Changes to Terms and Conditions.

[geezer466]

I am a small business.

 

A business I do business with has invoiced me a for a service I was not aware I was liable for.

 

On query they informed me that they made a change to their terms and conditions 12 Months ago and that I was sent 2 emails (one in December 2012, the other in January 2013) informing me there was a change to the t&c.

 

They have sent me copies of the emails they say they sent on the respective dates.

 

I can find no trace of them on our email systems. In addition from what I can make out from the emails copied to me today they make no mention of the affected change simply inviting me to visit a web page via a software application that they provide for me.

 

There was no link to the relevant page in the email and I have not used the software application in any event. I also issued notice to cancel the agreement between us on Dec 1st 2013 but clearly this is after the date they alledge they informed me of the change to t&c.

 

I think the argument is going to centre on service of the email(s) advising the change.

 

It is acceptable for terms and conditions to be varied in this way?

 

It's possible the emails were sent but as that account gets a lot of spam they may have been deleted in error.

 

Would the Company need to rely upon a read receipt before the emails can be taken as read and the Terms and Conditions change accepted?

 

This was a pretty fundamental change and levies an annual fee of £250.00 where one was not previously present.

 

Thanks for any opinions, irrespective of the rights or wrongs of service this looks like a very shady practice.

[steampowered]

To form a contract there needs to be offer and acceptance. Failing to respond to an email is not acceptance. The T&Cs cannot be changed mid-way through a contract unless you consent, simply reading the email is not enough. If you didn't respond to the email its difficult to see how there would be a contract to access the new application for £250.

 

 

However you need to check the T&Cs of your original contract to say what they say about new services and charges.

[geezer466]

To form a contract there needs to be offer and acceptance. Failing to respond to an email is not acceptance. The T&Cs cannot be changed mid-way through a contract unless you consent, simply reading the email is not enough. If you didn't respond to the email its difficult to see how there would be a contract to access the new application for £250.

 

 

However you need to check the T&Cs of your original contract to say what they say about new services and charges.

 

Thanks for the input...

 

Current contract says this.

 

firm may change this Agreement at any time. If firm make

a change that in firms reasonable opinion could be

detrimental to my business, firm will let me know thirty (30)

days before. Should I not be happy with the proposed

changes in terms, I shall have seven (7) days to contact firm

to discuss my concern.

 

As mentioned this is the current contract, I would have to rifle through a few filing cabinets to find the old but it is reasonable to assume the same wording is contained.

 

Although the notice of a change came through by email as specified within the terms above it was not seen. I appreciate this is probably not a defence, but would point out that that email never contained details of the change, just a brief summary (this particular change was not in that summary) drawing attention to check the new terms via the web.

 

Whilst it would have been simple to drop a link to those new terms in the email this was not done, there was simply a phrase asking users to access the new t&c via their software application.

 

It actually says

 

To view all three documents, please click on the “Manage” tab within your software and then click on the link “Terms and Conditions”. These documents will take effect on 28 January 2013 unless you notify us at info@firm.com before 28 January 2013.

 

The T&C are actually hosted on the web in any event.

 

End of the day I think it is all very shady and possibly an intention to mislead. There is no mention anywhere in the email of a significant change and they were expecting their customer (me) to interact with their software to be able to check them.

 

Of course had they served documents by mail they would have been read, digested and acted upon.

[steampowered]

None of that sounds legally enforceable to me. You can't have a contract where one of the parties can change any of the terms any time he likes. There is a legal principle known as certainty of contract which means the terms of any contract must be sufficiently certain when it is entered into (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certainty_in_English_law).

 

In your position I would a formal letter to them stating that you never received the email, never agreed to or used the service and therefore will not be making payment.

[geezer466]

None of that sounds legally enforceable to me. You can't have a contract where one of the parties can change any of the terms any time he likes. There is a legal principle known as certainty of contract which means the terms of any contract must be sufficiently certain when it is entered into (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certainty_in_English_law).

 

In your position I would a formal letter to them stating that you never received the email, never agreed to or used the service and therefore will not be making payment.

 

Many thanks for your assistance. That wiki link is very useful.