Can a Customer Change Your Net Terms and Charge You for It

[supersceenonline]

My question involves business law in the state of: Texas.
Hello, I just have a quick question, I have a costumer that has been getting services from my company for a very long time, they have always been on net 30 days terms, last month, they change their company name and they sent e-mails to all the vendors, along with all the files attached to that particular e-mail announcement, there was a letter stating that they will automatically upgrade all of the vendors accounts to be paid in net 10 days and for doing us that favor, they will charge us a 3% discount on each invoice that we submit to them, unless we call to tell them that we do not wish that change.

Well, we missed that particular letter and today I get a check from them, in which it was covering about 10 invoices and I see all of this discounts that I had no idea of because I missed that later call them up and they say that they can change my company back to net 30 days, but they cannot refund the discount on the invoices that are already paid. Is this legal? they are buying from me and not the other way around, they have always been in net 30 days and that is also what my invoices to them states.

Thank you in advance for any input.

[antrc170]

You're saying that the customer granted themselves a 3% discount off of your invoice?

The customer owes you the entire invoice unless YOU give them a discount, not the other way around.

[Bubba Jimmy]

What terms are stated in your contract? Unless there is some agreement (meeting of the minds) on this, then I'd say they were out of line but you have to decide as a business decision how big a stink you want to make of it. As the seller, you set the payment terms under which you sell. At the buyer, they decide if those terms are acceptable to them or not.

[supersceenonline]

antrc170: Yes, they just decided to take a 3% discount for doing us the favor of paying us in 10 days rather than 30 days, isn't that crazy?

Bubba Jimmy: We don't have a written contract, they have been my customer for over 10 years, and we just agreed back then to a net 30 days, this is a large corparation and we deal with different sales people, they are a good customer and I will be very sorry if I loose them, but I think this is just not right, what is going to be next.....

[Mr. Knowitall]

If it were me I would carry over the 3% to the next invoice and see if they pay it.

[Conrad Hunter]

Exactly, bill them the unauthorized discount on the next invoice.

The customer can not unilaterally change the terms. And then they use a negative option to say if you don't object within the time they set, you therefore agree. Negative options themselves are generally illegal and considered as fraud,

You do have a problem. Mr. Knowitall has the best idea.

You might then have to decide if the business and getting your money in ten days rather than thirty is worth the 3 percent.

You might also write a nice letter to their legal department, which maybe has no idea this is going on. Any lawyer is going to know what was done is illegal and unenforceable.

If they dropped your firm for complaining about this illegal conduct, you would have great grounds for a civil action. They would settle before trial for certain. If they get nasty, tell them not only will you sue them, but you'll get the info on all the vendors they are doing this too in discovery and then turn the entire thing into a class action. They will beg for mercy