What to do for the best

[mclaren7500]

I would be grateful for any help anyone can give.

I run a small removals businesses at very fair prices. I have been trading for over 12 years, carry out over 1100 moves a year and have next to no problems in collecting money from my customers.

In the last few day however I have got a bit of a problem on my hands.

A potential customer came to me enquiring about my prices.

I sent an email back stating from previous experience a half day special covering 3.5 hours would be OK for your needs. This is priced at £150 and if it overruns then just goes on to an half hourly rate.

My customer accepted this quote and the job was booked in, this was all done via email.

The day before the move the customer phoned up stating they had a bit more stuff than anticipated and could they have the guys for a whole day for £300 which I agreed to.

On the day of the move itself there was even more stuff than anticipated and I received a call from the client request another van and two men for £150 for 3.5 hours taking the total bill up to £450

Unfortunately the job ended up taking 10.5 hours for the first van and 5.5 hours for the second van incurring extra charges for the additional hours that took the final bill up to £690

At the time of the bill the customer seemed OK with these extra charges thanked the guys for their hard work and paid £300 in cash and the rest in the form of a cheque.

Three days later I get a call indicating they are unhappy with the final bill and have cancelled the cheque leaving me with £300 in total.

I was on the phone for 40 minutes and the substance of the complaint seemed to be that one of the guys was not prepared to carry items up and down stairs. This was because we had organised a chain which is the best way to carry stuff up four flights of stairs. We charge an extra £7 per person to cover all stair work for the entire job. However this is a moot point as we did not charge any stair work for the entire job to help keep the price down.

The second complaint was that there was a poor decision made in relation to the strategy involved in unloading a van which led to delays. The customer maintains that it would have been better if once we had two vans that one van should have gone to the start location and started loading up whilst the other team stayed at the end location and finished unloading. Instead of which the four guys decided to chain everything up four flights of stairs as this would save and conserve their strength by only having to tackle one flight of stairs at a time. This is very difficult to prove either way as if an alternative strategy had been adopted then the job may have actually taken longer. This to me just seems to be a matter of opinion. The guys who are all experienced movers made the best choice at the time and the dissenting voices came three days later.

The final point is that the two guys (eastern european) worked much harder than the two english guys and so if I has sent in a team that was just as hard working the job would have been tackled in less time. Again this seems to full into the category of subjective opinions which are difficult to prove.

I think that the customer was happy to pay for the first team but not the second. If that was the case then I would still be down £240 and it seems really very unfair to value another team at £0 when they still were onsite and contributing for 5.5 hours.

I explained that I had already given them discounted rates and waived the stair work charge of £28 and any mileage on the job was free of charge. Due to the fact I operate on very slim margins and my cut after all costs are taken into account would only amount to around £100 and I still wanted to get something from all the work I had put in I offered a discount of £20-£30 as a gesture of goodwill even though I don't think there is anything to any of their concerns.

I was just wondering what I should do for the best and whether anybody else as come across this sort of problem before and found a way of effectively dealing with before the customer just decides to go into hiding, by this I mean not answering emails, phone calls etc.

My own thoughts are to send a final bill stating that the terms are pay on the day and failure to not pay would lead this debt to be passed onto a debt collection agency.

I look forward to any ideas that anyone may have.

Many thanks

Nick

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Legally you are in a very good position as cancelling a cheque because you aren't happy with the service provided is not a good enough reason. More info here http://www.lyonsdavidson.co.uk/news/2063/the-pitfalls-of-paying-by-cheque

Personally I would write to them giving them 7 days to provide an alternate means of payment or you will take legal action, including taking steps to recover your expenses and interest.

Then if they don't pay up take them to the small claims court.

 

[Websitehandyman]

If they have already paid on completion I can't see how they can go back and have a re-think. I would say don't even get involved with any argument about the job, just explain when asked that this is "the customer making excuses for not being able to pay" - as the cheque bounced.

Then just go down the route of none payment and include any costs you incur, bank charges and court etc. Send a letter outlining what they owe, how long they have to pay and what you will be doing if they don't pay including the extra cost.

I know it's hurtful, I would also say perhaps you have been lucky not to run into such people before in your 12 years. Treat it as a chance to setup a procedure for the next one.

 

[Maxwell83]

In my eyes, the job was done in accordance with the requirements and within the times quoted (I think from reading the post).

