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When I signed a contract for some consulting work, I agreed to
the customer's requirement that I use a particular electronic
service for submitting invoices. I learned later that I would have
to pay for the invoice service -- admittedly, a token amount.
But I have had no end to problems trying to use the invoice
service. The customer wants the first invoice by a certain date
for budget reasons, but I have not been able to create an invoice
due to the problems with the service. I'm talking about a 5-digit
figure.
If I had chosen the invoice service myself, I would simply
abandon them now, insisting on a refund. Even if the current
problems are remedied in the next day or so, I have lost
confidence in the service to process the invoice correctly. I
want to simply resort to submitting a paper invoice.
Can the customer -- and the agreement that I signed -- really
force me to continue to use this unreliable invoice service?
It can result in a delay in the customer's payment, as well as
a potential loss of investment income, depending on how long
it takes to iron out all of the problems.
I wonder if the contractual required was legal (enforceable), in
the first place. I learned later that the invoice service is a
subsidiary of the customer. In effect, the customer is charging
me to get my payment from them.
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George,
You work as a consultant. You were hired by a company, A, and in the
contract was the stipulation that all billing be handled by company B. B is
making a mess of the billing.
Raise this issue in writing with A. Make your offer of a paper billing.
Raise this issue with B in writing. Make clear that timely, correct billing
is important.
Read the contract that you have with B. Continue working for A as you
agreed. If B does not get the billing issues resolved quickly keep clear
records that will show how you have been damaged . Decide whether you wish
to sue B. Your records should also show that you have been co-operative in
helping B set up your invoicing account.
Good luck,
Dave M.
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On Apr 8, 7:37 am, curiousgeorge...@hotmail.com wrote:
When I signed a contract for some consulting work, I agreed to
the customer's requirement that I use a particular electronic
service for submitting invoices.
<customer's billing system doesn't work>
Well, you tried. And you can keep trying, maybe telephoning and
asking them to explain to you what you need to do to get their system
to work. But IMO nothing prevents you from ALSO writing a nice
snailmail letter to your customer, telling them about your problems
getting their online billing system to work properly, advising them
how much they owe you this month, and submitting a paper copy of your
bill. I don't think any court would find that unreasonable.
The customer has to give you a viable method of submitting your
bills. If their system doesn't work, they either need to fix it or
allow you an alternative path. If they don't cooperate, the only
conclusion one can draw is that they are intentionally scamming you,
setting up a shell game in which you can never get paid. So they
ought to cooperate. Good luck,
--
This posting is for discussion purposes, not professional advice.
Anything you post on this Newsgroup is public information.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client in any specific legal
matter.
For confidential professional advice, consult your own lawyer in a
private communication.
Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
10440 Little Patuxent Pkwy #300
Columbia, MD 21044
(tel) 410-740-5685 (fax) 410-740-4300
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In article <o5mmv35n7i1isvsaq6n21tli86g03us7k4@4ax.com>,
curiousgeorge408@hotmail.com wrote:
When I signed a contract for some consulting work, I agreed to
the customer's requirement that I use a particular electronic
service for submitting invoices. I learned later that I would have
to pay for the invoice service -- admittedly, a token amount.
But I have had no end to problems trying to use the invoice
service. The customer wants the first invoice by a certain date
for budget reasons, but I have not been able to create an invoice
due to the problems with the service. I'm talking about a 5-digit
figure.
If I had chosen the invoice service myself, I would simply
abandon them now, insisting on a refund. Even if the current
problems are remedied in the next day or so, I have lost
confidence in the service to process the invoice correctly. I
want to simply resort to submitting a paper invoice.
Can the customer -- and the agreement that I signed -- really
force me to continue to use this unreliable invoice service?
The answer is yes. You can choose to stop using it, but the
customer can choose to not pay you. This actually pretty
common in this era of vendor consolidation. For example, I
once did a project for Dehphi (the electronics division of
GM). They required that all hardware sent to any of their
locations be sent to a central warehouse, and it had to be
barcoded using their software, and then they would make the
in-house delivery. If we wanted their work, we had to jump
through their hoops.
You can always ask someone in accounts payable if you can
use some other method. Who knows, maybe today is your lucky
day.
-john-
--
======================================================================
John A. Weeks III 612-720-2854 john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
======================================================================
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In article <o5mmv35n7i1isvsaq6n21tli86g03us7k4@4ax.com>,
<curiousgeorge408@hotmail.com> wrote:
[tale of woe, re customer requirement, snipped]
Can the customer _force_ you to do it? "No."
Can the customer refuse to do business with you unless you do? "Yes."
Since you _agreed_ to the terms in the contract, you *are* stuck with
complying with them, unless you feel like being on the receiving end of
a 'breach of contract' lawsuit.
