Terms & Conditions

[Pet Nanny]

Do you need to print your terms and conditions on every invoice, or can they be placed on your website and be legal?

Due to the rise in postal costs we are trying to go paperless, but unsure re the above :|

 

[Alyson Dyer]

Do you need to print your terms and conditions on every invoice, or can they be placed on your website and be legal?

Due to the rise in postal costs we are trying to go paperless, but unsure re the above :|

My mantra when I speak to my clients is that the only paper in your office whithout the Ts&Cs on the back is hanging in the smallest room! This ensures that no one can say they didn't know.
I suppose if you add a line to your invoice drawing the customer's attention to the Ts&Cs on your website , possibly including a hyperlink, that would suffice.

 

[Pet Nanny]

My mantra when I speak to my clients is that the only paper in your office whithout the Ts&Cs on the back is hanging in the smallest room! This ensures that no one can say they didn't know.
I suppose if you add a line to your invoice drawing the customer's attention to the Ts&Cs on your website , possibly including a hyperlink, that would suffice.

We currently have our terms and conditions on the back of our invoices, but with regular clients we are now emailing them, with the terms and conditions as an attachment.

With all the legalities at the moment we need to get it right! It was hard enough doing our dog walking disclaimer

 

[Geoff T]

We currently have our terms and conditions on the back of our invoices, but with regular clients we are now emailing them, with the terms and conditions as an attachment.

With all the legalities at the moment we need to get it right! It was hard enough doing our dog walking disclaimer

Actually, to correctly comply with contract law - and make your terms apply down the line, they need to be agreed "pre-invoice" UNLESS you invoice and get paid in cleared funds BEFORE you supply...

Otherwise they need to be agreed as part of the contract (or "sale" if you prefer...)

This way you can send them with quotes/estimates only - but if you go "paperless" what's the problem with one more "email attachment"?

 

[Charlie B ACS]

We get our Ts & Cs agree up front, applying to all invoices, with no changes allowed unless agreed in writing by us.

That way from the 1st order the Terms are agreed, it's saved my backside on numerous occasions.

 

[Geoff T]

We get our Ts & Cs agree up front, applying to all invoices, with no changes allowed unless agreed in writing by us.

That way from the 1st order the Terms are agreed, it's saved my backside on numerous occasions.

Correct way to go... helped a client 3 years ago with their terms and conditions... and when he called me last month about a problem I showed him there and then how he'd saved himself a loss of £4,000... on one job/customer... he's paid and problem solved...

 

[Charlie B ACS]

Our retention of title clause has saved us over £30k from 2 Phoenixes. Who both claimed they bought our goods from the old co, so we couldn't chase them.

When we said they were still ours, pointed out the relevant term & showed the signature, a payment was on the way in an hour!

 

[internetspaceships]

Our clients all sign a copy of our T and C prior to placing their first purchase order.

We retain this on file in hard copy.

 

[termsandconditions]

Good advice so far from seasoned professionals.

OP, if you are going to send out your terms and conditions with your estimates and quotes, you could adjust your acceptance wording on the same to the effect that when your customer accepts your quote or estimate, they also accept your terms and conditions overleaf.

In this way, you have the best form of acceptance to your contract - a signature before the work is started. It also works if you send your quotation with terms in one document via electronic signature as this saves all the time-consuming nonsense with e-mailing, printing, signing, scanning e-mailing/faxing back.

By all means include your terms and conditions with your invoice as this can act as a reminder of your business rules and actually can help in credit management. But, as others have said, if this is all that you do then it's by far from best practice. For sure, courts sometimes uphold verbal contracts where there are terms on the website and terms on the invoice but its better to kill any argument before it reaches our slow and expensive court system.

Best Regards

 

[trishmullen]

I have mine on my website and have never had a problem with doing it that way.

 

[Charlie B ACS]

I have mine on my website and have never had a problem with doing it that way.

Have you had to take court action on the basis that they formed the contract? How do you prove the customer has agreed to them.

 

[Steve Sellers]

Have you had to take court action on the basis that they formed the contract? How do you prove the customer has agreed to them.

There are ways, but that depends upon savvy drafting of the contract. I'm guessing most people who are not thorough, and don't get their clients to formally agree as suggested will lack a robust set of terms and conditions though.

The no alteration of terms and conditions unless agreement in writing clause is a very useful one, however it should be used with common sense as one can still leave oneself open to a misrepresentation claim, if the course of dealings is vastly different to what is on paper.

 

[trishmullen]

Charlie, the T&Cs refer to my website and the information contained therein. When I do a piece of work for someone, I get a mutually agreed contract written up and that is legal & binding. That way, there is no ambiguity surrounding expectations for both parties.

 

[Geoff T]

Charlie, the T&Cs refer to my website and the information contained therein. When I do a piece of work for someone, I get a mutually agreed contract written up and that is legal & binding. That way, there is no ambiguity surrounding expectations for both parties.

so - in contractual terms - what your site gives is an "offer to treat"... the Actual contract comes later... so is different in law, by my understanding...

 

[trishmullen]

so - in contractual terms - what your site gives is an "offer to treat"... the Actual contract comes later... so is different in law, by my understanding...

That's right Geoff. Those T & Cs refer to the information on the site and when I move forward with someone, then we agree stringent T&Cs so both parties are fully aware of the expectations on each.

 

[trishmullen]

so - in contractual terms - what your site gives is an "offer to treat"... the Actual contract comes later... so is different in law, by my understanding...

That's right Geoff. Those T & Cs refer to the information on the site and when I move forward with someone, we then agree stringent T&Cs so both parties are fully aware of the expectations on each.