The method of carrying out the task and the race of the workers! are both immaterial. It was done to spec. I take it there are no arguments about the end result - the goods are where they should be, when they should be, undamaged? If so then he needs to pay up?

Do you have details for the customer to enable a small claim? That would be my last resort if he doesn't pay up after a final bill and letter.

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

To recap the facts - they paid for the service £300 in cash and rest in a cheque which they subsequently cancelled?

I would issue a final demand before proceedings along the lines of ...

TAKE NOTICE that according to our records the sum of £xxx is overdue for payment for invoice [details of invoice].

Unless payment is made to the above address within seven days Legal Action to recover the debt will be taken against you without further notice.

Copies of the outstanding invoices are attached.

Yours sincerely
​

If nothing is paid small claims court is the route forward and is relatively inexpensive. Don’t bother with phone calls, emails etc and send the above by special delivery for proof that it arrived.

I doubt someone sensible would allow it to get this far though – mind you I am often amazed at people’s actions.

Good luck

PS Maybe food for thought for the future – deposit in advance and cash on day of move.

 

[mclaren7500]

Thanks for all the responses so far.

I sent off the invoices as a final demand stating that the next course of action would be to go down the legal route.

This is the response I got. I have amended any names where required.

Apologies for the delay in emailing you. We have been waiting for an engineer to get our broadband up and working which has only just been done. We were also waiting for our landlord's surveyor to assess the damage done to the hallway during the move and any work necessary to put it right.

Thank you for your invoice. The reason for this email is of course to query the amount that you have stated we owe.

During the initial conversations that you had with X it was agreed that we would start on a half day deal for two men and stair work. A 5% discount was offered for booking a week in advance which meant that the total would be £165. Concerned that no one had visited the properties to give us an idea of the time needed to complete the job (as would be usual practice with this type of removal), X rang again on the 1st of August to make sure you were completely aware of the quantity and weight of the items to be moved, and that it involved four flights of stairs at each end. X was assured by you that the men sent by your company would be able to handle it and that if it took a little longer than planned the pricing would be worked out in the cheapest manner i.e. if it took a whole day we would pay for a £300 day deal. She was definitely given the impression that the work would be completed within a normal working day.

I should mention here that all those involved were friendly and we were very impressed with the work ethic of the two Latvian men who did the majority of the moving. They were organised, hard working and clearly knew how to get as much done as possible in the shortest time. Their contribution cannot be faulted. We were of course happy for them to take their lunch break and we made sure that there was liquid refreshment and snacks to keep everyone going both at the old and new flats.

We are aware of the pressures of managing a business such as yours and are mindful of this. However, it seems only reasonable to clarify the way the move could have been done at a much lower charge and our reasoning behind this.

On the day of the move we were surprised when the men arrived and appeared not to have been informed of the details of the move. They were clearly dismayed at the amount of items and the number of stairs to be navigated. All this information had been provided to you prior to the move as stated.

As the day progressed the two Latvian men felt it would be necessary to get extra help to make sure the move was completed in a reasonable time. X rang you and agreed a price of £450 overall for an additional two men with a Luton van. She was given the impression by you that this was a final figure with no hidden extras.

When they arrived the older of the two English men attempted to take over and organise moving items in a chain. This clearly annoyed the Latvians who could see that the most time efficient manner to progress would be for one van to be loaded at the old flat and one to be unloaded at the new one. This way twice as much work could be achieved in the time. XX flatly refused to take this course of action. The argument drastically slowed down progress and during which time the two English men did very little work.

It became clear that XX wanted to organise the move in order to avoid going up and down stairs. His partner said on numerous occasions for all to hear that 'XX doesn't do stairs!'. We are absolutely sure that if the afternoon had been organised in the way that the two Latvian men had suggested then the two extra men would have been employed for around half the hours they finally took. Because of the chain system the younger of the two English men was kept waiting and therefore spent a substantial amount of time sitting down i.e. not working, which of course it would also be unreasonable of you to charge for.

XXX (X's partner) was later asked to move items (not part of the deal) and which rounding down took about two hours of his time. At your standard rate this would be £50 of work plus £6.50 for the stairs - a total of £56.50. This should of course also come off the final bill.

It should be stated that the move was NOT completed. X was concerned that the men were unhappy to continue and numerous items remained at X's old flat.

At the end of the day X paid £300 in cash and wrote a cheque for the amount she was told we owed. She felt pressured at the time with four men surrounding her awaiting payment. If we had been given time to discuss the bill we would have paid the £300 cash, spoken to you about the day and our reservations about the way it had been handled. We could then have come to a fair agreement and paid the remainder by invoice. Cancelling the cheque seemed the reasonable course of action until we could agree fair charges between both parties.

