Book printing company breach of contract?
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
I'm having an issue with a book printing company that I believe breached our contract, the details are as follows:
I had done a printing with this company before for 100 books, and wanted to get another 100 printed but had done some revisions and wanted it to be printed as a new printing and not a reprint. On the initial printing, the company had messed a few things up, and for the new printing was offering $50 off and a 10% discount.
The rep for the company emailed me a contract to sign and fax in, but was confused and though that I wanted a reprint on the old book instead of a new printing. I cleared this up for her and uploaded the new pdf file to their site, asking them to compare it to the old copy and let me know if any new charges would be added onto the contract. She stated that no new charges would be necessary and she was now clear that there had been a misunderstanding on her part, and she even apologized for the misunderstanding. After these emails clearing the issue up I faxed in the initial contract which unbeknownst to me was written with the specifications of the old printing, the only difference being "135" pages instead of "136". I am under the impression that through the emails both parties agreed to new terms pertaining to the contract before I signed and faxed the contract in.
I received the tracking information for the books two days ago, and today received an email from the rep asking me to call her to discuss some issues. She stated that they were having the shipment canceled and shipped back to them, when I asked why she said that her boss had said that I needed to pay for the reprinted copies. Reprinted copies? It turns out that before she had sent me the contract via email when she was still confused regarding the reprint, she had told her printing department to reprint the old version. Again, this was before I had signed anything, they had taken it upon themselves to reprint the old version. She had obviously gotten reamed out by her boss, so they are claiming that I need to pay for the reprinted version as well if they are to deliver my books. Obviously that's not going to happen since I never agreed to any "reprinted" copies, especially before signing anything, which was clearly her fault, so she said that they're just going to refund my money and I won't get anything.
In my opinion their refusal to deliver on the agreed upon 100 copies of the new printing constitutes a breach of contract being that both parties agreed in writing to the new printing regardless of what is stated on the signed and faxed contract.
Now, to begin with I now have no faith in this company whatsoever to provide a competent service, being that they messed up the first printing and have now created a disaster out of the second one, so I have no interest in them turning around and fulfilling the contract that they're currently in breach of by refusing to ship and refunding my money. I already have my money back, and have no intention of letting them get their hands on it again. I was getting the books for $506.77 from them, and was going to be selling them for $1999.00, making my realized loss $1,492.23. The first printing had sold out quickly and many copies in this printing were pre-sold, so there is no question that this current printing was going to sell out.
So my question would be, do I have legal recourse to seek the $1,492.23 from them at this point due to breach of contract? Did they indeed breach the contract irreparably and are now liable or would they have legal opportunity to de-refund my money and perform on the agreed upon initial contract should I try and seek those damages?
I thank everyone that read this immeasurably for your time, and apologize about the very long post.
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
I'm having an issue with a book printing company that I believe breached our contract, the details are as follows:
I had done a printing with this company before for 100 books, and wanted to get another 100 printed but had done some revisions and wanted it to be printed as a new printing and not a reprint. On the initial printing, the company had messed a few things up, and for the new printing was offering $50 off and a 10% discount.
The rep for the company emailed me a contract to sign and fax in, but was confused and though that I wanted a reprint on the old book instead of a new printing. I cleared this up for her and uploaded the new pdf file to their site, asking them to compare it to the old copy and let me know if any new charges would be added onto the contract. She stated that no new charges would be necessary and she was now clear that there had been a misunderstanding on her part, and she even apologized for the misunderstanding. After these emails clearing the issue up I faxed in the initial contract which unbeknownst to me was written with the specifications of the old printing, the only difference being "135" pages instead of "136". I am under the impression that through the emails both parties agreed to new terms pertaining to the contract before I signed and faxed the contract in.
I received the tracking information for the books two days ago, and today received an email from the rep asking me to call her to discuss some issues. She stated that they were having the shipment canceled and shipped back to them, when I asked why she said that her boss had said that I needed to pay for the reprinted copies. Reprinted copies? It turns out that before she had sent me the contract via email when she was still confused regarding the reprint, she had told her printing department to reprint the old version. Again, this was before I had signed anything, they had taken it upon themselves to reprint the old version. She had obviously gotten reamed out by her boss, so they are claiming that I need to pay for the reprinted version as well if they are to deliver my books. Obviously that's not going to happen since I never agreed to any "reprinted" copies, especially before signing anything, which was clearly her fault, so she said that they're just going to refund my money and I won't get anything.
In my opinion their refusal to deliver on the agreed upon 100 copies of the new printing constitutes a breach of contract being that both parties agreed in writing to the new printing regardless of what is stated on the signed and faxed contract.
Now, to begin with I now have no faith in this company whatsoever to provide a competent service, being that they messed up the first printing and have now created a disaster out of the second one, so I have no interest in them turning around and fulfilling the contract that they're currently in breach of by refusing to ship and refunding my money. I already have my money back, and have no intention of letting them get their hands on it again. I was getting the books for $506.77 from them, and was going to be selling them for $1999.00, making my realized loss $1,492.23. The first printing had sold out quickly and many copies in this printing were pre-sold, so there is no question that this current printing was going to sell out.
So my question would be, do I have legal recourse to seek the $1,492.23 from them at this point due to breach of contract? Did they indeed breach the contract irreparably and are now liable or would they have legal opportunity to de-refund my money and perform on the agreed upon initial contract should I try and seek those damages?
I thank everyone that read this immeasurably for your time, and apologize about the very long post.
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
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