Hi

This seems unfair but I've no legal basis to argue this one; I'm
hoping someone can come up with one.

My better half runs her own business (recruitment) as a Sole Trader
and has used the same site to advertise for the last 4 years. This
year for the first time she's had some difficulties (a few months with
no income at all) and spoke to the accounts dept at the site who
agreed to let her make certain payments, which she has been doing, to
bring the account back into credit.

Unfortunately the contract comes up for renewal this month and they
have flatly refused to allow her to renew while the account is still
in debt (to £800): this means that she can't advertise any positions
she has and is effectively cut off from earning any money.

Note that she's not trying to get out of paying the money: she's quite
prepared to repay in the terms agreed but without the live account
she's been effectively cut off from generating the money she can use
to repay them.

Is there anything that can be done, other than find £800 from
nowhere?

Thanks!

In ,
Geoff opined:
Hi

This seems unfair but I've no legal basis to argue this one; I'm
hoping someone can come up with one.

My better half runs her own business (recruitment) as a Sole Trader
and has used the same site to advertise for the last 4 years. This
year for the first time she's had some difficulties (a few months with
no income at all) and spoke to the accounts dept at the site who
agreed to let her make certain payments, which she has been doing, to
bring the account back into credit.

Unfortunately the contract comes up for renewal this month and they
have flatly refused to allow her to renew while the account is still
in debt (to £800): this means that she can't advertise any positions
she has and is effectively cut off from earning any money.

Note that she's not trying to get out of paying the money: she's quite
prepared to repay in the terms agreed but without the live account
she's been effectively cut off from generating the money she can use
to repay them.

Is there anything that can be done, other than find £800 from
nowhere?

Thanks!

So you think there should be a legal obligation on someone who hasn't been
paid for past services to provide more services on credit?

Chris R

On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 14:00:19 +0100, Geoff put finger to keyboard and
typed:

Hi

This seems unfair but I've no legal basis to argue this one; I'm
hoping someone can come up with one.

My better half runs her own business (recruitment) as a Sole Trader
and has used the same site to advertise for the last 4 years. This
year for the first time she's had some difficulties (a few months with
no income at all) and spoke to the accounts dept at the site who
agreed to let her make certain payments, which she has been doing, to
bring the account back into credit.

Unfortunately the contract comes up for renewal this month and they
have flatly refused to allow her to renew while the account is still
in debt (to £800): this means that she can't advertise any positions
she has and is effectively cut off from earning any money.

Note that she's not trying to get out of paying the money: she's quite
prepared to repay in the terms agreed but without the live account
she's been effectively cut off from generating the money she can use
to repay them.

Is there anything that can be done, other than find £800 from
nowhere?

Advertise elsewhere. That's pretty much the only option, if she can't
afford to pay her debt to the first supplier immediately.

It may seem unfair, but this is the risk you run if your business
depends on a single supplier and then you can't afford to pay them.
That's one of the most common reasons for small businesses failing. If
she does manage to dig herself out of that hole, the most important
lesson to learn from it is to have at least one other supplier in
future.

Mark
--
"There must be a place, under the sun, where hearts of olden
glory grow young"
http://mark.goodge.co.uk - my pointless blog
http://www.good-stuff.co.uk - my less pointless stuff

I sympathise, but that's a commercial decision. With the credit crunch thousands of
businesses are going to hit similar problems in the next few months. Those with enough
cash will survive, the others won't I am afraid.

On Oct 8, 5:30*am, Bystander wrote:
I sympathise, but that's a commercial decision. With the credit crunch thousands of
businesses are going to hit similar problems in the next few months. Those with enough
cash will survive, the others won't I am afraid.

It is perhaps worth poiting out that moving onto another supplier
without payment to the 1st supplier can be fraught with danger, abit
like using one credit card to pay off another, if the business simply
cant cover all the dent it generates, perhaps this is the time to
stop.

On 7 Oct, 20:55, "Chris R" wrote:
So you think there should be a legal obligation on someone who hasn't been
paid for past services to provide more services on credit?

Just in case this isn't just a blatant troll...

