Several months ago I was asked to assist a small business owner who had signed a contract with Phoenix Business Agents Limited,

a company that offers to sell your business for a fee.

The business owner had paid a deposit of £1000 and agreed to pay £6500 if they managed to sell his business in 6 months.

He was told that if they failed in the time period he could request a full refund.

After six months of no interest from buyers and no real evidence of this companies efforts to promote he withdrew from the contract in writing.

The problem came when he looked more closely at the contract.

The contract is by OFT guidance, very unfair.

It states in complex terms that if you cancel in the first six months you will pay £3000

but in a further clause in small print it states that if you cancel after the six months you still pay £3000.

This company have the deal nicely put together.

If you don't cancel then they have sole sellers rights and get to keep your £1000 deposit - so your fully locked in.

After posting a on few web sites I have had a number of owners contacting me who have either fallen into the trap already

or have managed to avoid it by reading the emails.

My research has found that this company are a franchise covering the whole of the UK

and therefore all my contacts are dealing with different company directors.

It would be really good if we could get a further web entry on this site for those who are searching for what is rather limited info on this company.

The only work this company have to do is get you to sign their contract.

I have a court case coming up against one of the franchise companies in the next few weeks and can post contracts and other material after that date.

You have your link testament1uk.

There is nothing stopping you from posting the Terms and Conditions on here court case or not.

I have attached the contract - This is the only contract text - there are no supplements.

contract.pdf

You have your link testament1uk.

 

There is nothing stopping you from posting the Terms and Conditions on here court case or not.

terms posted

The case being heard the following is applicable.

The claimant was a franchise and therefore negotiated terms possibly without reference to the main franchise holder.

The issue of OFT rules for consumer transactions was not applicable in this case as the defendant was not deemed to be a consumer but a business.

At no point was the contract deemed to be unfair and it was made clear that both parties being on an equal footing would be binding themselves to contract terms.

The claimants case was dismissed on the grounds that the £3000 was a penalty charge

and not a genuine pre-estimate of loss and therefore unenforcable.

Hello,

I would be very intersted to hear the defence used in the case you quote. I am likely to go to court with Phoenix if what they say is anything to go by? This company seem to thrive on trumped up charges instead of actually trying to sell your business. There are many unhappy people out there who are being harrassed into paying some kind of 'compromise fee' and this should stop. Any info you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

tb

Another argument to use is that the cancellation clause is exceptionally onerous and accordingly invalid unless brought to the specific attention of the customer before the contract is signed - see Interfoto Picture Library Limited v Stiletto Visual Programmes Limited [1989] QB 433.

Thanks Legaleagle for your post. I have looked up the case and found that could very useful.

I have been issued court proceedings so any more information would be much appreciated. I intend to make some case law of my own against this company for any further victims of their amibiguous contracts to use in the future.

tb.

Hi all

Very interesting reading, I too have been scammed by this company in such a similar way. I was told at the original meeting it would be £1000 to sell the business but took the lesser package of £300 also told that there would be no additional expense unless they sold the business. They then cancelled the contract last mount after a year having sent only 2 people round. Didn’t think too much just assumed that was then end of it, then a whopping £ 8000 dept collecting letter, they didn’t even invoice me just sent the letter stating I had 7 days to pay. I wont be taking this lying down and will be contacting the Trading Standard and a solicitor, has anyone been to court yet ? I noticed that other complaints on the we about this company had a successful court appearance.

Any advice to make would be appreicated.

Regards John

Welcome to the forum jbacco.

First thing to do is write recorded to Phoenix telling them how disappointed you are they never had the guts to invoice you (don't spare the language), and demand a full breakdown of the bill. You can also send the same letter to the dca and see how the replies compare.

Do you have the contract handy? if so, any chance when you have a few more posts of pasting it up here or failing that, emailing it to me and I can put it up.

Hi,

I've had a phone call from phoenix today demanding £7200 as I didnt send them an energy certificate and set of accounts.

I never had anyone even look at the business. In speaking to them they have said they will reduce it to 3600 which I cannot afford.

They keep referring back to the contract and If I'm honest I'm really worried. I find it amazing how our government is allowing this sort of trade.

Some advice would be so helpful.

R

Scan and put your contract up here so we can take a look. Remove any personal or identification first.

Don't use .jpg that comes out too small, use pdf.

ps and if you want to tell us the full story from the first day you were contacted by them, that would be helpful.

You can use these instruction as supplied by dx

scan the required letters/agreements/sheets

as a picture[jpg] file

remove all pers info inc barcodes etc using paint program

but leave all figures and dates.

goto one of the many free online pdf converter websites

it would be better to upload a multipage pdf

than many single ones

or if you have PDF as an installed printer drive use that

or use word and save as pdf

open a new msg box here

hit go advanced below the msg box

hit manage attachments below that box

hit the add files button on the top right

hit select files, navigate to your file on your pc

hit upload files

NB:you can set where it goes in the post by hitting insert inline.

then hit reply button

dx

Hello there.

Advice by PM or email is against site rules I'm afraid, in everyone's best interests.

If you have specific legal questions, we also have a legal forum where the guys should be able to help you.

My best, HB

Hi there,

I'm having similar issues with Phoenix but I did not pay a marketing fee unlike testament. Where do you think I stand with it.

Thanks

Duplicate and triplicate posting removed.

Thread moved to legal issues where more knowledgeable posters on the issues may be able to assist.

Also requests for information to be provided away from CAG has been removed. Having reviewed the whole thread there is no reason that any assistance can't be posted on the thread.