Should I must pay an invoice ?

[Perp]

i had an employee who spent 4 "working" hours fighting a 2.75 interest charge on her credit card with the bank, happy to spend all her time doing that and no thought to the fact that I was paying her $25 an hour to save her the injustice of 2.75?

My Nanna wanted my Mum to drive her to "the Telstra office" (who physically goes into an office these days anyway????) because she was charged for 16 local phone calls in a month when she's sure she only made 15 local phone calls. Of course she didn't want to phone Telstra to query the charge, because that would cause her to have to make another local phone call. And, naturally, she waited until my Mum called her to check in before asking if Mum would take her to the Telstra office.

Mum lived on acreage at the time and it would have required at least a 50km round trip in her new 4WD. Of course, the $100++ that it would cost Mum to make this ridiculous trip (in depreciation of the car, fuel, time, etc) is irrelevant to the equation, because it's Mum's $100++, not Nanna's 16c. They can't be compared!

Mum declined, and said "I'll give you the bloody 16 cents next time I see you." (nb Mum's a delight; Grandma "not so much".)

 

[Shaneelastic]

get her to write off the time....
it could be just the billing department sending it out....
if she writes off the time, sling her 500 bucks cash, that'll make her happy

 

[mary&mat]

We had a family member do our conveyancing as a favour to us. Not only did we pay his discounted bill, but we also sent thank you cards to him & his secretary, chocs & a bottle o wine.

My advice would be, don't burn these contacts as you may really need their advice in the future. Don't be taken advantage of either, but as others have said, it appears there's been a major miscommunication & you should pay the bill. Sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but next time, negotiate payment up front, Lesson learnt

 

[Ajax]

Snowwhite,

I can't understand why you expect legal advice for nothing. Ask yourself if it was a plumber who was spending time on the job would the plumber do it for nix.

Also you need to ask how big a law firm does the person work for. Often if its a large firm they will charge a lot. Have seen this with Family law matters. Clients would whinge about the fees but then they wanted to deal with a large firm, with receptionist, secretaries etc.
Ask who the fees are going to-the solicitor as a sole practitioner or to a large partnership where the relative is a salaried employee.

Also if the contract goes pearshape you would be thinking of suing the solicitor. Why would a law firm give advice for nothing with the possiblilty of you suing them later. Think of part of that $2000 going towards Continuing Legal Education, Professional Indeminity insurance, practising certificate, secretary wage, receptionist wage, lease on expensive high rise office building (cause some clients get a warm and fuzzy feeling dealing with cbd based law firms with sweeping marble clad foyers).

 

[Terryw]

Also note the lawyer may not be able to give informal legal advice because of the lack of insurance cover, practising restrictions etc.

 

[tom32]

(cause some clients get a warm and fuzzy feeling dealing with cbd based law firms with sweeping marble clad foyers).

I suspect the lawyers also get the warm and fuzzies working for such a firm.

 

[snowwhite]

thanks for your guys sugesstions,I would wrote to Fair trading of NSW,and I will also call them to find out what should i do the next step.
by the way ,in my case ,it's not like someone said i walk in to a vet shop to take something worth $2000 ,and just left ,coz my relative owns that shop!
it's not case ,coz I donot even know this will cost $2000,would you expect to pay $2000 by sending couple emails to someone ? at least there must be a agreement that I am agree to pay fees and what services they are going to offer me . at least in vet shop,u know that everthing got a price on it ,so ofcourse you donot just take things without paying !

 

[snowwhite]

hello

Yes a few things

1. ask to see the disclosure of costs agreement. In NSW Practitioners must disclose to clients the basis of the costs of legal services to be provided to the client by the practitioner: Legal Profession Act 1987, s 175(1). Section 175(2) requires disclosure of:

- the amount of the costs, if known;
- if the amount of the costs is not known, the basis of calculating the costs;
the billing arrangements;
- the client's rights under Division 6 in relation to a review of costs;
- the client's rights under Division 4 to receive a bill of costs; and
- any other matter required to be disclosed by the regulations.

2. talk to solicitor (friend) and ask where you indicated that you would be charged for the service and any correspondence indicating acceptance of such charges.

3. Ask to receive a bill of costs.

4. Indicate if you feel this was for free that you were under the impression this was the case, have not signed a costs agreement or engagement letter and costs have never been discussed. If necessary you can report to the NSW Law Society for review.

5. if no luck then ask for costs to be independently assessed and put aside. Report to law society for possible breach of Act.

p.s. noticed you were in WA so those societies rules apply.

Thanks for your reply of my post .
I mistaken that what I'd received from the lawyer is not a invoice ,but a statement of account,it's comes with an amount almost $2000,and also invoice number .
what do you think if i am not agree to pay this much ?
Coz I donot think the lawyer had help me a lot in my contract .
thanks very much!
Coco

 

[snowwhite]

I am sorry everyone,what I'd received from the laywer is a "statement of Account" ,because it got invoice number on it,so I thought it is the invoice .
but the lawyer just ask me to pay for it again by email,and never send me any agreement that if I'd like to agree with this price .