Clearly the invoice for £690 is far above the agreed sum of £450. Taking all the above into account we feel it would be fair and reasonable to stick to this agreed lower amount. However, we are willing to negotiate reasonable terms.

As you stated in your phone call you will need time to think about this and talk to those involved. The next step would then be to come back to us with a renewed invoice which we can discuss.

I have attached example images of the damage done to the stairwell during the move. Once redecorated our landlord will send you an invoice for the costs involved. If this needs to be done through your insurance agent perhaps you could also let us have details of how he should proceed with this. A bureau was also damaged with a leg now unstable and a drawer broken.

This ends the mesage

Obviously the points to raise here are
A) In my opinion the customer has no intention of paying.
B) They are effectively counter claiming so that even if they do pay the final amount they will then hit me with a bill for damages.
C) It's almost certain they would not have claimed for damages to the stairwell as this is the first time in twelve years that anyone has ever claimed for damages to a rented communall stairwell. in the pictures provided the white walls appear grubby in places but who can they prove that we were responsible for this.
D) They cant claim against my insurance policy for damage to a stairwell as I only have the vans insured plus goods in transit and public and employee liability.
E) Is it really all worth it for the £390 they owe me plus the £5 i'm down on the registered letter plus the county court costs.
F) I also fear that this could escalate so that they would effectively give me as much grief as they can muster as a form of retaliation.
G) Some of the comments made in the above statement are lies in my opinion. The most obvious is that I agreed to complete the move for £450. All I agreed to do was to provide a second van for £150 for 3.5 hours. Subsequently the job overrun by 3.5 hours for the first van and two hours for the second van.

In summary These people actually make my blood boil. I operate on wafer thin margins of 7% of gross so a job like this only generates a profit of £45 for me. To write off £390 like this would require nearly £3000 of business. They seem to be acting like they would with a big national company who would have resources to deal with such problems as a matter of course.

I look forward to any further advice that people can offer.

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

Two choices - Small claims court and let them decide otherwise you will just go around in circles or you try to agree a fee with them.

Keep to facts which are very simple:

- work down
- amount paid in full
- cheque later cancelled
- no damage report made on the day

Keep it simple and DO NOT be dragged down into this detail.

Of course - only you can decide if the court action is worth it i.e. can you stomach the loss! If you don't think so then accept it and move on quickly learning from this episode.

 

[Tom McClelland]

I think only you can work out whether or not it is worth pursuing these people. As Elaine says all the detail seems to only muddy the rather simple waters, but in my experience dealing with the courts, particularly as a business selling to private individuals, you'll often have an uphill struggle.

Without unequivocal evidence that your men are responsible for the "damage" it is just an attempt to put pressure on you to make you go away.

I think there is a wider issue here. To me your rates and margins look ludicrously low (speaking as someone who just moved house and was delighted with the service I got). How about putting prices up 10%, losing half your business (and possibly not even that) and actually making far more money?

 

[mclaren7500]

I think there is a wider issue here. To me your rates and margins look ludicrously low (speaking as someone who just moved house and was delighted with the service I got). How about putting prices up 10%, losing half your business (and possibly not even that) and actually making far more money?[/QUOTE]

Hi Tom,

It's a bit off topic but deserves an answer. Thanks for the advice on increasing prices. It is something we do all the time but the whole man with van arena which we operate in is very price sensitive. Our strategy is one of increasing the turnover first and then testing a price increase and applying it to a much larger turnover. So I am planning to grow the business to £400K over the next twelve months and then my margin will start to make a lot more sense, also the profit margin should increase going forward. We took a massive hit this year as we became VAT registered and the entire price increase has gone to the VAT man. I also have a lot of loans and debt which will disappear over the next 5 years. Mine is a long term strategy of building the business first and then reaping the rewards when price increases feed through to the margins and the debt reduces down to zero. I hope that makes sense.

Nick

 

[Tom McClelland]

I think there is a wider issue here. To me your rates and margins look ludicrously low (speaking as someone who just moved house and was delighted with the service I got). How about putting prices up 10%, losing half your business (and possibly not even that) and actually making far more money?

