Sub Consultant not delivered and is invoicing me!

**Andy Hallett** · 10 July 2015, 14:39

Originally posted by GBSF View Post

Hi All

Im really hoping you can help me. I engaged a subconsultant in Germany to deliver a scoping project on behalf of my client. There is a long story here but in short the consultant has not delivered the required delivery (a concise project plan) to any level of quality and my client has rejected it.
[LIST][*]The purchase order I issued him stated the deliverable was a concise project plan[*]I provided him with the templates for delivery (which he changed beyond recognition)[*]What he submitted was fantastical, unrealisitc and certianaly not concise[*]I offered on 4 occasions to work with him to bring the project plan up to standard and ensure the information within it was of a realistic and justifiable nature and therefore acceptable to the client. This he refused point blank to do

He has now invoiced me for Euro1200 to which i have responded to by saying that as his work is not to a suitable or realistic standard as per the purchase order and is not acceptable to myself or my client client who has rejected it, and because he refuses to remediate the situation I will not pay this. He has replied (expectedly) saying he does not accept my position and demands that I pay this invoice.

What can I do? Can I refuse to pay him for this? as I am now having to pay for the work to be redone and do substantial rework myself in order to deliver to my client.

Any advice would be appricated as I am a very new business and in all honesty I cannot afford to pay him when I have to pay someone else to rework this into a document of acceptable quality because he refuses to do so.

Thanks GFSF

Depends what the basis of your contract was and which juristiction. As a general theme my experience of German Law there is a definate bias towards the contractor, as long as they have done the hours they are entitled to the pay etc. Think along the lines of UK Opt In.

**BrilloPad** · 10 July 2015, 14:54

In the contract did it say it had to be acceptable to the client?

**borderreiver** · 10 July 2015, 15:27

So he didn't deliver what was promised, refused point blank any assistance in implementation and is now refusing to remedy the issues?

Sounds like, at the very least, you have a good case for reducing his fee by the rework cost you now have (make sure you keep precise records of this!). This may reduce his fee to zero, of course

I would check the contract with a lawyer (obviously I am not one myself), but assuming you have insurance in place for legal fees then it sounds like you should be fine. The contract was under UK law?

**stek** · 10 July 2015, 15:44

It wasn't Suity was it?

**tractor** · 10 July 2015, 16:19

.....

Originally posted by GBSF View Post

Hi All

Im really hoping you can help me. I engaged a subconsultant in Germany to deliver a scoping project on behalf of my client. There is a long story here but in short the consultant has not delivered the required delivery (a concise project plan) to any level of quality and my client has rejected it.
[LIST][*]The purchase order I issued him stated the deliverable was a concise project plan[*]I provided him with the templates for delivery (which he changed beyond recognition)[*]What he submitted was fantastical, unrealisitc and certianaly not concise[*]I offered on 4 occasions to work with him to bring the project plan up to standard and ensure the information within it was of a realistic and justifiable nature and therefore acceptable to the client. This he refused point blank to do

He has now invoiced me for Euro1200 to which i have responded to by saying that as his work is not to a suitable or realistic standard as per the purchase order and is not acceptable to myself or my client client who has rejected it, and because he refuses to remediate the situation I will not pay this. He has replied (expectedly) saying he does not accept my position and demands that I pay this invoice.

What can I do? Can I refuse to pay him for this? as I am now having to pay for the work to be redone and do substantial rework myself in order to deliver to my client.

Any advice would be appricated as I am a very new business and in all honesty I cannot afford to pay him when I have to pay someone else to rework this into a document of acceptable quality because he refuses to do so.

Thanks GFSF

If it was 1200 worth of work, that's about 4 days. It seems you know what is required and how to do the work.

Write and officially give the subby a week to remedy according to the original requirement. If they do, provide it to the client and bill them, pay the subby.

Else do it yourself and provide it to the client. One problem solved. Bill the client.

Ignore the subby. See if they take you to court. If they do and you are liable, put it down to experience, you come out even and your experience may have been expensive but it always is.

**eek** · 10 July 2015, 21:07

Originally posted by tractor View Post

If it was 1200 worth of work, that's about 4 days. It seems you know what is required and how to do the work.

Write and officially give the subby a week to remedy according to the original requirement. If they do, provide it to the client and bill them, pay the subby.

Else do it yourself and provide it to the client. One problem solved. Bill the client.

Ignore the subby. See if they take you to court. If they do and you are liable, put it down to experience, you come out even and your experience may have been expensive but it always is.

The only question here that matters is in what country was the contract signed. Does it explicitly something like

This Agreement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales

or

This Agreement is governed by the law of England and Wales, and is subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales

If its does not and there is the option to sue you in germany just swallow the cost and learn your very expensive lesson of always using a proper contract...

**BlasterBates** · 11 July 2015, 12:31

If this went to court you would probably not get a decision you didn't need to pay anything.

The law is generally on the side of the sub-contractor. Though you do seem to have a case for perhaps reducing the fee.

To be perfectly honest by the time you've spent hours on this case and visiting the soliciter and paying the soliciter's fees I think I would advise coughing up and chalk down to experience, and just redo the plan over the weekend.

Isn't worth a huge battle. It's not comparable to the normal case of trying to get an invoice paid, it's far more complicated.

A project plan is not a device that switches on and works or doesn't work it's far more subjective. If you say the plan was not realistic it would be your word against his, and the judge won't have a clue, that means paying some kind of expert to support your argument.

I suspect you'd probably end up spending more time justifying why the subcontractor didn't deliver than you would simply by just "redoing the plan".

So you spend 4 grand on a soliciter, an expert witness and court costs and the judge decides to cut the fee by 30% and divide the court costs evenly.

...just an example of what might happen if this goes to court.

Sub Consultant not delivered and is invoicing me!