Contracts. Almost every business has them, and hardly any businesses give thought to whether their contracts are both legally compliant and commercially smart.
That’s where we come in.
We love to strategise about commercial and pragmatic ways to make our clients’ lives easier and remove friction.
- We want you to be paid what you’re worth
Our client in professional services spent significant time driving between film shoots across Melbourne and beyond. They noticed a creeping bill for fuel and their employees’ time, with destinations from city limit to city limit and a wonderful increase in requests for their services.In contracts with some of their biggest clients, they had never anticipated charging for fuel and charging for time driving beyond a reasonable limit from their office.In fact, it was when we first suggested building this into their revised contract that it became apparent how useful this would be – and the impact was felt from day one of onboarding their next big client! - We’ll lay you a path out of drama and toward a smart resolution
Our client, a technology business in the creative industry, wanted to make sure that her app supported businesses and the service providers they had engaged to resolve issues quickly and to keep view of all written communications.It was also a priority to set a boundary of what issues related back to the app, and what issues were entirely separate to our client.Time, focus and money. We’re yet to find a business owner that doesn’t want more of these three. A clear set of steps to follow so often takes the panic out of situations – along with the listening ear of a trusted advisor.Often when our clients ask if going to Court is the first step in resolving a dispute, we can give guidance around constructive, relationship-oriented and commercial paths to explore first. The best situation is when we’ve supported our clients to anticipate and work through issues productively – and know that your contracts are robust. - We’ll give you an expert view on where your consumers’ rights sit
Even ASX-listed, large businesses can get it wrong when it comes to legal compliance, properly updating contracts and training their customer-facing team members.On 10 March 2023, the Federal Court of Australia issued a $6 million fine to Booktopia, an online book retailer owned by an ASX-listed parent company (Booktopia Group Limited), for misleading and improperly managing its customers’ complaints.Booktopia team members advised 19 customers incorrectly of their consumer rights, including:
a) upholding unreasonably short timeframes to notify the business of faulty products (2 days); and
b) refusing refunds for entire suites of products (eBooks) even if the eBooks were faulty. The Booktopia ruling is a reminder to review your business’ terms and conditions and ensure that your team members are appropriately skilled to manage issues and disputes.
Next Steps
When was the last time you had your business’ terms and conditions reviewed?
Our team of commercial lawyers would love to start a conversation with you about your goals, your friction points and find smart ways to support your business through pragmatic terms and conditions.
Perhaps you are simply looking for a team of trusted advisors that you can speak with when you are navigating an unhappy customer or upskilling your customer-facing team in compliant dispute management processes. We’d love to hear from you.
You can begin a conversation with our team of commercial lawyers by emailing [email protected]