Terms and conditions

[Millsy 82]

I am thinking about terms and conditions as in 1 week I am setting fully on my own (Not carping myself at all) After reading recent threads isn't helping at all. I have dealt with alot of different claims and people arguing and had to sort out everything for companies to go to court but that is always someone elses company and terms and conditions.

Do I keep them short and to the point as 1 company I worked for had them written on 1 A4 bit of paper and they did ok. (I like the sound ofthis as i'm hoping to get personalised paperwork at some point and I can have it printed on the back)

When do you give them to the customer? Start of the job? I've only had to deal after the job has been completed.

Does anybody have any ideas of what I should have? I have a rough idea of what I want but not sure it would be ok if it went to court.

I've managed to get through about 10 court cases through different companies but they all had their own terms and conditions but I only had to deal with the aftermath (Which is good as I have learnt not to take things personally its just people not wanting to pay or just being a word that sounds like runts)

 

[SimonG]

The first time my customers see my t and c's is when I send an estimate.

Good luck on your own 🙂

 

[Millsy 82]

The first time my customers see my t and c's is when I send an estimate.

Good luck on your own 🙂

What about small jobs though? I know most the companies I've worked for lost more money on £50-£70 jobs as people thought they wouldnt get taken to court for that little.

 

[SimonG]

I have a rubber stamp for the back of the invoice. I use invoice pads from Staples. The rubber stamp sets out the most important term. Pay now or its plus 5% andthen another 5% after 28 days.

 

[cr0ft]

Feel free to use mine if you want, just make sure and change Dripbusters Ltd to your company name 🙂

[DLMURL="http://www.dripbusters.co.uk/terms.htm"]Lincoln Plumber & Electrician - Dripbusters Ltd - Terms Of Business[/DLMURL]

 

[armyash]

Feel free to use mine if you want, just make sure and change Dripbusters Ltd to your company name 🙂

[DLMURL="http://www.dripbusters.co.uk/terms.htm"]Lincoln Plumber & Electrician - Dripbusters Ltd - Terms Of Business[/DLMURL]

Hi croft have you had any court dealings etc where they have been needed?

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Nice Ts&Cs Crofty 😀

 

[Millsy 82]

Feel free to use mine if you want, just make sure and change Dripbusters Ltd to your company name 🙂

[DLMURL="http://www.dripbusters.co.uk/terms.htm"]Lincoln Plumber & Electrician - Dripbusters Ltd - Terms Of Business[/DLMURL]

Thank you very much I wont copy them but it is a very good resource to give me a base and certain things I never thought of adding.

 

[Millsy 82]

Here's what I've come up with. Thank you again croft I may have pinched a few bits. What do you reckon?

Termsand conditions


General

• All jobs will be booked in over the phone, At this time the customer shall be informed of our hourly rate at which point a verbal agreement will be made with the customer who made contact (If its a rented property the bill payer will have to arrange the visit)
  
• Once work has commenced the job can not be cancelled without payment being made.
  
• Wasted journeys or No access to property may be charged at the first hour rate.
  
• Although we give quotations due to the nature of the job some additional charges may apply (See Chargeable extras)

Payment/Late payments

• All payments shall be made at the completion of each visit unless previously agreed in writing through a quotation/ estimate. No transaction will be fully complete until payment has been cleared with the bank.
  
• Failure to make payment within 7 days will result in a 10% charge for every 7 days over completion of work/ stage of work. After 30 days legal action may be taken.
  
• Cancelled/ uncleared cheques will be charged fees incurred from bank plus 10% for every 7 days after completion of job. After 30 days legal action may be taken.
  
• Any jobs over the price of £200 will require a deposit of a minimum of 50% (Under the discretion of Mark Mills). No parts or work will be booked in until the deposit has been received and payment has been cleared.

Warranty

• As a company we offer 1 year warranty on workmanship and materials supplied by us.
  
