Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

[swifty]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

You should also give address of the property where you carried out the work, the number of days worked.
Also you have failed to invite the use of a suitable Alternative Dispute Resolution, such as mediation, to resolve the dispute.
He also needs to be reminded that he should follow CPR.

A he is a solicitor I suspect that if you don't follow the rules to the letter he will cry "foul".
Don't give him the slightest opportunity.

OK!
This is the revised LBA so far:
Re: Letter before claim for breach of contract for £525.00

Work carried out on Flat 3, ****** *****, *********, ******* LA** *** for 3 and a half days @£150 per day.

Despite numerous attempts to contact you, you have so far failed to contact me to discuss arrangements for payment of the outstanding balance. Therefore, I am writing this letter and put you on notice of my intention to a claim against you for breach of contract. The breach relates to fitting of kitchen, work within the bathroom and cutting and fitting internal doors of which the outstanding balance continues to remain payable.

The original work in the Kitchen and bathroom was arranged on a day rate and as no price was asked for on additional work this is also chargeable on a day rate of £150 per day.

I have tried contacting you on numerous occasions to resolve this outstanding amount, please see details below:
09/11/15 @ 13.46: phoned your office and was told you where with a client and you will call back.
10/11/15 @ 09.14: phoned your office and was told you where on another call and you will call back.
13/11/15 @ 14.38: phoned your office and was told you where on another call and you will call back.
14/11/15: posted reminder invoice giving 7 days of receipt to pay.
26/11/15: posted Final Reminder by registered post to both Business and home addresses giving until Saturday 5^th December to settled your bill.
01/12/15 @ 13.58: phoned your office and was told you where with a client and you will call back.
02/12/15 @ 15.32: sent email via Progression website asking you to please contact me.
You did contact me on the 30/11/15 @15.44 to complain about a couple of issues you had regarding my work but no settlement payment was offered.

Action required
If you do not consider the amount set out in this letter to be due, an acknowledgment to this letter should be provided within 7 days of receipt, namely by 15/12/15 and a full response is required no later than 14 days explaining your reasons for disputing the outstanding amount.
However, I would much prefer to resolve any issues you have and invite you to contact me on 07*********.
I am also willing to deduct £50 off the bill as a good will gesture if the bill is settled before 15/12/15

In the absence of any response, I shall commence and issue proceedings against you without further notice for breach of contract and seek an order for £525 plus interest and costs incidental to the application. Interest is calculated at 8.5% per annum in accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts from the date the payment was due (23/10/15). Interest continues to accrue at a daily rate of 12p.


Your Sincerely

I've highlighted in red my invitation to hopefully resolve this dispute and made it clear that I am willing to discount £50 as a good will gesture if paid promptly, I hope classes as a reasonable dispute resolution.
I've looked into the CPR but not sure how to word it in the letter

[R0b]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

1. Change bill to balance
2. in the subject title just state LBA for breach of contract, remove for £525.00

... from the date the payment was due (23/10/15). The total interest charged to date is £5.13. Pursuant to the Late Payment of Commercial Debts, I also claim £40 for costs of recovering the outstanding debt. The total outstanding debt to date is therefore £570.13. Please note that interest continues to accrue at a daily rate of 12p.

How I've worked this up to today:

date became overdue 24 October
42 days overdue
Calculated as 525 x 0.085 = £44.62 / 365 = 0.1223p
42 x 0.1223 = £5.13 interest
Depending on the date of the letter you'll need to change interest amount as calculated above.

Wouldn't bother about mentioning the CPR, he is a solicitor he is probably aware and if not ought to be aware of it and what it entails... as long as you have done what you need to then that is it.

Other than the above tweaks think you are good to go

[swifty]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

1. Change bill to balance
2. in the subject title just state LBA for breach of contract, remove for £525.00

How I've worked this up to today:

date became overdue 24 October
42 days overdue
Calculated as 525 x 0.085 = £44.62 / 365 = 0.1223p
42 x 0.1223 = £5.13 interest
Depending on the date of the letter you'll need to change interest amount as calculated above.

