1. Definitions
In these terms and condition’s the subsequent words have the following meanings:
a) "Westbury" means Westbury Collections Ltd whose registered number is 11800915 and whose office is situated at Global House, 1 Ashley Avenue, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5AD.
b) "The Client" means the company or individual instructing Westbury to carry out services detailed below.
c) "The Services" means the provision by Westbury to the Client of debt recovery action on behalf of the Client or such other services including insolvency, legal action, dispute resolution action, tracing, credit reporting and process serving.
2. Agreement
a) The Client hereby agrees to instruct Westbury to undertake the Services on behalf of the Client upon the terms and conditions herein contained and that all requests by the Client to Westbury to carry out the Services shall be upon the said Terms and Conditions.
3. Debt Recovery
a) The Client hereby instructs Westbury to take immediate debt recovery action on the Client's behalf in respect of all debts referred.
b) Acceptance of these terms and conditions will be agreed upon receipt of instruction such as referring debts to us through our website, debt listing form, email, post, verbally or any other means of communication.
c) Westbury reserves the right in its absolute discretion to end the recovery process in respect of any individual debt either prior to commencement of recovery proceedings or at any stage during the course of recovery proceedings.
d) The Client hereby agrees and accepts that Westbury will provide the recovery services either through the use of its own employees or through the use of the Westbury agents including without any limitation any solicitor appointed at the sole discretion of Westbury for the purpose of collecting the client's debt.
e) Westbury hereby agrees that it will not instruct solicitors to issue legal proceedings without first obtaining the prior consent of the Client.
f) Any monies recovered by Westbury shall be forthwith paid into the Westbury account and shall be payable to the Client without interest on the billing date following the clearance of such payments through Westbury account at the end of the calendar month.
4. Client's Liabilities
a) The Client hereby warrants that all debts referred to Westbury for recovery services are true accurate and valid. Westbury accepts all referrals in good faith. In the rare circumstances where a referral has not been passed in good faith, information has been withheld preventing Westbury from collecting the debt or if there is a conflict of interest, Westbury reserves the right to levy commission charges.
b) The Client shall notify Westbury forthwith of any payments, offers of payments or any other correspondence relating to any debt placed with Westbury received directly from any debtor of the Client.
c) Westbury shall not be liable for any costs or charges issued against the client once legal, insolvency or dispute resolution action has been undertaken on behalf of the Client and shall remain the responsibility of the Client. At no point shall Westbury be held responsible for the debt balance due to the Client.
d) The Client shall not communicate directly with the debtor following instructing Westbury. This includes communication from the debtor or debtor’s representative whether the communication is to make payment, dispute the debt or form any agreement which Westbury are not party to. In the event this happens, Westbury are entitled to charge full commission where the services carried out have resulted in an agreement between the Client and Debtor.
5. Fees, Charges & Payments
a) Westbury has provided to the Client details of its costs and charges for providing the Services and any variation or alteration in these fees and charges will be notified to the Client.
b) The fees and charges referred to above will be payable by the Client to Westbury where monies are received by Westbury or the Client direct or where the Client instructs Westbury to discontinue recovery action or ignores any attempts to communicate without reasonable explanation.
c) Westbury retains the right to charge 15% commission or a minimum commission of £300.00 (whichever is greater) on the whole debt including costs and interest unless an agreement between Westbury and the Client has otherwise been made in writing. The first £300.00 will be chargeable any payment made by the debtor with the remaining 15% charged thereafter.
d) Westbury reserves the right to deduct all fees and charges referred to herein properly due and payable by the Client from any monies collected on behalf of the Client in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.
e) Where Westbury’s fees and charges are for any reason not paid by deduction from monies collected then all sums due and payable to Westbury from the Client shall be payable upon receipt of the invoice.
f) Where an invoice from Westbury to the client becomes unreasonably overdue, Westbury reserves the right to charge £10.00 per day from the due date up until payment or court action.
g) All fees and charges referred to herein are subject to VAT at the standard rate where applicable.
h) Should the client accept payment of the debt by full and final settlement, by a contra arrangement or from a 3rd party, Westbury are entitled to commission of the settled amount. This includes payments previously made to the client before the account being passed to Westbury, where Westbury have chased the debt and obtained information that the debt has already been paid.
i) Where viable Westbury shall endeavour to collect commission and costs directly from the debtor for our Client. However, if unable to, the client will still be liable for our commission on any monies recovered.
j) Westbury shall endeavour to recover any commission added to a debt for up to 2 weeks after the principal debt balance has been paid.
k) Westbury are not obligated to remit any monies collected to anyone who is not the client.
l) If the client enters into liquidation, administration or in any other case cease trading, Westbury shall be entitled to charge full commission on the total debt balance referred. This is especially true in cases where Westbury have carried out a lot of work on the case in good faith to recover monies due.
m) Westbury is not entitled to refund any commission in instances where the client's court hearing or decision has been overturned, particularly in cases where Westbury is are no longer involved in the case.
n) Westbury reserves the right to charge the client commission where a Charging Order, Voluntary Charging Order or Equitable Charge has been agreed between the parties, on the full amount of such charge.
6. Information and Secrecy
a) Westbury shall at all times undertake complete secrecy as regards the information obtained from the Client in the performance of the Services and shall not disclose such information to any third party where such information is in the public domain.
b) Westbury will have exclusive authority to determine what information can be disclosed to the client or any other party including the debtor in response to a "subject data request.
7. General Provisions
a) These terms and conditions shall supersede all previous arrangements or agreements whether expressed or implied entered into between Westbury and the Client relating to the Services.
b) These Terms and Conditions represent embodies and incorporates the whole agreement between the parties hereto relating to the Services.
c) These Terms and Conditions may only be amended by written agreement signed on behalf of the Client and Westbury.
d) Any notice or other information required or authorised by these Terms and Conditions to be given by either party to the other may be given by hand or sent (by air mail, pre-paid post, facsimile transmission, e-mail or comparable means of communication) to the other party at that party's normal place of business.
8. Acceptance of these Terms and Conditions
a) The Client hereby acknowledges that they have read and understood the enclosed terms and conditions and by instructing Westbury to perform the Services the Client accepts that these Terms and Conditions shall apply. If the client does not accept these T&Cs, notification is required in writing prior to receiving new work from the client.