 

[moyjos]

Just my off topic stupid brain thinking

if this $2000 was to look over and get advice for an employment contract....does that $2000 become tax deductable as a "necessary expense" ??

 

[Perp]

You get one invoice, which they sent you a while ago, and you keep getting "statements of account" until you've paid the bill.

Have you talked to your relative yet about the breakdown in communication?

 

[kotim]

Being a familymemember etc there is no encumberance upon the thread starter to pay for the information he received. If you ask a friend, family meember to give you a hand and they are a plumber or builder or whatever or like and they spend the weekend helping you then send you a invoice then a pox on them.

If a professional who is a friend or fmaily meember and does nt mention anything about charging someone then it behoves them to give it gratis. That is the right manners. Now if that person wants to reward them for their asistance then that may be nice too, however listening to some of the people on this thread would make me not want to be a friend or family member of theirs. What if we all started charging people for anythign we talk about in our life, who could afford it.

 

[marg4000]

If a professional who is a friend or fmaily meember and does nt mention anything about charging someone then it behoves them to give it gratis. That is the right manners. Now if that person wants to reward them for their asistance then that may be nice too, however listening to some of the people on this thread would make me not want to be a friend or family member of theirs. What if we all started charging people for anythign we talk about in our life, who could afford it.

I think this situation is a bit different. Friend was asked to review an employment contract, which is a bit more than a casual conversation around the barbie. One of hubby's employment contracts was around 15 pages of fine print.
Marg

 

[mary&mat]

Yeah, I think b/c it was the 'friend of a friend' / relative situation, it's a bit different from initially asking the person yourself with no go-between.

If someone asked you to assist their friend/relative within the scope of your professional knowledge, would you charge them / accept a dinner / some other gratuity?

I believe a discounted rate would be 'nice' but don't assume it will be that way.

BTW, I've given professional advice & not charged b/c I like helping, but not everyone is like that & they're fully entitled not to be.

Maybe ask yourself, 'Is this situation worth putting so much of my valuable energy into or is it better to walk away feeling $2K outta pocket, but with a lesson well learnt?'

Good luck whatever you decide, but I'd be crapping my pants b/c they're solicitors & paying

 

[tom32]

Being a familymemember etc there is no encumberance upon the thread starter to pay for the information he received. If you ask a friend, family meember to give you a hand and they are a plumber or builder or whatever or like and they spend the weekend helping you then send you a invoice then a pox on them.

wow you must have close family. I would help out my folks they would help me maybe my sister at a stretch but beyond that it would want to be pretty superficial help or they would want to be on an invalid pension or other circumstances that would warrant me helping them out from an altruistic angle.

Usually I give work to my relatives to help them out of a tight spot, not f... them over and pay them nothing.

 

[weg]

Being a familymemember etc there is no encumberance upon the thread starter to pay for the information he received. If you ask a friend, family meember to give you a hand and they are a plumber or builder or whatever or like and they spend the weekend helping you then send you a invoice then a pox on them.

If a professional who is a friend or fmaily meember and does nt mention anything about charging someone then it behoves them to give it gratis. That is the right manners. Now if that person wants to reward them for their asistance then that may be nice too, however listening to some of the people on this thread would make me not want to be a friend or family member of theirs. What if we all started charging people for anythign we talk about in our life, who could afford it.

If you read the OP you would see that the lawyer is not a relative or close friend and lives on the other side of the country.

The lawyer is also likely to have dozens of friends and relatives closer to her than the original poster so probably did not consider for a moment that this was a freebie.

I know if my husband was called out by his brother's SIL to do a job he would assume he was picked due to 'trust' issues (not being ripped off) and a good work reference. He would be stunned if he gave her a 2K job and she expected a freebie.

Most people help those 'few' people closest to them, especially when those people are grateful and offer services in return when the need arises. They sometimes help out those that are in great need also. The OP was neither of these.

Lawyers are very expensive and it should not be assumed that they should provide free work to everyone that knows them or conveniently consider themselves a friend, in the name of good manners.

Although I believe the lawyer should have mentioned cost this may have not occurred due to it being a small job.

 

[snowwhite]

You get one invoice, which they sent you a while ago, and you keep getting "statements of account" until you've paid the bill.

Have you talked to your relative yet about the breakdown in communication?

sorry,my mistake ,i never receive invoice ,i just received the statement of account ,because there is invoice number on it ,so i thought it's an invoice

 

[Terryw]

So have you spoken to the relative lawyer about this yet?

 

[Perp]

You get one invoice, which they sent you a while ago, and you keep getting "statements of account" until you've paid the bill.

Have you talked to your relative yet about the breakdown in communication?

sorry,my mistake ,i never receive invoice ,i just received the statement of account ,because there is invoice number on it ,so i thought it's an invoice

ROFLMAO... seriously, I'm in tears and stitches. This isn't good for my health.

"Testing, one, two, three..."

 

[skater]

ROFLMAO... seriously, I'm in tears and stitches. This isn't good for my health.

"Testing, one, two, three..."

Oh my, I know EXACTLY what you mean.