Help with default notice

[valerie]

Hi,

I just started a small business at the age of 65 and am in a spot of bother, so please forgive me if im a bit out of of touch with the latest terms. I signed a credit agreement with a company to allow us to download information from their web page every month. The problem is that I was not allowed a trial or anything before signing the contract and most of their competitors were significantly higher in price.

4 months in we realise that the service is really rather bad, theres lots of missing information, its very hard to use and we are generally having a hard time getting what we need.

We sent a letter to their head office saying we want to cancel the contract because its not really usable. They have since sent us a letter from their collections people saying that they will enter a default notice against our company if we dont pay the rest of the 8 months.

Is there any legal way of us contesting this default notice as we think their service has been awful and their web pages are very poorly designed and we cant get what we need,

Best Regards

Val

[ostell]

Re: Help with default notice

Are you getting what they said you should be getting? If not then they have breached their side of the contract and therefore should not be a problem.

[des8]

Re: Help with default notice

If you are not getting what they said they could deliver, (as suggested by Ostell) they are in breach of the Misrepresentation Act 1967.
There are three types of misrepresentation: innocent. negligent and fraudulent.
Your remedy is rescission of the contract, which essentially puts you back to square one. This is not cancellation of the contract.

[valerie]

Re: Help with default notice

Thank you for the replies. Its a grey area as problem with their system is that its very difficult to use and slow. I have read the contract and I cant find anything to do with this but I do feel that they have misrepresented the system as something which its not.

Regarding the default threat, should I just write to the debt collection agency and outline this misrepresentation as my defence? Will this prevent my fledging business having a default against it?

Best Regards

Val

[des8]

Re: Help with default notice

If you genuinely believe they misrepresented the contract, ie they promised something they have failed to deliver you write to them (signed for) telling them that following this misrepresentation you are rescinding the contract and require them to refund all payments made to them so far.
Give them a time in which to return your monies (say 7 days) and see what they come back with.
If it is satisfactory that's fine.
If it is not your next move is a Letter before Action, which warns them you are about to start court proceedings,
You do need to be sure they are not delivering what was agreed.

[valerie]

Re: Help with default notice

If you genuinely believe they misrepresented the contract, ie they promised something they have failed to deliver you write to them (signed for) telling them that following this misrepresentation you are rescinding the contract and require them to refund all payments made to them so far.
Give them a time in which to return your monies (say 7 days) and see what they come back with.
If it is satisfactory that's fine.
If it is not your next move is a Letter before Action, which warns them you are about to start court proceedings,
You do need to be sure they are not delivering what was agreed.

Thanks - should I write directly to the company and leave the debt collectors out of it?

[des8]

Re: Help with default notice

Write to the company, and I would also write to DCA telling them it is in dispute