this is a question ive been meaning to ask for a while…
if i start work for a customer and they havent signed my terms and conditions but they have had 3 copies, can i enforce them after 4 months of work.
my way of thinking is, if you have 3 sets of copies and i can prove that by giving me 4 months of work whether you have signed them or not you have agreed to them otherwise you have had plenty of time to question them.
am i right.
stick a caveat into your T&C’s along the lines of
‘by using our services you agree to be bound by these terms & conditions’…
from a long time ago, i remember a legal phrase: “reasonable length of time”.
but to cover yourself i would wright to them explaining something like:
"we have sent you a copy of our terms and conditions on several occasions, but it appears that you may not have signed, and returned our copy, as we have worked together for several months, and you have had a copy of the said contract throughout this time, then please let me know if there are any issues that we need to talk over with you. if i do not hear from you within the next 14 days, then i will regard the contract between us as binding.
as i’m sure you will agree, there has been a reasonable length of time for you peruse, and raise issue regarding the said contract.
without predjudice,
jessicasdad.
‘Yes’, ‘no’, and ‘kind of’ is the only clear answer in this situation.
Just because you have a set of conditions which you have given them, doesn’t mean that they agree to them even though they offer you work which you accept. Similarly they probably have a standard set of conditions for suppliers, which you may not agree with but you work for them. Also, just because you have sent them, is no proof in law that your customer has recieved or agreed to them.
If there is a disagreement betwen the two of you then either try to sort it amicably or forget about it and move. If it gets to the stage of nitpicking the terms of a contract then that is only ever going to end up in court, and as a one-man-band freelance driver you do not have the financial resources to mount a legal campaign which is going to start arguing the finer points of contractual or even tort law.
As an example, I know of a reasonably large cleaning company based in Glasgow (turnover circa £500k) who launched legal proceedings against a customer who had failed to adhere to a minor contractual clause regarding periodic inspection of hoovers and other cleaning equipement. The case never made it as far as court, but the legal bill alone for setting up the case and preparing the evidence (and bear in mind this was a VERY simple contractual disagreement) came to the best part of £35k - and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
ok thanks for the comments.
jessicas dad:
this is a question ive been meaning to ask for a while…if i start work for a customer and they havent signed my terms and conditions but they have had 3 copies, can i enforce them after 4 months of work.
my way of thinking is, if you have 3 sets of copies and i can prove that by giving me 4 months of work whether you have signed them or not you have agreed to them otherwise you have had plenty of time to question them.
am i right.
Hi Alex,
I’m not sure of the exact legal position involved with what you’ve described, but one of the training providers I work for had a dispute with a client on this point.
IIRC, the solicitor’s advice was that there should be a phrase in your Ts & Cs to the effect that “placing an order will be construed as acceptance of the terms and conditions.”
Of course, it’s much better if you get a signed acceptance back, but if you take the above advice, you’ll have much more of a case if it’s not been signed and is disputed later. 
Some companies don’t sign on purpose and think that they can use that as a stalling or avoiding tactic. 
basically what happened is…
last august i phoned a company for some work as you know im a freelance driver, i sent some bumf off to them including terms and conditions. i was called to see the manager just to " show me the ropes " of a job i was going to do and i gave him a hard copy of the terms and conditions plus copy of my license ect…
i then did 2 weeks holiday cover.
3 weeks later i was called back to go on a long term contract again i gave him a hard copy of the terms and conditions to sign… he chucked them in the lorry and said il have a look at them later!!!
when later i went out in the lorry away for the week they were still left where he chucked them, i then did 3 months in this vehicle on the contract till xmas when i got laid off due to the work slacking off till march.
on the last day i did 6 hours but booked 8, this was questioned and i said according to my terms and conditions my basic day is 8hrs, " well we only pay for hours worked and we didnt sign your terms and conditions " words followed by text either way and they paid up as i stated they had had 3 copies of my terms and by giving me such continuous work they had subverntly agreed to them.
i got my money and a text saying that i wouldnt be used again, i was just wondering if i was in the right or wrong. i know those 2 hours cost me the job but to me principal is to be fair.
Imho, ■■■■ em. Stand by your guns. Probably cutting your nose off to spite your face in some peoples eyes but if you don’t draw a line in the sand ■■■■■ like that will try it on again and again. Better off out of there.
Goaty:
Imho, [zb] em. Stand by your guns. Probably cutting your nose off to spite your face in some peoples eyes but if you don’t draw a line in the sand [zb] like that will try it on again and again. Better off out of there.
That’s what I thought as well goaty, he had already offered me a job and I had knocked it back cos I didn’t really want to work for him permantley anyway.