To expect a business to stick to the terms of its invoice

[concernedmumhelp]

My DC does an activity which they really enjoy, and it is conveniently local to us.

There have been some organisational (and other) issues but DC enjoys it and really wants to continue.

We got an invoice for £285 amount on 16th November to be paid by next Friday.

There were other emails subsequently - there is an "early bird" element to payment - but we had a really clear and dated initial invoice so I figured that they would stick to the original term. There is a bit of a history of correspondence being a bit random.

I normally do query their variably accurate correspondence but it has been a really hectic few weeks, with ND older child undergoing an EHCP, educaitonal psychology assessment, getting another ND diagnosis at the same time, also doing GCSE mocks and both children needing transport to school of 50miles round trip because of a) train strikes and b) flooding. So it was really busy.

We got an updated invoice today increased by 5% because they had retrospectively changed the date for payment. It's not a huge amount but am a bit annoyed by being wrongfooted.

Is this a reasonable business model? Are they not bound by the original invoice?

Am I being unreasonable? "

You are being unreasonable" - they can charge what the hell they like, and change the payment plan randomly, what the heck, it's a small business "

You are NOT being unreasonable" - they should stick to the terms on their invoices, life is too short to be trying to make sense of random correspondence with discrepancies.

Does the early bird discount only apply to short payment period ie 14 days? Have you paid on this basis before?

They can't change the date of payment or add 5% to it respectively,

Traders cannot unilaterally change contracts unless eg there's a regulatory reason, which there won't be here. If you need to quote the actual law to them, it's the unfair terms provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Also if they want to change the arrangements going forward, they need to give a period of notice to allow you to leave the contract without penalty.

So you are not unreasonable - they are bound by their original invoice.

MNers are very badly informed about their consumer rights so expect some silly comments after this one.

if you know your child does the activity and will be doing X amount of sessions this month/ half term, put that money aside in advance to pay the invoice as soon as it comes. I run a dance school and get fed up of people who think they should have weeks and weeks extra time to pay their invoice, they know it’s always due at the start of the month and should have the payment ready to send when the invoice arrives. People are always shitty and try to avoid paying in december and then catch up again in january or february, unless your child is new to the activity you really have no excuse that you didn’t know that payment was due.

Usually they tell us the date for payment on the invoice and we pay by that date.

the invoice said "pay £285 by 15th December"

Yes we paid this way before.

There are different payment plans, so other people pay differently.

There was another group email (maybe a couple?) which did mention 8th December as a payment date, but I thought this might refer to a different payment arrangement, especially as we had a clear summary of the payment amount due and the date for payment on the initial invoice.

It is annoying but DC really enjoys the classes and that has been nice for them so we have been putting up with inconsistencies.

You are bound by the original invoice but check carefully if that states the early bird discount is only valid is paid within x days. Devil is in the detail. If no timescale is stated for the early bird discount then they have no right to increase before the original term

We want to pay in full, this month, by the date on the invoice.

We have ALWAYS paid in full, by the date on the invoice.

We have paid quite a lot of money this way over the past 3 years.

I'm not clear, are you saying you've now been sent a new invoice for £299.25 / been sent the same invoice but with the higher amount?

Just pay the £285 by Friday as you planned. Ignore the 2nd invoice.

for £300 and yes

I am not sure what the significance of you being busy lately is in relation to the invoice. But anyway I don’t think anyone could comment without seeing it, it may have said that the £285 was valid for early payment, something you have alluded to, but as mentioned would need to see it.

Normally I would double check if there seemed to be discrepancies or confusion.

But it did seem that "Pay £285 by 15th December" was quite clear, so I thought, hey, we'll just stick with that - and it has been a heck of a couple of weeks, so less time to send clarifying emails.

Yes, it is an early bird discount, but there is no obvious reason why 15th December couldn't be the deadline, and "pay £285 by 15th" seemed quite clear.

Otherwise it should be "Pay £285 by the 8th or (?) pay £300 by 15th surely"

I would pay the original invoice by 15th December as it stated and return the second one as sent to you in error.