Termination of IT Services

[Al50]

Hi All,

I need a bit of advice on how to proceed with a difficult matter. We have a customer we have worked with for the last 2 years, over time they have become very difficult to work with. The customer is constantly late with payment (up to 3 months) and as it stands they owe us 2 month worth of payment. We want to give notice of termination in the near future. The problem we have is the contract we sent never got signed. In the contract it states either party has to give up to 30 days notice, we intend on giving 30 days notice. The customer also has monthly services which we provide such as a vps server etc. My questions are:

1. If we wanted to suspend the monthly services which would disrupt there business - by law how much notice do we have to give the customer? - We are thinking 5 days then suspending services if no payment is made for what we are owed

2. Can we stipulate we want to be paid in advanced for the remaining month so they can offboard to another provider? We want to do this so we don't end up out of pocket once we have assisted them in moving

3. When sending the termination letter do we be honest and say we are not happy with the relationship and/or use payment as the final factor?

Any help would be grand

 

[fisicx]

What does it say in the contract?

Simplest way to proceed is tell them you will no longer be providing the service after X date.

 

[Al50]

What does it say in the contract?

Simplest way to proceed is tell them you will no longer be providing the service after X date.

Sorry it posted half of what I wanted to say... I have published the whole story above.

 

[fisicx]

Keep it simple. Just tell them you will be terminating in 30 days. Don’t need to explain why. That gives them plenty of time to migrate.

Matters not one jot that they haven’t signed the contract. Their use of your services implies agreement.

 

[Al50]

Thank you for coming back to me. What about the following though?:

1. If we wanted to suspend the monthly services which would disrupt there business - by law how much notice do we have to give the customer? - We are thinking 5 days then suspending services if no payment is made for what we are owed

2. Can we stipulate we want to be paid in advanced for the remaining month so they can offboard to another provider? We want to do this so we don't end up out of pocket once we have assisted them in moving

Where do we stand legally on this? - They are the type customer which will get lawyers involved so I need to make sure we are acting within the law.

 

[fisicx]

You give them 30 days notice then terminate. That’s what it says in the contract. They owe you up to this date and then nothing.

Why do you have to assist them in moving? That’s the responsibility of the new provider.

The law is what ever it says in the contract. If you are unsure get a solicitor to write the letter.

There are a number of legal types on the forum, hopefully one of them will be able to help.

 

[WaveJumper]

I would take the advice as above and if you are truly that worried speak with your own solicitor be proceeding any further.

 

[brucegreig]

You might be able to reach some amicable agreement. You want to get paid. They want to avoid disruption. You might be able to come to some kind of agreement where you give them a longer termination period, agree to assist them transferring to another provider, whatever else you can offer which doesn't cost you very much ... in return for them paying the arrears plus the notification period in advance (or some portion of that, maybe worth you offering a discount to avoid risk of having to sue to recover)

You get paid, they get a smooth transition, everyone is happy.