't held them up.

Comms69

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

They say the work was submitted after the deadline. Sometimes by 1 day. They have then deducted over 50% from my payment.

Its a bit confusing as there were 2 deadlines - one for the project and one for individual pieces of work. I met the project deadline in all cases. However, they also stipulated that individual pieces of work had to be submitted within a certain timeframe of being completed and I did not always hit this separate condition. And even this is not straightforward.

For example, I might have completed the work on Thursday and they wanted it sent with 48 hours. But I was away from home and arrived back at home in the early hours of Saturday. I then had Saturday off to spend time with my family and sent the work in on the Sunday. This is over 48 hours, but should it not be 48 working hours. They are not open on a Saturday or Sunday, so even if I sent it to them on the Saturday they would not look at it until the Monday morning. So I haven't held them up.

I don't think that's worth a 50% deduction, but I also don't think you should be dictating their timelines etc.


yours is not to question why often project managers will work weekends and your work being late could hold up other aspects.

lincroft1710

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

For example, I might have completed the work on Thursday and they wanted it sent with 48 hours. But I was away from home and arrived back at home in the early hours of Saturday. I then had Saturday off to spend time with my family and sent the work in on the Sunday. This is over 48 hours, but should it not be 48 working hours. They are not open on a Saturday or Sunday, so even if I sent it to them on the Saturday they would not look at it until the Monday morning. So I haven't held them up.

If they state "48 hours", that is what they mean, 48 hours. Whether or not they were open when the work would have been received is immaterial, you failed to comply with their requirements.

However this does not mean I agree with the company arbitrarily deducting £750 from your invoice

DevilsAdvocate1

Comms69 wrote: »

yours is not to question why often project managers will work weekends and your work being late could hold up other aspects.

With this particular company they don't work weekends. And in fact when they proof read my work it is often 2 weeks or so after I sent it to them. They used to say 5 days, this 2 day thing is new and I've even seen one which said 12 hours.

Comms69

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

With this particular company they don't work weekends. And in fact when they proof read my work it is often 2 weeks or so after I sent it to them. They used to say 5 days, this 2 day thing is new and I've even seen one which said 12 hours.

It's not up to you.


Sorry to be blunt, but if I'm paying you to deliver to a timescale, that's what I'm spending my money on.


If I am paying you to produce a piece of work and then send it to the shedder, that's up to me.

DevilsAdvocate1

But they're not paying me, thats the point. Though they've still used my work. They also owe me expenses that I incurred. These were due to be paid in October. And I have been told twice that they have been paid.

jobbingmusician

Did they raise any of these concerns with you whilst you were performing the contract? I think if they did not, a court would look quite harshly on them suddenly deducting 50% from your final payment. There is also the issue that they did not know, without 'looking into it', why you had not been paid.

You also state that you were not given the T & C of the contract until after you had signed it. Hindsight, and all that, but did you put in writing to them the fact that you would exercise your best endeavours and goodwill to meet these T & C, but that they were imposed after the contract had already been agreed? ( I ask not to make you feel bad, but so that you will do this next time )

It sounds to me as if you have a good small claims case. However, it may be worth doing as much research as you can before launching. There is no point in winning your court case if the company doesn't have the money to pay you, and folds..........

steampowered

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

They say the work was submitted after the deadline. Sometimes by 1 day. They have then deducted over 50% from my payment.

If the brief was shown to you before a contract was entered into (and therefore forms part of the contract), and the brief says that pay will be deducted if you don't hit the timescales, and you accepted the brief ... then they can deduct.

If the brief wasn't provided to you until after the contract had begun, they can only deduct fees to the extent that the employer can prove it has suffered financial loss as a result of you delivering the work late.

Clearly, the employer is not going to be able to prove financial loss if they were sent work on a Sunday rather than a Saturday.

If you aren't too fussed about working for them again - it is probably worth going ahead with a short 'letter before action' followed by small claims court for the full amount.