AA Terms and Conditions template

[Christopher Schroeter]

For your information.

 

A minor point came to light when I was looking at the Arb Associations Terms and Conditions template.  

The first item reads

1) Notice of the Right to Cancel “Cooling off period” – the client has a min. 14 days to cancel the contract (in writing) from acceptance date.

 

I queried this with the AA as it reads like the cooling off period is limitless. They were very quick to reply and rectify this so the new template has been changed to - 

 

1) Notice of the Right to Cancel “Cooling off period” – the client has 14 days to cancel the contract (in writing) from acceptance date

 

Its a small change but could have implications for your business in the event of a dispute. 

 

A question for you all though. What happens to this cooling off period when you have a rapid response to an instruction to work. Say someone accepts the quote and you complete the work within the 14 day period? Is there an amendment to the T&Cs that you use or is it something that is written on the quote?

[Inoff the Red]

My take on this is that the right to cancel gives a 14 day cooling off period in which the client can change his mind and cancel the contract.

If the nature of the job is such that it needs to be done within 14 days then the client could cancel right up until the time that you start the job but once the job starts that right to cancel is lost, not least because letting you onsite to do a job would be deemed acceptance of your terms and conditions. It would clearly be inequitable for a client to let you do a job within the 14 day period and then seek to renege on the agreement.(although that is not to say that some clever clogs may not try it).

 

One solution to avoid any doubt may be to add a rider to the cooling off clause to the effect that the cooling off period extends to the earlier of :-

a) 14 days from the date of the contract, or

b) in the event that the required start date is within the 14 day period, x days before the required start date. Where X would give you a bit of notice if they did want to cancel and avoid a wasted trip to a client only to be told on arrival that they had changed their mind.

 

Just a thought to put to the Arb Assoc legal chaps.