Hi Tom,

It's a bit off topic but deserves an answer. Thanks for the advice on increasing prices. It is something we do all the time but the whole man with van arena which we operate in is very price sensitive. Our strategy is one of increasing the turnover first and then testing a price increase and applying it to a much larger turnover. So I am planning to grow the business to £400K over the next twelve months and then my margin will start to make a lot more sense, also the profit margin should increase going forward. We took a massive hit this year as we became VAT registered and the entire price increase has gone to the VAT man. I also have a lot of loans and debt which will disappear over the next 5 years. Mine is a long term strategy of building the business first and then reaping the rewards when price increases feed through to the margins and the debt reduces down to zero. I hope that makes sense.

Nick

Yes, sorry, it was a bit off topic to the question asked but I think it is relevant. Perhaps a different way of phrasing it is that you're always going to get a percentage of jobs that go wrong and end up costing you money. In business terms the specific detail of the cases as outlined above isn't that relevant, because there will always be *some* reason for a small proportion of customers to have a really good go at not paying you. So another way of putting my point is that you need to allow in your business model for the fairly substantial losses that can occur in the small proportion of deals that go sour.

 

[Websitehandyman]

I have to agree with the given advice, as I said at the start don't be drawn into any details they are not relevant as they agreed the price and paid on completion.

I would just repeat the process, should not cost £5 letter as recorded delivery is only 70p on top of a second class stamp (too many people pay Special Delivery when it's not needed).

One thing you could do is repeat what you have already done but add on the end that any compensation for damages can only be considered once arrears owed are cleared in full plus any costs. If they pay then tell them to sod off.

I would also include that you normally would be happy to discuss problems when they arrive but all trust has been broken by cancelling of the cheque and making you incur bank charges.

 

[Colin Smith CBP]

In business terms the specific detail of the cases as outlined above isn't that relevant, because there will always be *some* reason for a small proportion of customers to have a really good go at not paying you. So another way of putting my point is that you need to allow in your business model for the fairly substantial losses that can occur in the small proportion of deals that go sour.

First of all, I'm really sorry to hear that somebody seems to be maliciously withholding payment. I wish I could say that I was surprised but based upon my own experience the only thing that has surprised me is that this is the first time in 12 years that this type of thing has happened to you. The unfortunate reality of this situation is that either way it is going to cost you time and money, whether you go to small claims court or negotiate a settlement.

Tom's point that this needs to be built into any business model is really important. We allow 4% of turnover for bad debt. More often than not, we do not end up with this much bad debt but it needs to be planned for as it is an absolute fact of business life that people will not pay you for work done, whether that's through insolvency or acting in bad faith. Better to be over prepared and pleasantly surprised than under prepared and badly affected by this kind of situation.

I understand your market penetration strategy, but an inevitable by-product of planning to achieve such slender margins is vulnerability to this type of issue. The sooner you feel ready to increase your margins, even if only slightly, the more secure your business will be.

I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide to do.

 

[Richard1973]

Sounds like your team completed the job in a reasonable manner. I doubt there is any higher obligation on you or your workers to mathematically work out all possible strategies to the Nth degree and would 2 people agree anyway.

Tell them that as they appear to not wish to pay the outstanding amount you absolutely insist on returning to take that proportion of items back to their original location whereupon they can contract someone else to move it by whatever strategies they can imagine.

 

[mclaren7500]

Yes, sorry, it was a bit off topic to the question asked but I think it is relevant. Perhaps a different way of phrasing it is that you're always going to get a percentage of jobs that go wrong and end up costing you money. In business terms the specific detail of the cases as outlined above isn't that relevant, because there will always be *some* reason for a small proportion of customers to have a really good go at not paying you. So another way of putting my point is that you need to allow in your business model for the fairly substantial losses that can occur in the small proportion of deals that go sour.

