Small print, big problems: Not reading the fine print can be a costly mistake

Not reading the small print is something that most of us are guilty of – how often do you skim read through pages of a lengthy contract before quickly signing on the dotted line? In some cases though, that can cost big. This case involved a disputed telecoms contract, a CCJ unfairly placed against a business owner, and from the outset it actually had a slim chance of winning.

It was outside our usual remit and unlike the majority of commercial dispute cases we take on, but we could see how the Escalate solution could be applied to get this client out of an unreasonable contract.

The client was referred to us by his accountant, having found himself in a legal minefield. A business owner had been induced into signing a substantial telecoms contract based on misrepresentations by sales agents. He signed an initial agreement, but when the full contract arrived, it was double the quoted price. Understandably, he refused to proceed, at which point – to his horror – the telecoms company sued him for the full contract amount. Very quickly, he found himself drowning in legal jargon and feeling the weight of it all until he was referred to us. 

We immediately took charge – the only catch was that our client was indeed fully liable, as he hadn’t read the agreement properly. The terms of this contract were fairly tight, so we didn’t want to give our client false hope that he was in a position to win should it go to court. However, what we could do was liaise with the claimant through ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution). 

Soon after, Matthew and the Escalate team successfully defended him, bringing the Court case to an end and getting our client out of the contract with only 25% of his total exposure within a WEEK of instruction. We also managed to remove the CCJ that had been placed on our client.

Bearing in mind this disputed telecoms contract had been ongoing since March, with the CCJ being issued in June, to reach a resolution within a few days of us stepping in was fairly remarkable in our client’s eyes. He sent us a very grateful note after we wrapped things up in record time, thanking us for our work. 

Here’s a snippet of his email: 

“I couldn’t just pay an invoice and walk away without writing a short email to say thank you. It seems to be becoming a rarity within commercial sectors, where the opportunity arises to pass on your thanks wholeheartedly, however on this occasion, personally I couldn’t thank Matthew enough.

 

After falling foul to what I’ll call a mobile phone scam, having a CCJ issued and being caught up in a legal dispute over terms and conditions within a business-to-business contract, I very quickly found myself wrapped up in legal terminology and felt I was sinking fast.

 

“I was put in contact with Escalate via our accountants, had a brief teams call with Matthew, sent some information across, and he called me straight back after the weekend.

 

“At no point did he give me false hope or say I would be in a position to win should it go to a court, in fact, it was the opposite as the terms were fairly tight, but there was a chance of contacting the claimant with regards ADR. From this moment on I felt like the millstone had been removed from around my neck, emails were being sent to the claimant and the court, and ultimately a resolution was achieved in a very short time.”

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

If you’ve been unwittingly caught up in a legal dispute, we can help. The Escalate packaged solution is designed for any kind of commercial dispute under £1m, and we’ve helped recover millions for SMEs so far. If you’d like to find out more about how we can help to resolve your dispute, please get in touch with us.