Copying terms and conditions will cost your business more in the long run

Sadly, we see this all the time… A prospective client (often new to business) has Googled for terms and conditions for their business online and they’ve simply copied what they found from another business.

Later, when that business comes to rely on those terms and conditions, because they have a customer that has defaulted on an overdue invoice, they find that the terms they copied won’t actually help them recover the overdue debt, escalate to a collection agency or repossess the items they supplied to the customer in the first place.

This is often when businesses engage us to draft them tailored terms and conditions to avoid the same situation happening again. It is generally here where they learn that our tailored terms and conditions actually cost them a lot less than what they lost from the situation above.

You can calculate the real cost of not getting paid with our online calculator here.

The same is often true for generic online terms and conditions templates from businesses like Fergus, or even worse… AI generated terms. They may not have been written with Unfair Contract Terms (UCT) legislation in mind or consider the country or industry specific legislation required to effectively protect your business from a defaulter, nor allow for protections like credit checks or escalation to collections agencies including collection costs.

Our terms and conditions are tailored to your specific business needs after consultation with our Business Support Specialists and in house drafters. Our terms and conditions have been specifically developed and applied to ensure you have the very best protection.

Another issue we see all too often is a business that does not know how to use their terms and conditions correctly. Just because you have terms and conditions for your business (regardless of where they came from or how correct they are) doesn’t mean that they are enforceable. If you haven’t properly disclosed your terms and conditions to each one of your clients and received appropriate acceptance, you may as well not have any terms and conditions.

Our Business Support Specialists will consult with you on the best practices for implementing our terms and conditions to ensure maximum protection for your business.

There are many other risks to using generic terms and conditions from the web too, one such risk is the potential for running into copyright issues if you do not have permission to use the copied terms. The copied terms and conditions may also not be lawful and fail to stand up to scrutiny from the Commerce Commission if they were ever to be tested.  Especially if they were considered “unfair” in the eyes of the law.

Copying terms and conditions is a bit like copying an insurance policy. Sure, you have a policy document, but you aren’t insured.

Our Business Support Specialists can help you navigate your way through the complexities of drafting and implementing our tailored terms and conditions that will provide you maximum protection and give you the confidence to get on with your business.

And when the worst happens and one of your customers doesn’t pay, you can confidently load the debt with us for resolution while also passing on collection costs.

Want to review your business terms and conditions?

A consultation with one of our Business Support Specialists (BSS) is free and includes;

• A review of your;
  • Cashflow, asset and credit risks
  • Terms and conditions
  • Credit management processes
• A proposal outlining our expert recommendations including a fixed price

Find your local Business Support Specialist and book a consultation here