I have this client who to be honest is not worth the hassle. (Not to me anyway) . Anyway, on top of not being treated very nice and consistently messed about I have decided to tell them nicely that I no longer want to work for them. The final straw is that even though I stated my terms in my letter of engagement they still have not paid me any money to date. So, how do I dis-engage them? Do I formally have to put it in writing and would I be required to work any sort of notice even though I am self employed? Professional ethics and all that?
Sorry to hear you have had a bad experience....but I suppose there are some clients not worth the hassle.
Did you actually get your Letter of Engagement signed by them? If so, what were the terms you put in for period of notice/whether it is required in writing or verbal? I would say that professional ethics say you should work your notice, or at least until they find someone else (if they are going to).
If they haven't signed it, or you didn't put in any notice requirements then I would just walk away....especially as they haven't paid you.
I echo Paulines comments. Personally I have in my letter of engagement that if the client stops paying I stop working. I think this is a reasonable line and I wouldn't lift a pen in your situation. I cant see them winning a court case on such grounds either.
I would also be inclined to hold on to any documents that you have from the client, and not pass any bookkeeping records to them until paid.
Hi Bill,
Works for sole traders but for limited companies the Compaies act trumps legal right of Lien.
So, if this is a limited company you can't keep the books or records.
However, as well as offer and acceptance, a legally binding contract requires consideration and if non has been forthcoming then one can simply walk away from the contract without recourse.
The work done if not paid for does not belong to the client even though their records do (unless the work was done on the client systems). Therefore there is no requirement to give the client any work that you have done for them to date unless they make payment to you for such work.
kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I understand the that not all documents can be withheld, particularly for ltds, it is more a case of bluffing your way to payment.
In my previous life, I had the pleasure of retaining a car from a solicitor under Artificers Rights of Lien, which also has some control as to when you can retain a car but even the solicitor wasn't up on it, so after a week of wrangling, they came in and paid (think they found taxis more expensive than paying the bill). It was only later that they discovered we had no rights under the lien as we had only serviced the car and not repaired it. By then of course, they had their car back, and we were paid. . To be fair I think she was newly qualified.
If the client put his case forward that there was no right to retain the paperwork, I would hand over what I had to.
I always worry where I would stand with a lien on clients paperwork here. The theft definition is slightly different in Scotland and I know that there is caselaw covering something similar to car in Bills scenario, the repairer was charged with theft and convicted.
I'd be interested if there were any ex-lawyers who practiced in Scotland on the forum, or is that a big ask?
There is nothing more irritating than a bad client, especially one that doesn't pay! We had a client recently that we had to suspend the provision of our service for since they just wouldn't pay. They are a solicitors practice and were trying to get us to continue doing the work despite no payment. Passed it to a credit collection agency in the end who agreed instalment payments. They have defaulted after making just one payment and now refusing to pay the rest!
There is nothing more irritating than a bad client, especially one that doesn't pay! We had a client recently that we had to suspend the provision of our service for since they just wouldn't pay. They are a solicitors practice and were trying to get us to continue doing the work despite no payment. Passed it to a credit collection agency in the end who agreed instalment payments. They have defaulted after making just one payment and now refusing to pay the rest!
So the default renders the previous instalments agreement null and void if you want to go back to demanding everything now (Which I assume as your business is being treated with such contempt is exactly what you want).
As with trying to get an accountant to act against another accountant you will find it near impossible to find a solicitor to represent you against another solicitor.
You may find it useful to write to the practice letting them know that unless your bill is paid you will need to escalate matter to the law society and the solicitors regulation authority.
Such may be enough of a prompt to have your bill paid but I would not expect to receieve further work from this client.
Then again, professional ettiquette requires that any accountancy practice that wins this work contacts the encombant practice to ensure that there is no reason that they should not accept the work.
Good luck with getting paid... If the above doesn't work just give Bill (Wella) and myself a call and we'll pop around and hang them by their ankles from an upstairs windows until either sufficient money drops from their trouser pockets or the bill is paid.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I had a similar issue recently where a client was not paying - when questioned when payment will be made, they always said 'promise, payment will be made next Friday' but next Friday never came!!!
I let them off at first, but after a while got sick and tired of chasing them and continuley being fobbed off - therefore from this point onwards
- I informed them in writing that I will no longer carry out any work on their behalf unless they make a payment of all outstanding debt. As expected, my letters got ignored (sent 6 letters over a period of 3 months, not to mention the weekly telephone and email reminders). - When this did not work - I issued a final letter stating that I will be terminating my services within 15 days (as per contract), followed by a final letter stating that all services will be terminated within 7 days. I also highlighted that as they have failed to pay for the outstanding debt, I will be taking legel action against them.
I know the final letter (at that point) seemed like a step too far...... but guess what, I got a call this morning informing me that they have paid all outstanding debt...
. To be fair I think she was newly qualified.
