Pending Invoice

[GG - Red Bank]

Jurisdiction

New Jersey

I own a corporation in New Jersey. On April of 2015, we started printing our main marketing piece (100 page catalog) through a printing company in Philadelphia, PA. We found them to be the most cost effective printing company for our needs. We were super happy with their price, quality, and turnaround time. Since 2015, we printed with them 2 to 3 times a year, and they handled our mailing as well.

Our payment plan (verbal/email agreement) was always in 3 installments:

1. Postage - at the time of the mailing

2. Half of the Printing Cost – 60 Days after the mailing

3. Balance of the Printing Cost – 90 Days after the mailing

Our last print job with them took place on September, 2018. As always, we paid the postage at the time of mailing. Then, on November 21, 2018, just prior to us paying our first half of the Printing Cost, the printing company announced it was closing its doors on November 30th. We found this 9 day notice to be extremely unfair. Through the years, we relied heavily on them for timely printing and mailing to assist in our business growth. We suddenly found ourselves abruptly without a printer, for our main and most critical marketing piece. As of today, we have held the last 2 payments for the printing cost (totaling $16,000.00). We were schedule to reprint with them again at the beginning of February 2019. We have been in search of a new printer that is comparable in price, to no avail. Now, without much room in our printing budget, we will end up having to settle for going with a printer that charges nearly twice as much, since we can't let the wheels of our marketing strategy just stop. During the month of December, we received a letter from a firm that is collecting outstanding invoices, on behalf of the printing company.

We feel that the printing company should be held liable to some extent, for leaving us flat without much notice to prepare to search for another reliable and cost effective printer, and to have time to adjust our printing budget accordingly. I am reaching out to you in hopes that you can let me know what my rights are. Do we have to pay the outstanding debt? If so, can we negotiate to pay less than what is due (i.e., half or less)? Do I have to hire a lawyer to rebuttal and/or draft up an offer, or can I draft a letter and do it myself?

Any help and guidance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[army judge]

Do we have to pay the outstanding debt?

No one has to do anything, however, not doing some things might create other penalties and/or issues.

If so, can we negotiate to pay less than what is due (i.e., half or less)?

You are free to try.

Based upon what you described above, you might be under no obligation to pay a dime.

Why?

You indicated there was an "oral agreement of sorts" and some form of "email correspondence".

Depending on what the debt scavenger can PROVE, you might not be liable for one, thin dime.

Do I have to hire a lawyer to rebuttal and/or draft up an offer, or can I draft a letter and do it myself?

It costs you nothing to discuss all of your options and legal obligations regarding this alleged debt with an attorney.

Based upon your recitations above, you might not owe the defunct printer anything because you you didn't receive anything (or didn't receive it in a timely manner).

 

[zddoodah]

We found this 9 day notice to be extremely unfair.

Ummm...I'm sure the owner(s) of this company agree with you that it's "unfair" that the company went out of business. Are you suggesting that it's unfair to your company?

As of today, we have held the last 2 payments for the printing cost (totaling $16,000.00).

Based on what?

I am reaching out to you in hopes that you can let me know what my rights are.

Since you're merely the owner of a corporation, you don't have any relevant rights. Nor does your corporation have any rights that are implicated here, but here are some rights your corporation does not have:

1. The right to withhold payment for a debt without a valid reason.
2. Since your company and the other company had no written agreement, the other company had no continuing duty to your company at all. More specifically, neither the other company nor anyone connected with it had any duty to give you a heads up that it was going out of business.

Your complaint that this is "unfair" also falls flat since nothing you have posted suggests that, had you gotten more notice, it would have made any difference in terms of finding a less expensive alternative. Perhaps the fact that you are finding no less expensive alternatives is one of the reasons why this company went out of business.

Do we have to pay the outstanding debt?

Your post suggests no basis for your company to refuse or fail to pay what is owed for the work performed.

If so, can we negotiate to pay less than what is due (i.e., half or less)?

You certainly can try to negotiate a reduction, but we have no way of knowing if you'll be successful.

Do I have to hire a lawyer to rebuttal and/or draft up an offer, or can I draft a letter and do it myself?

We have no way of knowing what abilities you have. However, since the only legal issue implicated by your post is your company's failure to pay a debt that is apparently due, and since you mentioned that the other company going out of business will require your company's costs to increase, I don't see that spending money for an attorney to handle these negotiations would be a good use of your company's resources.

 

[adjusterjack]

To summarize:

They did the work. You pay the bill.

Everything else is irrelevant.

Get sued and it will cost you a lot more than $16,000 before they are through with you.

 

[GG - Red Bank]

I would like to express my sincere thanks for your replies and guidance. I wrote a letter directly, suggesting a 50% reduction of the bill. I was able to negotiate the debt down to a 35% reduction ($10,500 in 2 monthly installments). I'm glad I took the chance at presenting an offer.

Best wishes to all of you in 2019.

GG - Red Bank