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On Apr 8, 6:37 am, curiousgeorge...@hotmail.com wrote:
I wonder if the contractual required was legal (enforceable), in
the first place. I learned later that the invoice service is a
subsidiary of the customer. In effect, the customer is charging
me to get my payment from them.
First, IANAL and you should probably get one. What you are saying
doesn't make a lot of sense.
Having said that, is the contract enforceable? Yes. You signed an
agreement and waived some of your rights. You agreed to the terms of
the contract when it comes to invoicing.
What you said doesn't make sense.
If your client said that they only except invoices from this company x
and require all of their vendors to use company x, then imho, company
x is acting as an agent for the company. You shouldn't have to pay any
processing fees for using said service. Since you are paying for this
"service", you should have signed a contract. If said service isn't
performing in accordance with their SLA, then you should have some
recourse.
You didn't say what your problem is with the "invoicing company". Is
the issue in generating the invoice? If so, have you talked with the
company? Are you generating the invoice, but the customer isn't seeing
the invoice? You have got to give some more specifics.
Just to sound a little paranoid, I've had a customer once delay paying
my invoices along with all of their other vendors. Their philosophy
was that the longer they had their money in their pocket, the more
money they made off the interest. They stopped doing that to me when
my contract was up for renewal, I raised my rates by 20% and then
offering them a 5% discount if they paid within 21 days.
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George,
You signed a contract with a customer, and one provision is to use a
particular invoice service to generate invoices. For reasons that are
not quite clear to me, you have been unable to generate the first
invoice (which will be over $10,000). You ask whether you can submit
a paper invoice instead.
A court would ask, have you exhausted your other remedies? Have you
escalated the problem to a higher level within the invoice service?
Have you contacted the client about the problems and asked them
either to intercede with the service or to accept a paper invoice?
Those actions, and similar ones, are your best bet.
A contract can be voided on grounds of impossibility, but so far this
seems more like inconvenience than impossibility. (And presumably you
don't want to void the whole contract anyway, just this provision. I
don't know whether the law of contracts allows that, but I rather
doubt it.)
You mention that the invoice service charges a small fee, and that
it's a subsidiary of the client. I don't think the first would cut
any ice in court -- a businessman should expect to pay for services,
and if you agreed without checking the price that's your problem. As
for it being a subsidiary, I don't think that's relevant at all
unless you have reason to believe the client is deliberately causing
problems to prevent getting an invoice. But since you say the client
has actually asked for an invoice that seems unlikely.
--
If you e-mail me from a fake address, your fingers will drop off.
I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice. When you read anything
legal on the net, always verify it on your own, in light of your
particular circumstances. You may also need to consult a lawyer.
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
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On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:37:17 -0400, curiousgeorge408@hotmail.com
wrote:
When I signed a contract for some consulting work, I agreed to
the customer's requirement that I use a particular electronic
service for submitting invoices. I learned later that I would have
to pay for the invoice service -- admittedly, a token amount.
IANAL
I like the first two answers, and want to ask you some related
questions.
You agreed to use the particular service. Did you agree to use no
other method in addition? Probably not.
He agreed to pay. Did the agreement say he was only obliged to pay if
the bill came through that service. You'll have to read the contract
again, but the odds are 50/50 or better that he didn't.
Even if the contract did say that he would only pay if the bill came
through the service, I doubt that is enforceable given that the
service isn't working. You'd still be entitled to be paid for the
work you did. As long as you are trying to use the service, and
doing what the service tells you, (and as long as what they expect of
you is reasonable) he can't withhold payment forever just because the
service doesn't work.
Continue to use the service as best you can, but you can also bill by
paper, and write on the bill, Payment due within 30 days, or whatever
the standard would have been if the service worked.
And write him a letter along with the bill that says some of what is
in your first post.
But I have had no end to problems trying to use the invoice
service. The customer wants the first invoice by a certain date
for budget reasons, but I have not been able to create an invoice
due to the problems with the service. I'm talking about a 5-digit
figure.
If I had chosen the invoice service myself, I would simply
abandon them now, insisting on a refund. Even if the current
problems are remedied in the next day or so, I have lost
confidence in the service to process the invoice correctly. I
want to simply resort to submitting a paper invoice.
Do both.
Can the customer -- and the agreement that I signed -- really
force me to continue to use this unreliable invoice service?
It can result in a delay in the customer's payment, as well as
a potential loss of investment income, depending on how long
it takes to iron out all of the problems.
I wonder if the contractual required was legal (enforceable), in
the first place. I learned later that the invoice service is a
subsidiary of the customer. In effect, the customer is charging
me to get my payment from them.
I don't think that is so bad if things were working, but it certainly
makes the customer responsible when the service doesn't work. So in a
way you are better off than if he had given you a list of 3 services
and you chose one unrelated to him that was this incompetent.
If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)
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