Late fees on a verbal contract?

[hlewis77]

I live in California and hired a gardener that comes once a week for $45 per month. I was 4 days late on my last months bill (the first time in 6 months) and he charged me a $10.00 late fee. We have a verbal contract, nothing was signed, and he never told me that I would incur a late fee. Can you tell me if I legally have to pay the late fee?

 

[leafinator]

Verbal is not written proof

The nice thing about verbal contracts is that there's no written proof of you being told or not being told about a late fee. You need to check to see if your state recognizes verbal contracts as that may play into this. If it was me I'd pay the $45 and ignore the $10 late fee. If the person throws a fit find someone else.

 

[HomeGuru]

I live in California and hired a gardener that comes once a week for $45 per month. I was 4 days late on my last months bill (the first time in 6 months) and he charged me a $10.00 late fee. We have a verbal contract, nothing was signed, and he never told me that I would incur a late fee. Can you tell me if I legally have to pay the late fee?

**A: and you puposely failed to tell us the agreement you made regarding when payment would be made. There are 2 sides to this.

 

[hlewis77]

Actually, I didn't purposely do anything, but I did state that I was 4 days late for the payment. It was due on the 4th and he received it the 8th.