Difficult Situation - Need advice!

[Al50]

Hey All,

So we have a customer which has been a pain for us for some time I am wondering how to handle the situation.

The customer has several support and computing services with us and we advised them quite some time ago there equipment needs replacing. They basically refused the quote and now they are saying they are due to hire a contractor to replace the the equipment and set it all up. They are wanting to give this contractor access to all their systems we manage but we are not comfortable with giving an unknown 3rd party contractor access while we are supporting there systems.

I am thinking it would be a wise idea to terminate the contract on the grounds of a conflict of interest as this contractor would be a competitor of ours and the fact we wouldn't want to support a system we haven't setup. Then giving the customer 1 month notice, which we would ask for there previous invoices to be settle and demand a month in advance to cover the cost of the remaining month, then give them access once all payment has been settled.

Does this sound like a reasonable way to handle this? Can anyone see any legal flaws here?

Thanks in Advance.

 

[Newchodge]

What does your contract say?

 

[Al50]

What does your contract say?

Contract doesn't specify but I know they will try and get out of paying what they owe us.

 

[DontAsk]

Contract doesn't specify

That's bad.

It should state what happens when a customer wants to migrate away from you.

The devil is in the detail, but there has to be a process for them to transfer their data across to the new system. Who can do this? What level of access do they need?

 

[Financial-Modeller]

There are obviously two sides to this.

It sounds like the issue from your side is payment of outstanding invoices rather than the customer frustrating a contract.

Why would they withold payment? If you have delivered per your agreed terms?

They are not terminating the agreement.

 

[Newchodge]

Contract doesn't specify but I know they will try and get out of paying what they owe us.

What does the contract say about termination?

 

[Al50]

There are obviously two sides to this.

It sounds like the issue from your side is payment of outstanding invoices rather than the customer frustrating a contract.

Why would they withold payment? If you have delivered per your agreed terms?

They are not terminating the agreement.

They are constantly behind on there payments, currently 2 months behind, I also found out the company prior to us they didn't end up paying.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Why do they owe the previous invoices?

(oops, cross post

 

[Mark T Jones]

Everything will depend on the contract and the full facts of the situation.

However on the face of it, I'd give notice (in line with the contract) and present them with a final bill, leaving no doubt that you expect it to be paid.

 

[MBE2017]

You could write too them stating due to their account not being paid correctly you have decided to issue 1 or two months notice, enclosed a full and final invoice and explain access to your systems will be granted once their payments has been processed.

In the meantime I would recommend you update your terms and conditions ASAP and update your existing clients too them.

 

[fisicx]

Agree with previous posters. Hand over the keys once the bills have been paid and terminate the contract.