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Agency Wants Money Back

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    Agency Wants Money Back

    Hi all,

    I am aware I need professional legal advice on this one and I will be seeking that but wanted your advice as well.

    I did some fixed price work for a client via an agency. The contract stipulated three milestones at each point money would be paid.

    The three milestones were completed and signed off by the client. I invoiced as per the contract and the agency has paid all monies as per my invoices.

    They have contacted me today about some discrepancies. The amounts to be invoiced at each milestone were, according to them, incorrect.

    Essentially, the contract stated that the amounts to be invoiced by my company were (say) £10K, £8K and £8K. However, they have pointed to a Schedule of Arrangements which specifies the amounts should have been (say) £8K, £6K and £6K.

    To be fair to them, the schedule of arrangements was included in the PDF with the contract. Both parties have signed the document which includes contract and SoA.

    So what now? I invoiced and they paid according to the terms of the contract. But the SoA specifies a different amount.

    FWIW I don't think the client has paid any extra, I do think its the client here.

    So...what would you do?


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

    #2
    Are you saying that the client paid £10k, £8k and £8k to the agency which the agency paid out to you leaving them no margin??
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      #3
      Which value is correct - the one that they paid, or the one that they should have paid?
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        #4
        Originally posted by GillsMan View Post

        I am aware I need professional legal advice on this one
        This.

        FWIW, i'd imagine the contract trumps the schedule but then again, they could be integral and count each other out.

        Interesting point though. Wasn't the schedule also included when the contract was reviewed?

        Presumably you've invoiced as per the agreed amount? Or is it that the agency have dropped the ball and put what you'd agreed in the schedule (8,6,6) but put what the client was paying in the contract (10,8,8) and you've thought you'd invoice for the higher amount and see what happened?

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          #5
          Good questions all.

          1. I don't know what the client has paid but I think the client has paid a higher amount than what I invoiced.

          2. I think the discrepancy has come about due to the fact that the higher amounts quoted in the contract should have been in Euros. So £10,000 in the contract should have been €10,000 or £8,000 and so on.

          3. At this stage, I don't know which figures were correct. The contract states one amount, the SoA another amount. Because this was a fixed price deal, the negotiations were very different to normal.

          Do those answers change anyone's thinking? I'll certainly report back after I have received legal advice, but it's definitely an interesting one.

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            #6
            Originally posted by GillsMan View Post
            Good questions all.

            1. I don't know what the client has paid but I think the client has paid a higher amount than what I invoiced.

            2. I think the discrepancy has come about due to the fact that the higher amounts quoted in the contract should have been in Euros. So £10,000 in the contract should have been €10,000 or £8,000 and so on.

            3. At this stage, I don't know which figures were correct. The contract states one amount, the SoA another amount. Because this was a fixed price deal, the negotiations were very different to normal.

            Do those answers change anyone's thinking? I'll certainly report back after I have received legal advice, but it's definitely an interesting one.
            Who were you billing? If the company was outside UK then it would be reasonable to assume that the contract amounts should have been in Euro's and therefore the contract was wrong and the schedule was correct
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              #7
              Originally posted by GillsMan View Post
              3. At this stage, I don't know which figures were correct. The contract states one amount, the SoA another amount. Because this was a fixed price deal, the negotiations were very different to normal.


              How can you bid for a piece of work, agree to do that piece of work, and not know how much you agreed to do the work for?

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              Comment


                #8
                Maybe it's Roubles not Euros..

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                  #9
                  To answer Lisa's question:

                  I billed the UK-based agency. They billed the European client. My feeling is that the client has been billed based on the lower amount, whereas the agency has paid my LtdCo based on the higher amount. So the agency is out of pocket and, understandably, looking to resolve it.

                  TheFaQQer's question - and it is a good question - I have many clients on the go at any one time. At the time when I agreed this piece of work, I had six concurrent clients, mostly on a fixed-price basis.

                  I came to issue my first invoice some three months after beginning the work, as that is when I hit the first milestone. So, to ensure I invoiced the correct amount, I referred back to the contract and billed the amount specified in the contract. This first invoice was paid. Subsequently, the next two invoices were paid as well following my invoices.

                  Being fair, I think both myself me the agency have cocked up here. The agency cocked up by including a different price in the contract than the SoA. I cocked up by not noticing that discrepancy.

                  So we then need to ascertain which price was correct. With negotiations being handled over the phone and then formalised in the contract and SoA we are left in a situation where the formal documentation includes two different prices.

                  I appreciate that it doesn't look good that the amount I billed is the higher of the two specified amounts, but I genuinely would have billed whatever the contract said even if it was the lower amount.

                  I don't think this is black and white, and I'm certainly not looking for people to tell me what I want to hear (namely, that I was right to bill as per the contract and I can tell the agency to do one) so happy to hear all views, including those that tell me I've cocked up and need to honour the price the agency put in the SoA.

                  I guess the main question is: which supersedes the other: the contract, or the SoA?

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by GillsMan View Post

                    I guess the main question is: which supersedes the other: the contract, or the SoA?
                    I'm pretty sure my agency contract says that the SoA supersedes the contract where there's a discrepancy - might be worth checking yours again for a similar clause.

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