Wouldn't bother about mentioning the CPR, he is a solicitor he is probably aware and if not ought to be aware of it and what it entails... as long as you have done what you need to then that is it.

Other than the above tweaks think you are good to go

so it'll cost me £40 to apply to the small claims court

[R0b]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

so it'll cost me £40 to apply to the small claims court

No it wont, Late payment of Commercial debts allows you to claim interest on debts, and I believe the 2013 amendments allow you to be compensated for recovering the debt. Anything up to £999 you can claim an additional £40.

The cost of the your claim if you did it through money claims online is £70 to make the claim, and then a further £80 for the hearing fee. You will seek to claim that back also on your particulars if you are successful.

[swifty]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

Thank you for clearing that up with me, I would have messed it up on my own

[swifty]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

Had a phone call today off the solicitor confirming that he'd received my LBA and he is very annoyed that my demands are getting more and more threatening, I told him he wouldn't be getting them if he had paid his bill.
He mentioned the £50 I offered off the bill as a good will gesture saying he finds this insulting and will not look on it as a good will gesture, I told him how he looks at my offer is his business but the offer remains provided it's paid promptly.
He suggested that I should consider knocking £50 off the bill for the cleaning that took the cleaners 5 hours to do, I replied well that can be the good will gesture as you should have contacted me and given me the chance to clean up. He argued that I should have contacted him and offered to clean up because the onus was on me not him and that I'd gone to the retailer and told them that I left the place in pristine condition, I said that I didn't say anything of the sorts to the retailer (I couldn't really tell him what I said to the retailer).
He again said he want's a replacement hob but all he's getting is 3 different story's from me, the retailer and the electrician, I said so why is it up to me to pay for something that the electrician damaged. He replied because the electrician said he only did what he normally does and the splashback shouldn't have fallen, I said the splashback was fitted to the manufacturers specifications and besides who was working on it when it was damaged "the electrician".
He offered to pay me £425 (£50 off for the good will gesture and £50 off for the cleaning), I told I couldn't accept that offer right now I'd have to give it some thought before giving him my reply.

I've had a look at the picture he sent me and I don't recall ever seeing the scratches, they where quite obvious so I know I would have seen them if they had been there when he said they where. Luckily the retailer took a photo of the hob the day after I finished so they will be on his photo if the solicitor is telling the truth, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter about the hob and he needs to be chasing his mate the electrician for it's replacement.

What do you think I should do, should I accept his offer of £425 or stick to my guns

[wales01man]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

Take the Money and put this down to experience expect things to go nasty if it went to Court

[swifty]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

Part of me agrees with you, £425 is better then a possibility of getting £0, but part of me wants to expose him for what he really is.
Also! if I accept his lower offer, will that open the way for him to claim compensation off me for the hob?
I've got to have a chat with the retailer tomorrow about the scratches on the hob. I sent him via email the picture the solicitor sent me so he can compare it with the photo he took.
If those scratches aren't on the retailers photo which was taken 2 days after the solicitor says he took his then he's going to have a hell of a job convincing the courts that his version of events is credible.

[des8]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

Agree with Wales.... a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
For the sake of £50 IMO the stress of court ain't worth it.
Factor in the time you'll spend on the case and it becomes uneconomic as well.
Better to draw up an agreement for him to sign agreeing work is satisfactory, and take the money.
That's my opinion anyway!

[R0b]

Re: Customer is avoiding me and avoiding paying his bill

my rule is never to accept the first offer! Think the problem is the gesture of goodwill, you maybe should have said having considered what he has said you will reduce the £50 for cleaning costs not for prompt payment, and you could be £50 better off but thats a lesson learnt for another time

get back to him in writing, £460 full and final settlement, and neither party can make any further claims against each other in respect of the work/services carried out. Either way it is up to you and ultimately if it goes to court he may cave in and agree to pay the amount less £50 because he himself also has to factor in any light it may shine on him as a person and the firm he works for.

Ball is in your court really, its whether or not you want to take the risk of getting less or a little more than what is being offered.