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Do we have a contract?

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Hello, I am a web developer from Massachusetts

I performed some web development services for a family friend's company. There was no agreed rate at the beginning of the work, only an understanding I would perform services per hour and the company would compensate me financially for it. When talks on price began, several offers and counter-offers were made, ultimately leading us to the company making an offer of $25 an hour, and I accepted. This is all in emails that I can prove are from the company. They are now refusing to pay the debt.

The company explicitly stated in the emails: "[Company Name] is prepared to pay for services rendered at the rate of $25/hr"
To which I replied in an email: "Please send payment for your offer of 50.5 hours at $25 an hour net $1262.50 to cover services rendered thus far"

Does this offer, and acceptance, constitute a contract?
Can I bring this to small claims court?

Any information required to determine either question above I can provide if needed.

Thank you all for your anticipated help!
 


The rate was agreed to after the work was done, but not before they knew how many hours I had worked.

Edit: the above was confusing, They knew how many hours I had worked before agreeing to a rate.
 

PayrollHRGuy

Senior Member
That is not what it says here.

The company explicitly stated in the emails: "[Company Name] is prepared to pay for services rendered at the rate of $25/hr"
To which I replied in an email: "Please send payment for your offer of 50.5 hours at $25 an hour net $1262.50 to cover services rendered thus far"
 
There are several emails in the communications to which she acknowledges the hours worked, however, they do not explicitly state "50.5 hours".

For example, the first offer states "At this point, I am prepared to pay a rate of $25/hour for work performed, which equates to $1300." to which she acknowledges the value, but not the hours
 

Litigator22

Active Member
That is not what it says here.
Apparently you have nothing better to do than senselessly nit-pick as it is plain from the context of the OP's initial post that the company's words "for services rendered" were meant to include like services performed to date.
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
Does this offer, and acceptance, constitute a contract?
For future services. I seriously doubt that they expected to get suddenly hit with 50.5 hrs worth no matter how you try to spin it.

Can I bring this to small claims court?
Sure.

Good luck with it.

the company's words "for services rendered" were meant to include like services performed to date.
Could also mean services rendered in the future.

Seems to me that OP sandbagged these people with a $1262.50 bill where they had no expectation that they were going to be hit with that amount.
 

PayrollHRGuy

Senior Member
Apparently you have nothing better to do than senselessly nit-pick as it is plain from the context of the OP's initial post that the company's words "for services rendered" were meant to include like services performed to date.
The OP was not clear in his post and still hasn't been.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
The email they sent supports the fact they agree to pay you $25 per hour. There would be an implication that it is referring to hours they have agreed you are due pay. It does not support your following email that you are owed that amount so no, that does not amount to a contract.

It is a billing statement and nothing more.

Yes you can sue for this. You have proof in their email that they agreed to pay you $25 per hour. What you will have to prove is how many hours you are due pay for. They could dispute the number of hours or that they authorized you to perform that many hours of work.
 
The email they sent supports the fact they agree to pay you $25 per hour. There would be an implication that it is referring to hours they have agreed you are due pay. It does not support your following email that you are owed that amount so no, that does not amount to a contract.

It is a billing statement and nothing more.

Yes you can sue for this. You have proof in their email that they agreed to pay you $25 per hour. What you will have to prove is how many hours you are due pay for. They could dispute the number of hours or that they authorized you to perform that many hours of work.
Thank you, your reply was by far the most helpful.

To your point of proving the hours worked, in a previous email they had said: "At this point, I am prepared to pay a rate of $25/hour for work performed, which equates to $1300. " This equates to 52 hours, and I am pursuing 50.5 hours. Do you think I could use this statement as evidence?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Thank you, your reply was by far the most helpful.

To your point of proving the hours worked, in a previous email they had said: "At this point, I am prepared to pay a rate of $25/hour for work performed, which equates to $1300. " This equates to 52 hours, and I am pursuing 50.5 hours. Do you think I could use this statement as evidence?
Asked and answered.
They agreed to pay you up to $1,300 is how I read it. That is not a statement that they are in agreement with the hours you are billing for.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Absolutely.


In fact that is your basis for the suit. The hourly pay and hours billable would only be support that there is substance behind the suit for $1300.
 
Absolutely.


In fact that is your basis for the suit. The hourly pay and hours billable would only be support that there is substance behind the suit for $1300.
My concern using this as the basis for my claim is I did not accept this exact offer in the proceeding emails, negotiations pursued. The only offer I accepted in writing was the one cited above for the "services rendered".
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Oh, then that’s out the window as a counter offer to an offer terminates the original offer unless specifically addressed.


So, that $1300 offer doesn’t mean as much but I would still present it as showing the customer had reason to believe you were owed money. Now it’s not clear that their offer and your acceptance of $25 per hour of work is the last agreement. If it is, take that and an accounting of the hours you believe are true and head to court.
 

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