Thanks Tom,

I do cashflow every day and we have a whole raft of unusual and exceptional costs that crop up from time to time so in a sense it is built into the cashflow. The problem with something like this is its impossible to cover for something like this as you are never sure when they are going to happen and you don't ever know the amounts involved. If none of these unusual events occurred we would be at around 15% profit margin at the moment. We had an exhaust stolen recently and though insured this cost us over £900 plus the van was out of action for three weeks so a massive loss of revenue to boot as we had to refer all jobs onto a third party and we were only left with 15% of the job price. I mention this as another example of an event that as only ever happened once in 12 years of trading and so is difficult to legislate for. I would say looking at the cashflow around 7-8% is lost each year in this manner. I tend to allocate each expense to its relevant pot at the moment so rather than have an exceptional costs pot of 7-8% of turnover I just add the costs into the most relevant pot so in the case of the exhaust it would go into motor expenses, the lost business while the exhaust was being fitted goes into a pot marked referred on and if the £390 does not turn up from this dispute then I would put it in Bad debt. I have been going at this for 12 years and I can say from experience that the whole thing is a balancing act as if you chase margin your business will almost certainly start to slide and when that happens you start in a vicious circle of increasing prices and diminishing market share. The other thing is if you plan for every conceivable risk then I would probably not even bother doing it as I would be to wary of actually making any profit at all. As it stands at the moment I hope to make about 15% profit each month but end up making 7-8%. It's not ideal but seems to be about right for my product and the depressed economic circumstances we find ourselves in.

Thanks for the comments as I do agree they are very pertinent.

 

[shannemooris]

As a businessman, we all expect that some clients will do this to us. We must be wise in taking actions on how to deal with it. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[mclaren7500]

The whole thing seems to have escalated.

This is the latest email, names changed to X where required.

It now appears I now owe the customer £142 instead of the customer owing me £390.

Here it is in full

Dear Nick
In an endeavour to resolve the current difficulties relating to our account with you we list various facts, and our proposal to resolve what appears to be a stalemate between us.
· Your email of 14-08-2012 renders your invoice of 03-08-2012 and any subsequent invoices null and void;
· There are two relevant contracts relating to our new flat as follows;
· Contract number 1 is between ourselves and you to move furniture and possessions from two separate flats into one new flat;
· Contract number 2 is between ourselves and our landlord to make good any damage done during the move into our new flat;
· You do not have any contractual relationship with our landlord;
· A half day deal was originally agreed with you at £165;
· No one from your company visited either property prior to the £165 estimate;
· Discussions between us relating to possible over run into a one day project resulted in us being told by you that one day would be £300;
· Assurances were given by you that all the work could be completed in one day;
· Initially two Latvian men arrived to do the work;
· The Latvian men had not been briefed by your company prior to their arrival to do the work;
· The Latvian men subsequently decided that extra help was needed;
· You provided two British men plus a Luton Van to expedite the work;
· Once the extra men were needed Emma confirmed with you that the total overall price for all the men to execute the job, including all the transport would be £450;
· Half way through the project the British men changed what had been an efficient work pattern operated by the Latvian men into an inefficient method of working;
· Some of the work had to be undertaken by X;
· You have already received £300 in cash;
· You were also given a cheque by XX who felt under duress, which was subsequently stopped pending resolution of final bill;
· During the work, your men damaged the stairwell;
· The landlord’s estimate of cost for repairing stairwell damage is £292;
· The landlord will claim the £292 reparations bill direct from us;
· Your final bill stated that £690 is due to you;
· The sum of £690 was never mentioned nor quoted by you at any stage prior to receipt of that bill;
· You are responsible for the stair damage at a value of £292;

WE THEREFORE SUMMARISE THE FOLLOWING:
Amount paid in cash £300
Amount outstanding £150
Damage done by your men £292

Total amount payable from us to you £450
Total amount payable from you to us £292

THEREFORE IN FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT of your £450 final quotation we will accept the advice offered by you in your email of 14-08-2012. We will pay you the £150 outstanding on your quotation once we have received payment from you amounting to £292 for making good the damage caused by your company. Recuperation of the said £292 by you is a matter between you and your insurers.
If we do not receive a formal rejection of the above proposal before 22nd August 2012 we will assume acceptance of the above offer. Once accepted we will send you details of how to pay the £292, which should be done in reasonable time. Upon receipt of this we will directly transfer £150 into your company’s account.

The end

Back to me

I have kept to the guidelines provided by Elaine of keeping to the salient points but it seems to have sent the customer over the edge in the opposite direction. The customer seems to feel that my silence implies my guilt and that he is able to state whatever terms suit him.

This is actually getting quite stressful now and could end up being a long drawn out battle with no real winners. For this reason I feel I should just send him back the £300 I have received as a gesture of goodwill and just throw in the towell. but even this I am sceptical about as I think that the customer seems to have the bit between their teeth and would happily continue until he has extracted every last penny he can out of me.

For now I have just sent him an email saying see you in court as I can see no other resolution.

