Cancelled a contract and now they want to charge me 100%

[littlemissbossy]

ok I agreed a contract for my work, signed a faxed agreement which did not state any terms other than it would be offered to someone else if I didn't pay them within 28 days - I cancelled the agreement and then discovered that the cancellation fee - I expected that there would be one - is 100%!
The terms and conditions of the agreement would have been on the reverse of the order - but I didn't have the original only a fax, so no terms IYSWIM.

Where do I stand? anyone?
TIA

I think that if where you signed the document clearly states that you agree with the terms and conditions, it was encumbant upon you to ask for these if they were not provided.

If it was silent about any t&cs then I don't think they can hold you to them, if you didn;t see them.

What is the contract for?

What are standard t&Cs for this type of contract?

COuld you be reasonably expected to know?

The contract was for an exhibition. I would, in all honesty, expect some sort of cancellation fee but I would not imagine it being 100%.
"In the event of cancellation Clause 8 of the Terms and Conditions overleaft will then be applicable" ... is in the small print at the bottom, bugger

Although it is probably sensible to ask for T&Cs before signing anything, I don't think they can hold you to terms which they haven't provided.

Ask them for proof of provision of said T&Cs. Have you already paid?

I have a copy now, after receiving the invoice, but didn't have one on signing, it states 100% cancellation, even if they sell the stand to someone else
and no I haven't paid them yet

I'm going to have to pay aren't I??

They cannot provide T&Cs as an afterthought. There is pretty strong caselaw on this, although I can't for the life of me find any at the moment.

For the other party to rely on terms and conditions, they have to have provided them first. They didn't. They cannot send them with the invoice and try to hold you to them.

Thanks Freckle, they didn't actually send them with the invoice, I requested them once I'd received the cancellation invoice. Have also now seen in the small print below the signature section "...the signature confirms you have read, understood and agreed to comply with the Terms and Conditions overleaf" but I didn't have them, can they still hold me too them??

I would challenge that. Drawing your attention to crucial terms and conditions in small print is not on. They should have sent out the terms and conditions with the original contract and then if you'd signed you would be bound by it.

Tell them that they failed to provide a copy of their full terms and conditions, including the cancellation clause, prior to signing and cannot now hold you to them

You should really check for this though, so hopefully it's a lesson learnt.

Also they have a duty of mitigation. Short version is that if someone does you harm, you can only claim for the loss that you could not avoid, so they must try to sell your stall.
That being said they can charge a reasonable fee for the extra effort.

What % cancellation fee would you consider reasonable? Work that out and send it as a gesture of goodwill. Chances are they will accept that and not pursue the balance.

Make it clear when you send it that you do not accept any liability for the 100% and that this amount is in full and final settlement.

Thanks ladies, lesson learnt alright!
I have already sent a letter offering them a reasonble administration fee and explaining the circumstances of the cancellation (our business has unfortunately suffered a massive financial loss which has obviously effected our cashflow), they responded with a debt collectors letter, nice eh?

BTW I offered them 40% - is that reasonable IYO?

I think that's more than reasonable. Presumably you haven't used this company before so they can't claim you should have known about the 100%.

Send the 40% and tell them to go whistle. In a very nice way of course.

Was it within the 14 day cooling off period?

I have used them before actually, but again the order was faxed.
I am, I admit, slightly uncomfortable with only offering 40% in case they ban us from any future exhibitions, I really don't want that to happen, but we simply can't afford to pay 100%

The debt collectors letter will most likely be a generic, automatically generated one.

No it was after 14 days, we cancelled a month before - not great timing I know, but our business was the victim of a fraud which is currently being investigated - can't go into details on here - the exhibition company know this but couldn't give a damn apparently

ah, then, I can see why they would charge 100%.

It's a real bugger though

Send the 40%. Whether you pay the 100% or not, you may already have soured relationships between you. However, they are in business too and they don't want to lose a potential customer. They may, however, ask for payment up front in future.

Thanks again everyone.
I'm going to compose a letter now and send an offer cheque.
BTW to add to my misery they have also charged me £100 for the debt collectors letter, cheeky sods

Well, ignore that bit totally! They don't have a leg to stand on with regard to that.

If they do insist on the 100% and you feel you have to pay it for the sake of future relations, presumably you will actually be at the exhibition where you may drum up enough business to make up for recent losses.

Freckle, this is a kind of side line business not our main source of income - thank god!! It'll take about 10 years to get over the loss! thanks for your help

Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd 1971

Olley v Marlborough Court Ltd 1949

Terms of a contract must be available and seen by both parties at the time of signing, otherwise a party may not rely on them, particularly if they are unusual (which a 100% cancellation fee would seem to be)

HTH

Well done, WTV. Those should be ingrained on my memory, but perhaps it's testament to the fact that I'm not totally boring that they're not!

Ooops, sorry. That isn't meant to imply that you are .