I do a lawn 2 lots away from another LCO's. Anyway the people want me to do their lawn but say they are having a hard time gettng out of their contract. The lco isnt doing the lawn as well as i am doing my account. He started doing a good job but now dosnt trim well and being from out of town, these people show up to the cottage on Fri. and leave on Sun. The crew comes on like wed or even tues for the lawn. How can they get out of this contract?
Well, it all depends on the terms of the contract. Does the contract state what day(s) the lco can mow the lawn? just depends on how the contract is written.
It's quite simple. The customer says. "Hey, we don't want your services, anymore. Here is the last of the works payment". It is seriously doubtful that they have an obligated contract that would include penalties if the contract is breached before it's expiration dtae. Besides, exactly WHO is breaching the contract? The customer, or the company that is NOT providing the service as outlined in the contract? If the work is not being performed, (like the trimming), then there you have it. However, as far as the people being at the cottage on the weekend, and the company doing it on a Wednesday or Tuesday or whenever, I don't think that would have ant relevance to it.
Wouldn't be a problem if they hadn't signed a contract. And if they want to stop paying, there's nothing to prevent them. The LCO can take them to court, they can show up and present their side of the case, which would be breach of contract because service wasn't being performed as stated. Meantime, that LCO isn't getting paid and wasting his time suing them. Some other LCO is cutting the lawn and making money, and the customer is probably happier with them.
It's most likely just a piece of paper, the LCO may do a lot of huffing and puffing, but not very likely any 'action' will take place. Tell customer to write a 'your fired as of x date because' letter and mail it with return receipt requested just in case. Runner, hits the bulls eye again.
Most likely it is a "service agreement" and not a contract. The word "contract" is overused. Most service based businesses use service agreements. You can still go to court over a service agreement but, don't waste your time. It's like a no fault divorce, either party can get out of it whenever they want. Basically it gives you permission to be on the property to perform a certain task for a certain amount of money for a certain period of time. Nonpayment is about the only time a court sees a service agreement case.
Yeah - service ageement is a lot better term than contract - I submit that the green industry adopt this verbage - as it is much more accurate.
