Business Purchase Cancelled

bris

Without a written contract, you have contract law, whether that helps you or not is for a court to decide.
How did you buy the machine, do they have a website? if so what does it say about cancellation?A link would help others to help you.

In the current circumstances you might well struggle to get a court to agree that they are being unreasonable. With them offering to fulfil the contract they may very well see see no reason to allow you to cancel without penalty. A contract works both ways, you should have stipulated what you wanted from them, you can also make a contract to protect yourself.
 

Vector83

Thanks bris,
Would agreeing an install date not be sufficient?
They have offered to fulfill it, but when? It could be months and what if their company goes under.
Thank you

ssparks2003

You now seem to be the one preventing installation, you said in your first post that they have offered to fit it in the next two weeks, why can't you work around that?

mattyprice4004

I'd say you're now the one cancelling, as they've turned around and offered to install in the next 2 weeks - your staffing problems aren't their problem. 

Courts are unlikely to look favourably on you insisting on a date, then pulling the plug when they do manage to work around their issues and have it installed in the next 2 weeks. 

I'd take the installation, however if you have changed your mind and no longer want them this is your issue - and you would be expected to cover their costs accordingly. 

The_Rainmaker

OP I can understand in the current climate that installing new capacity might not be a great idea but you do have a contract.

What you need to decide is whether the first cut is the cheapest and take them up on their offer of a "restocking fee".  You will need to weigh up the chances of them still being in business, the chances of you still being in business and the chances of the manufacturer being in business etc.

Perhaps it might be best to just complete the contract with the proviso they guarantee completion on the date they have given you.

davidmcn

Vector83 said:

Would agreeing an install date not be sufficient?
They have offered to fulfill it, but when? It could be months and what if their company goes under.

Agreeing an installation date doesn't in itself imply "if it doesn't happen on that date then the whole deal is off and you get all your money back". You would have had to make it much clearer that the date was crucial.

If the company goes under then you'd join the queue of creditors.

Vector83

Installation is a tricky one due to the virus, it's a 2 day training on a machine I've not used before, therefore I don't see how that can be done safely. I've taken so many steps to protect myself and my other staff member so that we don't come into contact with anyone, we lock the door at work and don't mix with anyone else outside of work. To have the machine installed would ruin all of that and go against Government guidelines if I have to sit in a room with a stranger for two days being trained, hence why they said they couldn't install it, which apparently now isn't a good enough reason for me to refuse it?

The_Rainmaker & davidmcn - this is what the lawyer I spoke to said too. I'm going to see what is said today and go from there. They have said they will see if they can get the restocking fee waived, which I'm hopeful for, but I've no idea if it's possible.

When I initially asked to cancel the order it was because they had cancelled two install dates and said they will just install it when they can in the future, to me that wasn't acceptable as it's a lot of money tied up in someone else business, of which I have no idea how solvent they are. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I have learned lessons from this, but it's not always possible to predict every eventuality. I have business interruption insurance and even that isn't applicable in this pandemic, so there's only so much I can do and my knowledge doesn't extend to the whole of the law unfortunately for me.