Is Photography and filming services fall under "Sales of Goods Act"? Law Advise?

[theandycreation]

Hi There,

Here is my problem, usually I will get a 50% deposit upon confirming of service, and full payment at the end of event or the day after. However, this time round, for this particular client, I did not ask for a agreement to be sign as they will quite friendly from the day we met. Everything went well during the wedding. Unfortunately, after wedding, they try to pull trick and used law suite against it. They asked for final production to be delivered before final payment will be given. Which i refuse, as ALL my wedding client follow my in-house rule, and i have also told them during the first meetup. So, everything was verbally trust, but it turn out to be nasty and contradiction way.

• Is final payment after delivery under any law act for industry standard?
• Is wedding service fall under "Chapter 393, Sale of Goods Act, Section 28"? If not, what is the exact one?

Its not about the money, but the principle, I don't really like tom dick harry to change system. I hate to give exception to people.

Your advise is appreciated

 

[theandycreation]

Chapter 393, Sale of Goods Act, Section 28

Payment and delivery are concurrent conditions
28. Unless otherwise agreed, delivery of the goods and payment of the price are concurrent conditions, that is to say, the seller must be ready and willing to give possession of the goods to the buyer in exchange for the price and the buyer must be ready and willing to pay the price in exchange for possession of the goods.
Rules about delivery
29.
—(1) Whether it is for the buyer to take possession of the goods or for the seller to send them to the buyer is a question depending in each case on the contract, express or implied, between the parties.
(2) Apart from any such contract, express or implied, the place of delivery is the seller’s place of business if he has one, and if not, his residence; except that, if the contract is for the sale of specific goods, which to the knowledge of the parties when the contract is made are in some other place, then that place is the place of delivery.
(3) Where under the contract of sale the seller is bound to send the goods to the buyer, but no time for sending them is fixed, the seller is bound to send them within a reasonable time.
(4) Where the goods at the time of sale are in the possession of a third person, there is no delivery by seller to buyer unless and until the third person acknowledges to the buyer that he holds the goods on his behalf; but nothing in this section affects the operation of the issue or transfer of any document of title to goods.
(5) Demand or tender of delivery may be treated as ineffectual unless made at a reasonable hour; and what is a reasonable hour is a question of fact.
(6) Unless otherwise agreed, the expenses of and incidental to putting the goods into a deliverable state must be borne by the seller.

 

[sjackal]

I am fully paid before doing any wedding work. On occasions I even have been fully paid up to two years in advance before any work even started. This prevents a ton of problem and I can concentrate on providing good service and photos. Clients who don't agreed don't book neither am I comfortable, better to keep the date open for the clients who agree out there. Never trust friendly strangers. Have we forgotten the lessons we were taught as a child? Treat as lesson learnt and once bitten twice shy. Good luck.

 

[daredevil123]

You are not selling goods. You are providing a service. The service has already been provided during the wedding. The hours worked at the wedding is what they are paying for.

But seriously, nothing you can do without a signed contract. ALWAYS have a contract, even if you are doing it for free for a friend. Having a contract is not just about money. But all the T&C as well.

If you are running a business properly, how can you not have a contract? at least an invoice? This is a big sign to your client that you are not doing your business properly or legally. Your client can then start playing with you. If you are not a legal registered business entity, you have no case for any claims whatsoever.

 

[kandinsky]

AFAIK, provision of services should fall under contract law (IF you had a contract). As you can see from this explanation, there's no specific act:

SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION

8.1.1 Contract law in Singapore is largely based on the common law of contract in England. Unlike its neighbours Malaysia and Brunei, following Independence in 1965, Singapore´s Parliament made no attempt to codify Singapore´s law of contract. Accordingly, much of the law of contract in Singapore remains in the form of judge-made rules. In some circumstances, these judge-made rules have been modified by specific statutes.

8.1.2 Many of these statutes are English in origin. To begin with, 13 English commercial statutes have been incorporated as part of the Statutes of the Republic of Singapore by virtue of s 4 of the Application of English Law Act (Cap 7A, 1993 Rev Ed). These are listed in Part II of the First Schedule of this Act. Other statutes, eg the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act (Cap 53B, 2002 Rev Ed), are modelled upon English statutes. There are also other areas where statutory development based on non-English models has taken place, eg the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (Cap 52A, 2004 Rev Ed) (which was largely drawn from fair trading legislation enacted in Alberta and Sasketchewan).

