Who is the contract with?

[DTLarca]

We have a contract to supply our customer with mini split ac systems which they have partly paid for but for months failed to make any further payments. So we put it through the county court. We thought the contract was with the person but this person has replied to the court that the contract was not with him but with his company. Do we just continue according to our original position? We first quoted another company of his a few months previous. We checked with companies house to see if we are getting thins right but it turns out the previous company was liquidated in the recent months.

[Abe]

We have a contract to supply our customer with mini split ac systems which they have partly paid for but for months failed to make any further payments. So we put it through the county court. We thought the contract was with the person but this person has replied to the court that the contract was not with him but with his company. Do we just continue according to our original position? We first quoted another company of his a few months previous. We checked with companies house to see if we are getting thins right but it turns out the previous company was liquidated in the recent months.


I take it the contract was verbally formed and you did not provide for any paperwork or obtained any signature.

On that basis I am assuming that you entered into a contract with a company. This is easy because , did you fit the systems at a place of business. How were you paid, were you paid by a cheque drawn on the company's name.

If you fitted in a residential house and you were paid by an individual in his name , then it probably was that individuals.

I would suggest to anyone working out there to establish who the person or company is that they are contracting with.

If it works out that they are indeed a company, and they have gone insolvent. then you need to find out who the insolvency practitioner is. You are a creditor and will share the proceeds

[DTLarca]

Thanks Abe.

The contract was written and addressed to the person and the persons address on the contract was his home flat address. Though after his name there was a reference to what we thought was his customer. When he gave the go ahead it was by email and he asked that the invoice be made out to his customer. So the contracts says

Dear Mr Joe Blog
Restaurant Name
Mr Blogs Home
Address
Here
with Post Code

In the email he said make the invoice out to Restaurant Name (UK) Ltd which we did but we always thought we were in contract with Joe Blog and in the quote we used Restaurant Name as the reference in the address but we never used Restaurant Name (UK) Ltd in the address.

We don't mind who he gets to pay for the air con supply and install we just expect to be paid so receiving a cheque from his customer who now it turns out was his own company was of no concern to us.

What do you think?

[Abe]

You have contracted with Joe Blog, not the Restaurant.
Did you retain a copy of the e mail ?

[DTLarca]

You have contracted with Joe Blog, not the Restaurant.
Did you retain a copy of the e mail ?

I hope you are right, Abe. We do have a copy.

We are now inserting (Hereafter called the customer) in-line after either the persons name or the full company name depending on who the contract is intended to be with.

We do understand that every contract must make clear who it is with, what is the price, what are the payment terms and what is the purpose otherwise it is not going to survive scrutiny from a judge.

[Abe]

You are welcome to send to me a copy of the original communication you had with your customer. I will scritinise it to make sure you have contracted with him.

The way Im reading it is this person gave you an order, you fitted ac at a restaurant, and then he asked you to invoice the restaurant and not him, which you did.

Im not sure what connection this person has with the restaurant, is he the owner, or a contractor. If he is the owner then you got a problem. If he is a contractor then you have a case

[DTLarca]

You are welcome to send to me a copy of the original communication you had with your customer. I will scritinise it to make sure you have contracted with him.

The way Im reading it is this person gave you an order, you fitted ac at a restaurant, and then he asked you to invoice the restaurant and not him, which you did.

Im not sure what connection this person has with the restaurant, is he the owner, or a contractor. If he is the owner then you got a problem. If he is a contractor then you have a case

Thanks for the offers. We took him to be a contractor. We had quoted his other company once for something else but never got the work. That company we notice is now in liquidation. But when we quoted for these works we thought we were quoting him. Though we always knew the works would be done for the restaurant but we didn't pay much attention to his connection to the restaurant.