I exchanged Linked In messages with a company who asked if I wanted to sponsor something. I said yes in the message and heard nothing else. They didn’t reply to follow up emails. Now I have received a letter from a debt collector chasing for the sponsorship payment and it materialises the company had sent me an invoice via Quickbooks and two reminders through Quickbooks but no direct communication from the company. Do I actually owe the sponsorship fee?
In this instance, there is certainly a question mark over whether there was an intention to create legal relations, due to the brevity of the LinkedIn message and indeed the platform on which the communication was exchanged.
In addition, there was an email sent to the sponsorship company asking for clarification on what they required in order to progress the sponsorship but this email was never responded to.
In this instance, I would respond to the debt collection company and to the sponsorship company itself, explaining that there was no intention to create legal relations and therefore no contract was formed. Hence, there is no payment owing.
I would also be looking out for a letter before action from the debt collector and making sure to reply promptly to this, as otherwise the court could enter judgement in default – which may adversely affect your credit standing.
If you have a registered office that is in a place other than where you trade from, I would be making sure that they are sending any mail promptly to you, as you have only 30 days in which to reply in full to any letter before action for a debt.
© Suzanne Dibble 2013-2023
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