No; however I _do_ think there should be some level of understanding
that, given that an agreement has been entered into to repay debt and
that agreement has been kept to, to then refuse to renew a contract
which has otherwise been paid promptly and in full for four years
straight but expect the repayments to continue seems unreasonable.
Evidently the law disagrees

Thanks everyone for their comments.

G

Geoff posted
Hi

This seems unfair but I've no legal basis to argue this one; I'm
hoping someone can come up with one.

My better half runs her own business (recruitment) as a Sole Trader
and has used the same site to advertise for the last 4 years. This
year for the first time she's had some difficulties (a few months with
no income at all) and spoke to the accounts dept at the site who
agreed to let her make certain payments, which she has been doing, to
bring the account back into credit.

Unfortunately the contract comes up for renewal this month and they
have flatly refused to allow her to renew while the account is still
in debt (to £800):

I'd do the same. Giving extra credit to bad debtors is a quick way to
bust your own business.

this means that she can't advertise any positions
she has and is effectively cut off from earning any money.

Note that she's not trying to get out of paying the money: she's quite
prepared to repay in the terms agreed but without the live account
she's been effectively cut off from generating the money she can use
to repay them.

Is there anything that can be done, other than find £800 from
nowhere?

Has she tried borrowing it from a bank? It's the bank's business to lend
money out at interest; it isn't her supplier's job to lend it out at no
interest and no security.

There's certainly no recourse in law. In fact, she might soon find
herself being sued for recovery of the debt she owes them.

--
Les

On Wed, 8 Oct 2008 09:35:08 +0100, Geoff
wrote:
On 7 Oct, 20:55, "Chris R" wrote:
So you think there should be a legal obligation on someone who hasn't been
paid for past services to provide more services on credit?

Just in case this isn't just a blatant troll...

No; however I _do_ think there should be some level of understanding
that, given that an agreement has been entered into to repay debt and
that agreement has been kept to, to then refuse to renew a contract
which has otherwise been paid promptly and in full for four years
straight but expect the repayments to continue seems unreasonable.
Evidently the law disagrees

Thanks everyone for their comments.

I don't know why you feel this was a blatant troll. ITSTM that it was
a perfectly reasonable response. Your wife has been unable to keep up
payments so the service has been rescinded.

The fact that you think there may be legal recourse for your wife to
force a firm to continue providing service to a bad debtor is quite
frankly laughable.

As others have pointed out, it is common for businesses to fail due to
being unable to pay their suppliers.

If you reverse the position and your wife was recruiting employees for
a company who did not pay the commission would she continue to do so
because the other firm was not in a position to make any money without
employees. Of course she wouldn't because it would potentially be a
case of throwing good money after bad.

Sorry if this is not the answer you want to hear but life ain't a bed
of roses and she should not expect a third party to put themselves in
the position of losing more money just to bail her out.

Regards

Tom

On Oct 8, 9:35*am, Geoff wrote:
On 7 Oct, 20:55, "Chris R" wrote:

So you think there should be a legal obligation on someone who hasn't been
paid for past services to provide more services on credit?

Just in case this isn't just a blatant troll...

No; however I _do_ think there should be some level of understanding
that, given that an agreement has been entered into to repay debt and
that agreement has been kept to, to then refuse to renew a contract
which has otherwise been paid promptly and in full for four years
straight but expect the repayments to continue seems unreasonable.
Evidently the law disagrees

Thanks everyone for their comments.

G

i don't think its just a case of the *law* disagreeing...its common
sense. If you haven't paid for the previous contract because times are
lean and we are on the verge of a recession, its reasonable to expect
recruitment businesses will struggle and so not renew the contract. As
far as continuing to make payments they are payments for a service
that has been used and so they should continue until the debt is
settled.

I do the accounts for some self employed cleaners, who have over the
years built up a good base of customers, but now with the credit
crunch such services are a luxury and are being cancelled due to
financial reasons and the cleaners are struggling...but its just par
for the course when the economy struggles.

Whilst i can understand your upset because its the main income,
unofrtunately that's business.

smithy