8.1.3 The rules developed in the Singapore courts do, nevertheless, bear a very close resemblance to those developed under English common law. Indeed, where there is no Singapore authority specifically on point, it will usually be assumed that the position will, in the first instance, be no different from that in England.

http://www.singaporelaw.sg/sglaw/laws-of-singapore/commercial-law/chapter-8

Do you have records of emails/phone messages that clearly show you making an offer, and your clients' acceptance of that offer, perhaps you have something to go with? *shrug* Please consult a lawyer familiar in these matters.

Formation and validity of contracts
11.—(1) For the avoidance of doubt, it is declared that in the context of the formation of contracts, an offer and the acceptance of an offer may be expressed by means of electronic communications.
(2) Where an electronic communication is used in the formation of a contract, that contract shall not be denied validity or enforceability solely on the ground that an electronic communication was used for that purpose.

Electronic Transactions Act (CHAPTER 88)
http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/sear...ery=CapAct%3A88%20Type%3Auact,areved#pr11-he-.

 

[theandycreation]

thanks for the reply, its a registered company, official invoice was issued earlier. deposit was received, BUT, none of the black and white mention on the final payment.. haiz... how? fight or suck thumb?

 

[shierwin]

Don't deliver unless payment in exchange. Let him sue...

 

[ryanlio]

Sorry to hear about this.
From buyers perspective- they want to ensure they got good pictures.
From your perspective - full payment before releasing all pictures. ..
Why not nego a middle ground to get a win - win situation?. Release 10 pictures, let them drool over your deliverables.. have them pay, then release all..
Haha..
P.s. include conditions next time..

 

[Agetan]

Can't they pay you when you give them the CD the same time?

If they are worried about the quality of the images, show them on a slideshow, and if they are happy, then exchange payment with delivery of your order? Sometimes, just take a step back.

What is the point of fighting or principle if you don't have the B&W?

Regards,

Hart

 

[theandycreation]

Can't they pay you when you give them the CD the same time?

If they are worried about the quality of the images, show them on a slideshow, and if they are happy, then exchange payment with delivery of your order? Sometimes, just take a step back.

What is the point of fighting or principle if you don't have the B&W?

Regards,

Hart

yup.. this is actually my option..

 

[grandmama]

Yeah to minimise damage to yourself just work out a way to deliver them quickly in exchange for full payment . slideshow or digital gallery with big watermark is enough for preview.

And pls get things agreed and signed beforehand next time . You will stay healthy longer .

Client is a client and should be treated as a client . No such thing as friendly client . But just a friendly person who happens to be a client , and always treat them as 2 separate things .

There is really nothing to fight or honour here . It is simply business, not principle. Minimise your costs at all time . And our objective is to go to bed without such nonsense each day .

 

[ellery]

First thing is No to delivery before payment. Do that and you might as well give away the files - I doubt you will get paid and even then after you do a ton of extra retouching work for them. Arrange to show them on your lap top the final prints, no gallery no sample disk… they happy they pay and and just get 8gig a thumb drive download to that, exchange for the payment. Not happy, discuss. Till they get photos you have the upper hand, once they have them paying you is optional.

Have you learnt anything here from this incident ?

 

[Shizuma]

singaporelawraffles.com/indexcontract.htm

 

[Shizuma]

Sorry to hear about this.
From buyers perspective- they want to ensure they got good pictures.
From your perspective - full payment before releasing all pictures. ..
Why not nego a middle ground to get a win - win situation?. Release 10 pictures, let them drool over your deliverables.. have them pay, then release all..
Haha..
P.s. include conditions next time..

best idea so far.

 

[portal]

Sorry to hear about what you had to go through. Good warning to everyone. Be careful of very friendly clients.

 

[theandycreation]

thanks for the advise everyone!

 

[LukaviZ]

I agree with Agetan (hart) that you really don't have to waste your time trying to strike back as hard as they did you. Do up the work, then meet them and go through the pictures before receiving the payment. Though, might want to request for CASH TERMS only for this particular case. Reason being that you don't exactly have a proper service contract signed in first place, im just worried any cheque given may bounce. Most clients have no problem giving cash payment. If they insist cheque, then you better prepare an invoice where they counter sign that they have given payment via a cheque, with cheque number clearly indicated. That way if the cheque bounces, you can (unfortunately), in the worst case, go to Small Claims Tribunal.