Unfinished parcel of work?

[Fredxx]

I posted a question a while ago regarding this matter and hope this post
better explains the situation.


1 A friend accepts some work for a design, to perform some function.

2 The system is designed to my friends satisfaction and his
understanding of the contract

3 Friend puts in invoice and its not paid. The reason was that the
system did not function quite to the customers requirement

4 Friend threatens County Court on Small Claims Track and customer pays
approx 1/3 of invoice

5 Friend takes customer to County Court on Small Claims Track.

6 Friend obtains partial settlement and receives sum

7 Customer enters into an agreement with friend to complete work which
should take a few weeks

8 Since the agreement, the customer has baulked at allowing my friend to
complete the work


My friend is currently out of work and this money would come in handy
for him, he is therefore wanting to pursue this matter with the
customer, but at each time he contacts the customer he's fobbed off with
excuses why various personnel aren't available. In short the customer
is not interested.

What should he do? I have advised him to threaten another claim in
respect of his loss in not being able to finish of the work.

[Clank]

I appreciate this does not help the current situation, but in future your
friend may wish to include a standard clause in his contracts that states
that the intellectual property in his work does not transfer to the client
until he has been paid in full. This can at least prevent the customer
profiting from the work they don't intend to pay for.

I have no idea if such clauses have been tested in a court yet, but they
are increasingly common because of the tedious regularity with which such
situations arise - they give people such as your friend at least a little
extra leverage.

[Mentalguy2k8]

"Fredxx" <fre...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:knm4eq$kmn$1...@dont-email.me...

>I posted a question a while ago regarding this matter and hope this post
>better explains the situation.

>7 Customer enters into an agreement with friend to complete work which
>should take a few weeks

Was this second "agreement" a written agreement? If not, it could just be
the guy stringing him along to get his own back for being taken to court. If
it was me, and I had a written agreement to finish the project, I'd
(threaten to?) take it to the small claims on the basis that the work was
agreed, but despite my best efforts, the other party has prevented me doing
it. Maybe it's worth one last try to have a face-to-face with the client, he
might be skint and not want to admit it. Clients tell all kinds of lies for
all kinds of reasons.

*I am not a lawyer or anything like one*

As the other poster said, this is where your friend can learn valuable
lessons about how to secure his own interests in the future *before*
starting the work. I know from bitter experience that even doing work for
friends, can lead to this kind of situation.

If he's unemployed then at least he's had some good experience at designing
software and a life lesson in dickhead clients.

[Mel Rowing]

The customer either wants the work finished or he does not. If he
doesn't then there is no way that friend is going to get final
settlement. So customer should only get work finished on strictly cash
up front terms. Even if he loses the last part of the job.

Alternatively he could get a solicitor to write threatening the
customer to take the matter to the High Court with a view towards
getting bailiffs to recover the debt. Whether he ultimately continues
to go along this path would depend upon the advice of this solicitor
since it strikes me as rather expensive. However, as an unemployed
person he should get legal aid for the initial interview. Many
solicitors don't charge for the first 1/2 hour of a consultation
anyway.

[Fredxx]

On 24/05/2013 10:41, Mentalguy2k8 wrote:
>
> "Fredxx" <fre...@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:knm4eq$kmn$1...@dont-email.me...
>
>> I posted a question a while ago regarding this matter and hope this
>> post better explains the situation.
>
>> 7 Customer enters into an agreement with friend to complete work
>> which should take a few weeks
>
> Was this second "agreement" a written agreement? If not, it could
> just be the guy stringing him along to get his own back for being
> taken to court. If it was me, and I had a written agreement to finish
> the project, I'd (threaten to?) take it to the small claims on the
> basis that the work was agreed, but despite my best efforts, the
> other party has prevented me doing it. Maybe it's worth one last try
> to have a face-to-face with the client, he might be skint and not
> want to admit it. Clients tell all kinds of lies for all kinds of
> reasons.

The second agreement was verbal but there are email conversations to
support the agreement with fobbing off replies.

> *I am not a lawyer or anything like one*
>
> As the other poster said, this is where your friend can learn
> valuable lessons about how to secure his own interests in the future
> *before* starting the work. I know from bitter experience that even
> doing work for friends, can lead to this kind of situation.
>
> If he's unemployed then at least he's had some good experience at
> designing software and a life lesson in dickhead clients.

The writing was on the wall from being messed around before, and he
really ought not to have taken this work on.