In today’s busy world where we are using email for most of our communication, it’s very easy to send a quick email outlining the conditions of agreements and decisions that have been made. For example – you might send an email to another person stating that you will do something in a particular way for an agreed price.
Soon after sending the email your phone rings and the person agrees to what you stated in your email. You are thinking “that’s a great, quick response and now I can get on with what I was doing!” If you are lucky then that is what happens and everything goes well.
However, if things change and you send another email saying so and you straight away get another phone call STOP and ask yourself why the person is always giving verbal agreement and never replying to your emails. Is it because they are so busy that they can’t take a few seconds to hit reply and say “Yes I agree” or are they planning on backing out of the agreement and leaving you with no traceable or provable evidence that they agreed?
The days of the gentleman’s agreement and the ‘sealed with a handshake’ are behind us. If it’s not in writing it doesn’t exist! If everything goes well that’s great however if things don’t and suddenly you are being held to the original agreement it becomes your word against theirs because they didn’t put anything in writing agreeing to the changes.
Always get things in writing and if the person does phone you, tell them that you need it in writing before anything can proceed!
Why did I write this? Because it happened to me! I am now up for Solicitor fees and a possible court case. Hopefully, by writing this I save you and anyone you share this with from experiencing the same thing.
Stay safe and protect yourself by getting things in writing.
What do you know about that I should know? Please share it with me so I can share it and we can all help each other.