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Have you been paid for the work you have actually carried out? I would expect to be paid for that, but inconvenience, no, unless you have a written agreement which states that you would charge X£ for a canceled contract etc...
Always a good idea to have some kind of contract in place before starting any job, Phil has 'Terms and Conditions' somewhere on here which you can amend to suit your business.
Good luck
Kerrie
Whether they pay is a different matter
Who did you have the verbal agreement with, the Chef? Didn't it ring alarm bells - "The chef said they had a gardener but after a while would not pay to have it done." As you have only been there twice, think you got off lightly and are on a sticky wicket if you are going to press for compensation though the courts as you have nothing in writing. Chef seems to be thick with the owners (he doesn't want to lose his job) and he could cost you dear.
Disregard any ideas of revenge that have been posted, stupid idea. If not, dig two graves, as the saying goes!
If they didn't want work done and this was clearly a regular contract they should have let you know beforehand. They are a business, they know how it works, time's money etc. If you had a written contract it'd be a definate but it comes down to morals whether they pay. If you explain in a no nonsense but civil manner they should agree. However, you should hardly need to.
move on>>>>>>>>>>>>>time wasters
what did he cut it with ?? a carving knife hahahahahaahaaaaha- sorry lol
My first thoughts are that you are better off out of it.
I do think that the restaurant have behaved badly and at the very least, they should have telephoned you to cancel the gardening visit.
What you don't say is how your agreement was structured in the first place. It would seem that the arrangement was a verbal one which does make it very difficult to press for any kind of compensation for the time you have wasted; if the contract had been running for several months or years and a precedent had been established then I think you could lever that in your favour.
I would adopt set of terms and conditions (thanks Kerrie) and also write a maintenance schedule for your client to sign after the initial visit. You can write a template and modify it to suit each contract.
There is no real set format for paperwork and I have used many approaches over the years. I also make an assessment of the potential client on the first visit and I continue that judgement through the first, second or even third payment (maybe even longer) so that I can feel comfortable that the relationship will be conducted on an equal basis.
Loosely, you are probably due a payment but I would not hold your breath - be happy that you have found out sooner rather than later and put it down to experience.
Here are other posts that might be of interest:
Tips on choosing your customer
Hell hath no fury like a customer scorned
I will include maintenance schedule with a spreadsheet/job sheet too.
This is a tricky one to deal with, but personally i think at least if they have any decency they should at least reimburse your travelling costs. Even it is not all your costs, try talking to them and see if they can meet you some way. Communication on their part was poor and bad customer service. Consider if the ball was on the other foot and a customer was not entirely satisfied with their meal, Would they turn around and say; My family and i have have decided that the meal was not the usual standard of service so we are only going to pay half the bill. I think they would be somewhat upset about that, like you are. So my advice is communicate and try to get some travel costs back. Goo Luck. Nick.
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