storage charges

[Hurricane Puffrose]

another nice little puzzle for you guys to sink your teeth in to..

I have a friend, I've told him to join but hes as much use as a chocolate firegaurd so I doubt he will!!, his granddad was in the Royal Scots Dragoons. When they sadly lost him a in 2000, they discovered a load of war memorebila (sp?) including some rather rare items that, although no use nor ornament to them, would be useful to people interested in the history of WW2.

Things like uniforms, log books, even some weaponry, to be safe and legal, they donated the lot to a local museum.

Fast forward to 2015, said friend has recieved an invoice for £5000 for storage of said items, but they were accepted as a donation.

I am sure if they were donated he doesnt pay storage, this is Scots Law if it makes a difference.

[Kati]

Re: storage charges

Has he any proof that they were donated (not that I'm saying he didn't )? Or can he remember anything about the members of staff he has in contact with at the time?

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: storage charges

i know he said his mum and dad did it, wether they got proof idk. I will ask when he comes out of the hospital.
He's a work friend and hes becoming bionic today (prayers/positive thinking please he's having a total shoulder replacement or something).

[des8]

Re: storage charges

Are the museum having a laugh?
Do they normally act as a depository for peoples' odds and ends, and then wait 15 years before sending an invoice?
Their delay in sending the invoice (does limitation act come into play for first 10 years?) alone is persuasive that the items were given and accepted as a gift, and ownership and possession has passed to the museum.
Interesting to challenge the museum to produce a signed contract, together with a copy of their terms and conditions

You said friend has received demand, but donation made by his parents? So they are billing wrong person anyway.

[Kati]

Re: storage charges

There'll be records of it somewhere even if it was just a 'thank you' in the museum newsletter at the time

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Interesting to challenge the museum to produce a signed contract, together with a copy of their terms and conditions

definitely!!

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Which museum did they donate the items to [MENTION=31013]Hurricane Puffrose[/MENTION]??

[Kati]

Re: storage charges

If the museum wants to charge £5000 for storage of the items, could your friend not charge 'rental' for the 15yrs they've had use of them?

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: storage charges

i dont know if Greg recieved it or if his parents recieved it,.

basically, we were both having a whinge about stuff and it came out in conversation that this invoice had arrived but the stuff had been donated, as he said the log book alone could be worth a fortune but Granddad would have wanted it preserved

[Kati]

Re: storage charges

He's definitely got to challenge it at the very least

[FlamingParrot]

Re: storage charges

I could also send LB admin an invoice for £5,000, say, for posting here all these years. They would reply saying they allowed me to post but never made any payment offer, nor did I ever offer to post in exchange for money. My posts were a gift and LB are free to do as they please with them, i.e. remove them, archive them, etc. There was no contract between me and LB because there was no offer from either side therefore no acceptance either, nor was there any intention to create a legally binding agreement.

I would say pretty much the same applies to the situation with the museum. They received a gift, they could have sold the items, donated them or thrown them away. There was no expectation of recovering them from the museum as would be when you put something into storage. There was neither an offer to provide storage services from the museum nor an offer to pay for storage from the donors. No offer, no acceptance, and obviously no intention to create legal relations when donating items. That means no contract with the museum and no way to enforce such an invoice regardless of limitation.

For an agreement to be legally binding, there always has to be an offer and acceptance, this is the same as the OP who had decided to charge an admin charge to a debt collector every time they contacted him and wanted to issue a claim for his admin charges and all those cases where people send speculative invoices. Without prior acceptance from the other side, those invoices are as enforceable as the one I'm just putting together for LB for my posts! :rofl:

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: storage charges

i hope they have enought cheques FP!!!

Got the text 2 mins ago, hes under the knife so its gonna take a few days to get the info now, when he had a tooth out he looked me in the face and told me I know someone that looks like you!

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: storage charges

**UPDATE**

Gregs op went well, agreed he thinks hes in scotland and that his boyfriend is his brother but that's a mild reaction for him!

Talking of the lovely OH, he has done some digging and has found, it is a private collection/museum to the Scots Dragoons.. Mum and Dad got the letter and have got a letter from said museum thanking them for the donation.. I told them to send an invoice for rental!!

[FlamingParrot]

Re: storage charges

**UPDATE**

Gregs op went well, agreed he thinks hes in scotland and that his boyfriend is his brother but that's a mild reaction for him!

Good to hear the op went well. :whoo: I guess the anaesthetic takes time to wear out. :sick:

Talking of the lovely OH, he has done some digging and has found, it is a private collection/museum to the Scots Dragoons.. Mum and Dad got the letter and have got a letter from said museum thanking them for the donation.. I told them to send an invoice for rental!!

...and I'm preparing my LB one! :grin: :wof: :wof: :wof:

Anyone can send an invoice, however, I only know of one case where an LB member sent a speculative invoice for alleged losses, without having any legal grounds whatsoever, and the recipients just paid up! :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: As long as there are people/companies who fall for them, people/companies will keep sending speculative invoices. To quote a few sayings: "It's worth a try" and "The worst they can say is 'no'".

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: storage charges

they laughed and said they would send one from Grandad and scare the bejesus out of them!

I think we can quite safely say that this is covered now and someone will have rather sensitive parts of their anatomy bbq'd and served on a plate!!