• Warranty will not be honoured if

1. Failure of full payment.
   
2. Evidence of tampering.
   
3. Materials not supplied by Mark Mills.
   
4. Existing pipework, fittings, valves, appliances which have not been Installed/maintained by ourselves.
   
5. Failure to allow us to repair the fault.

• All claims will be dealt with through Mark Mills and using contractors arranged through Mark Mills no payment will be made for another contractor unless agreed with in writing. Certain claims may be dealt with through insurance company where they will arrange contractors unless otherwise asked.

Titleof Goods

• [FONT=Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]All goods (even those fitted in customer‘s homes) remain the property of Mark Mills until full payment has been received in respect of their supply.[/FONT] [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Chargeableextras[/FONT]

• [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Although we will try to give a fixed price due to the nature of the job and the unknown condition of systems chargeable extras may be added to any quotation/ estimate. No work shall be carried out before agreeing with the customer.[/FONT]
  
• [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Some common examples are Airlocks, Sludge, Existing valves/stop cocks seizing/ leaking,[/FONT]

Complaints

• All complaints must be in written form (Either email or letter delivered through recorded delivery) This is so both parties have copies of what is said in case of legal action.

Terms and conditions available in larger print pleaseask engineer for copy

 

[buckley plumb]

I need to do some t and c

 

[cr0ft]

Nope none as of yet but I link to them on the bottom of all of my quotes and make it clear that customers are accepting them if they book us to do work. I get all quote acceptances done by email so I have an audit trial too. You never know when it will be needed!

I have built them up based on my experiences of some p*** taking customers over the last 6 years though..

 

[bcp]

Although we give quotations due to the nature of the job some additional charges may apply (See Chargeable extras).

In law an estimate differs from a quotation. Estimates allow for variations due to any manner of things (unforeseen). Unless you are ofering a fixed price, your wording should state estimate NOT quotation.

 

[Nostrum]

Only if the work falls within that outlined in the quote. Additional works would be an additional contract and therefore chargeable.

Just found out today after having a visit from buy with confidence / trading standards (invited by the way!) that if you do not offer a 7 day cooling off period your contract is null and void and the customer could choose to reject the work at the very last minute, which legally they would be entitled to do at no cost to themselves. I issue a cooling off on big jobs but small jobs apply also, even emergency repairs where you fix on the spot.

this is changing soon, but still worth bearing in mind.

no point having a contract if it isn't legally accurate otherwise it will be rejected completely. It's a bit like the parking tickets, if you can prove one part of the system was wrong, regardless whether you are blatantly parked where you shouldn't be, they can uphold the whole case because of inaccuracies that may not even be related to that particular instance.

 

[Reltub]

It has changed to 14 days, but you can draft a start work now form that states they will lose their right to cancel and get them to sign. (put in other words they can cancel but will be charged for what work has been completed)
In this trade alot of our work is done within 14 days (unless you're lucky enough to always be 2 weeks infront) so the start work now form will be necessary on most jobs (unless you know the cust and trust them etc.)

Don't mean to hijack but I was wandering when accepting work via email should you include a link to your terms and conditions (which i have on my website) in your sig? Or should i not bother?


Thanks

 

[Nostrum]

I normally send a PDF copy along with the qoute which is also in PDF to prevent fiddling. All my quotes include a cooling off period notice, an acceptance form and a cooling off waiver.

On my acceptance form, they sign to have read and agree to the terms, the price set out in the quote (with reference to the quote number) and to acknowledge the cooling off terms, which includes losing their deposit if cancelling after cooling off period or if waived.

My terms are also crossed linked a lot on my site so that they are as accessible as possible.

I thought they were pretty solid but the trading standards lady reckoned a few changes were required, the template was supplied by APHC and approved by their legal team so I'm a bit surprised.

Bit of a minefield really but I'm glad I opted in for this scheme now as I have the backing of trading standards should anything go wrong.

 

[Reltub]

Some good points there mate, going to adopt the pdf idea do you do this with electronic invoices as well?

 

[Nostrum]

Yeah, I use an accountancy program that automatically creates a PDF anyway, but I would always send any document to a customer in PDF, it looks more professional as well in my opinion.

 

[Reltub]

Sounds good what programme is it?