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We have an issue at work with a contractor that stopped working for us. The last invoice submitted by the contractor two month ago is still outstanding. The reason is that it was incorrectly invoiced - we disputed part of the invoiced amount (around 20% of the invoice total).
We asked the contractor to re-invoice correctly, but he refused and replied that we should pay the amount we agree with as partial payment on the original invoice.
We did not want to do this, mostly for administrative reasons, and asked again that he re-invoice correctly. Last week we received a County Court Claim Form where the contractor is claiming the original amount, plus interest, plus court fees.
There is a history to this, I would say mutual dissatisfaction that led to acrimoniousness termination of our arrangement. In that context I suspect that the contractor either thought we are trying to avoid paying him, or perhaps he is bitter about how things played out. Or perhaps he is just the litigious type - I do not know.
Either way, I would have thought that submitting a County Court Claim when the invoice is less than one month overdue, and when we have offered an avenue for amicable resolution, is a bit rash and also irrational.
Possibly he knows that we do not have the time or energy to engage in litigations, and that as business we can't risk having a County Court judgement against us (courts are always a bit of a lottery) because it might affect our ability to raise credit with suppliers. And having the Claim Form served just before the holiday period with fourteen days to reply is likely not a coincidence - he is probably aware that it will be difficult for us to deal with this properly or get advice etc within the required time frame.
I am not familiar with County Court procedures... I would have thought that the would be a requirement for the claimant to make reasonable effort to settle to claim before proceeding with County Court claim. We had an exchange of emails where we made our proposal which he refused, but that's about it.
How should we go about this? If he thought we would not want to waste time on this then he is quite right, but at this point it is not clear to me what is the best way forward. We are reluctant to pay the interest and court fees he is asking for and it seems to me that he is making a point of making our life difficult, rather than simply trying to get paid what he is due.
We asked the contractor to re-invoice correctly, but he refused and replied that we should pay the amount we agree with as partial payment on the original invoice.
We did not want to do this, mostly for administrative reasons, and asked again that he re-invoice correctly. Last week we received a County Court Claim Form where the contractor is claiming the original amount, plus interest, plus court fees.
There is a history to this, I would say mutual dissatisfaction that led to acrimoniousness termination of our arrangement. In that context I suspect that the contractor either thought we are trying to avoid paying him, or perhaps he is bitter about how things played out. Or perhaps he is just the litigious type - I do not know.
Either way, I would have thought that submitting a County Court Claim when the invoice is less than one month overdue, and when we have offered an avenue for amicable resolution, is a bit rash and also irrational.
Possibly he knows that we do not have the time or energy to engage in litigations, and that as business we can't risk having a County Court judgement against us (courts are always a bit of a lottery) because it might affect our ability to raise credit with suppliers. And having the Claim Form served just before the holiday period with fourteen days to reply is likely not a coincidence - he is probably aware that it will be difficult for us to deal with this properly or get advice etc within the required time frame.
I am not familiar with County Court procedures... I would have thought that the would be a requirement for the claimant to make reasonable effort to settle to claim before proceeding with County Court claim. We had an exchange of emails where we made our proposal which he refused, but that's about it.
How should we go about this? If he thought we would not want to waste time on this then he is quite right, but at this point it is not clear to me what is the best way forward. We are reluctant to pay the interest and court fees he is asking for and it seems to me that he is making a point of making our life difficult, rather than simply trying to get paid what he is due.
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