Where do i stand ?

[mikethetile]

Graham is right, there are three and only three reasons you can legally stop a cheque they are;

1.) The person who issues the cheque recieved nothing in exchange (note this doesnt cover defective goods/services only absolutley nothing)

2.) The contract in respect of which the cheque is issued is illegal

3.) The cheque was obtained fraudulently

Hence why the absolute worst thing you can ever do when your not happy with work done for you in stop the cheque.

He could take the customer to court right now if he wanted on the basis that he has done something for her and she has cancelled the cheque, he would win probably without there even being a hearing, and he would get the full face amount of the cheque, plus interest and the court cost back.

I've done it before when a customer took the mick and bounced a cheque, then cancelled another one pretending she wasnt happy with the work, the quality of the work (which was fine) didnt even form part of the case and the judgement was made by default the minute the judge was issued with a letter from the customer to me pretending to not be happy with the work and a copy of the cheque endorsed by the bank as cancelled by the customer.

Although like I said before, the customer in this case would have a good case to also sue for the cost of repair work to be done, providing she gives chance for it to be rectified first and the OP doesnt get it sorted.

I can absolutley assure you that I am 100% correct about the customer not being able to cancel the cheque in these circumstances.

we know the cicumstances of your case and they were different to jrs case, this lady has a case against jr for damages to her property , a court would accept her defence and if it was provable would find for her, the whole issue would be unpleasant and costly to jr

use a bit of common sense boys there are two sides to every story, remember the golden rule of business , customer care

theres every possibility that this lady will reccomend jr on as she is happy with his tiling and he has been reasonable over this

 

[Olz]

we know the cicumstances of your case and they were different to jrs case, this lady has a case against jr for damages to her property , a court would accept her defence and if it was provable would find for her, the whole issue would be unpleasant and costly to jr

use a bit of common sense boys there are two sides to every story, remember the golden rule of business , customer care

theres every possibility that this lady will reccomend jr on as she is happy with his tiling and he has been reasonable over this

No they wouldnt, the only defences the court would accept are the three I posted,

I know its a different case, but like I said, there are three reasons and three only, and overpayment isnt one of them.

I stated in my posts clearly that I dont think he should persue it at court, and made it clear that I thought he was in the wrong here for taking on the plumbing work and im not suggesting for one minute that he takes her to court, Im making the points about the three and only three reasons mike because, and the fact that even cancelling a cheque becuase it is the wrong amount is illegal because I would hate someone to read incorrect advise on a forum and get into the mire for it.

If you issue a cheque for the wrong amount you should claim the money back or only cancel the cheque with the PRIOR agreement of the other party and issue a new one. The fact that she isnt happy with the work / price is a whole different issue, but i completley agree the op would have problems if she took it to court, the correct process though would be that he could sue her for the cancelled cheque and he would win. She could start a completley seperate case in respect to the damage to her home and she would more than likely win, but its not a case of the her using the poor work as a defence, they would be treat as two seperate cases completley.

But again like i've said all the way through this thread, the op shouldnt have touched the plumbing work in the first place and the only reason why I am still posting in this thread about the cheque issue is to make sure no one drops themselves in the mire after reading posts on here.

If anyone has any doubts about stopping cheques etc they should read up on the Bills of Exchange act or see their solicitor.

 

[mikethetile]

if you dont want to put anyone wrong on this dont give out advice as if you are a qualified solicitor and know the law inside out, you are also making statements as to what the courts will or will not allow

what you need to remember in this case is that she has not refused to pay, she has made it clear that she will pay for the job less the cost of putting the damage right. she did issue a cheque for full payment but stopped it when she realised there was problems with the plumbing, the amount she had paid included the plumbing which she was not prepared to pay for, hence stopping the cheque

if you have ever rang the bank to stop a cheque you will know its not straight forward as they question the circumstances and will only stop a cheque if they are satisfied it is legal to do so

 

[Graham100]

Mike, The law states that you CANNOT stop a cheque for the reason that she did. That is by far more clear cut than the issue of the plumbing. I HAVE been in court over such an issue as I stated in a previous post. The judge made it crystal clear, regardless of the quality of the work she MUST honour the cheque, even if all the tiles fall off and the house floods, she MUST honour the cheque she has issued then take the guy to court if she is still unhappy.

Not wanting to cause friction here, just trying to help clarify.

 

[mikethetile]

in your case she issued the cheque knowing the door was wrong then withdrew payment which is illegal

 

[Graham100]

in your case she issued the cheque knowing the door was wrong then withdrew payment which is illegal

She knew the door was right Mike and issued the cheque to avoid confrontation then stopped it.

 

[Olz]

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree here Mike I can see the way this thread is going it's obviously starting to wind you up a bit which is not the intention. Your right im not a qualified solicior but I did take the trouble to make a 2 minute google search before I took the time to try and point out the actual law regarding this and took the advice I posted from the website of a 'qualified solicitor'

Good look to the OP I hope you sort it and come out with some cash and your reputation in tact.

If anyone would like to read advise from a 'Qualified Solicitor' here is a link with the solicitors advice surrounding customers stopping cheques when they are not happy with your work as in this case. The relevant section is about half way down the page entitled 'dishonoured cheques'

Online Debt Recovery, Debt Collection, Stopped Cheque, Unpaid Cheque

PS the link is used as it contains the relevant info, not to advertise the firm who I have never used.

 

[DHTiling]

Sorry mike but Oli is right.. next time check your right before jumping in with both feet....

 

[Dan]

Guys guys.

We have a firm, Invoice Chasing | Chase Invoices | Failed Billing | Invoices Chasers | Credit Control | Credit Management, who sponsor our forums (and tradesmen) and help with this exact thing, and they have teams of solicitors, who just deal with payments and all issues around them.

Give 'em a call and tell 'em Dan sent you from the forums.