I thought I had all the cards in my favour but I get the impression there are some sick people who seem to actually get some kind of kick out of this sort of thing.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

I thought that once a cheque had been signed, it was illegal to stop it or allow it to bounce - see: http://www.justanswer.com/uk-law/2z9fs-illegal-stop-cheque-goods-services-recieved.html

Barrie

 

[Websitehandyman]

Seems you have a right one here, keep in mind nothing they say bears any influence on the matter at all. It's just words, I would continue the course and the more they struggle the more determined I would be to get my money they owe.

Courts do not adjudicate on who stamps their feet the hardest. Don't take it personal and if you have to hand it over to a solicitor or debt recovery firm to deal with. Certainly don't let it spoil your life, week, day or hour these people are not worth your thought.

Damage ? the person was their and they were happy to pay without comment on any damage or anything else. Stay strong if you can but I would not send they any money or discuss anything till they pay in full.

 

[Maxwell83]

Your customer does not know the first thing about the law. Rule number 1 - SILENCE IS NOT ACCEPTANCE or in other words you cannot be obliged to reject one's offer. Acceptance can only come through positive conduct.

Don't let him dictate terms to you with empty threats and mis-use of the law. You are a business man and you don't spend the hours you do working for some scumbag to scare you into refunding all of his money when he is the trying it on! Don't give him back a penny.

As for what he owes you - I agree it may not be worth your time fighting for it, especially when he will obviously counterclaim for 'damage'. He also disputes ever being told about a price increase and I imagine it was verbal only?

But by no means give back the money you have already.

 

[DavidAshdown]

Unbelievable. My opinion;

1) Take them to court
2) Always take payment up front

 

[elaine@cheapaccounting]

IMO - they are trying it on or slightly deranged

As already said - don't take it personally and don't give back the £300.

Facts remain the same - they paid you and then cancelled the cheque.

The question is do you have the 'appetite' to take it to a small claims court? Only you can decide.

Do keep in mind ... I think this will probably be the worse customer you would ever have. So don't let it impact on your business

 

[Colin Smith CBP]

I think everyone on this forum feel for you. This is the very worst kind of customer as their ill informed attempts to wilfully withhold payment just waste so much time. However, I would certainly dig my heels in as the law is firmly on your side and take comfort this this type of customer doesn't come along very often.

As Paul Rosser & Rhyl Lightworks have already pointed out in this thread, there is no defence in the law for stopping a cheque in this way. A cheque once signed is a promise to pay the amount signed for. It is a defacto breach of this promise to pay to stop or cancel it. The only times when this could be successfully defended are if there has been no consideration (i.e. your customer received no value at all) or if the cheque was in respect of an illegal transaction (e.g. cheque was a payment for drugs). Neither of these are a valid defence in this case so you will win in small claims court (IMO). When you submit your claim, just keep it tightly focused on the stopped cheque and you will win your claim for the full amount (£690 not just the £450 that they say they think they owe you) They simply cannot successfully argue this after having signed the cheque. If they had representation, no doubt the solicitor would not bother to defend this case. As they are likely to be acting for themselves, they will probably put in a defence along the lines they have already outlined to you. They would lose on this point in court, but to save yourself the time and hassle of going there, I would apply for a summary judgement on the grounds that there is no viable defence.

As you have already no doubt deduced, it looks as if they are gathering evidence for a counter claim against you for the alleged damages to their rental property, which sadly they are entitled to do. When you receive the paperwork, I would again apply for a summary judgement in the grounds that there was no complaint lodged at the time that the work was completed or indeed till after you chased payment of the stopped cheque.

The burden of proof then falls on them to prove that your team caused the damage in the pictures they have provided. As you rightly said in your first post, they will struggle to prove that you were responsible for the grubby white walls that are the basis for their counter claim. If the customer was pleased enough to issue the cheque and to wait till you are chasing the balance of payment before complaining about some relatively trivial issues, I think it highly unlikely that they'll be successful. Proving duress if they choose to do down that route is notoriously hard to do without evidence of an explicit threat, which obviously they do not have.

Hopefully you will win both cases, but even in the extremely unlikely event that the judge finds in their favour with the counter claim, you would still be better off than you are now. £390 less the £292 they are counter claiming is still £100 that you will be better off. Of course this doesn't compensate for the time that this will eat up, but when a customer chooses to act in this fashion, as I have experienced personally on more than one occasion, the only thing to do is to stand up for yourself and show them that this kind of deceitful action against small businesses will not be tolerated.

I wish you the very best of luck with this as it lingers on for the next few months. Keep us updated...