E
ebford
Guest
What is the name of your state? Massachusetts
We own a tree service in MA. Several months ago we started to require a signed contract and with a 10% deposit. We did this because on more than one occasion after a verbal agreement was made we scheduled a job to be done, contacted the homeowner to advise of dates and were told that "oh, we forgot to call you. We got someone else to do it cheaper". This proved to be a huge issue as sometimes larger jobs required additional equipment be brought in from other companies that we work with (loggers, climbers etc). We quoted a job and before we left were told that we had the go ahead. Just to be on the safe side, a contract was mailed to her on 10/25/04. We received it back, signed but without the 10% deposit on 10/27/04. On 10/30/04 the woman called to say that she got a cheaper quote and wanted to cancel. We advised that we had a signed contract from her and by the way you didn't send the deposit. She claims she didn't see that a deposit was required on the contract. It is in BOLD writing right above the signature line. Now... is she legally obligated to go with us? Is she legally obligated to at least compensate us for the 10%?
We own a tree service in MA. Several months ago we started to require a signed contract and with a 10% deposit. We did this because on more than one occasion after a verbal agreement was made we scheduled a job to be done, contacted the homeowner to advise of dates and were told that "oh, we forgot to call you. We got someone else to do it cheaper". This proved to be a huge issue as sometimes larger jobs required additional equipment be brought in from other companies that we work with (loggers, climbers etc). We quoted a job and before we left were told that we had the go ahead. Just to be on the safe side, a contract was mailed to her on 10/25/04. We received it back, signed but without the 10% deposit on 10/27/04. On 10/30/04 the woman called to say that she got a cheaper quote and wanted to cancel. We advised that we had a signed contract from her and by the way you didn't send the deposit. She claims she didn't see that a deposit was required on the contract. It is in BOLD writing right above the signature line. Now... is she legally obligated to go with us? Is she legally obligated to at least compensate us for the 10%?