I have a supplier that I have dealt with for around two years. I felt their prices were getting a bit high and did a comparison quote and found the same goods at a third of the price.

It appears that they have been creeping up the price over the last six months.

I am going to enter some discussions with them, my mistake was that I trusted them and I feel royally ripped off. Although their quotes were in writing do I have any legal comeback?

WGA

I do not see how, unless there was a legally binding covenant in place regarding price matching, you could possibly have any kind of comeback. There is no law regarding what price someone can charge – they could just have higher overheads than their competitors…

Surely as the purchaser it is your job to be sure you are always purchasing at the best price, rather than trusting the supplier wont be more pricey than others?

If the spec of the goods is the same, inform them you are changing supplier as you can source them at a better price.
I wouldn’t think you had any comeback as you have accepted their written quotes. Possibly you are a little remiss in not checking other prices previously. Easy to do if you feel you can (could) trust them.

All fair points, it is my job to make sure I get the best price, I accept that.

The thing that complicates this is the service he provides is as a broker to get me the best price for goods supplied. We were working in “partnership” – he does the legwork in getting quotes, I can get on with what I do.

For 18mths this worked well, I got comparison quotes and he was the best price. My mistake is that I stopped getting the comparison quotes until now.It now appears that he was creaming off 60+% for himself on the last 12 or so jobs.

I think it is going to get messy.

WGA

That’s a bit different to “supplier”.

Has he profited personally? You might have a claim if so, otherwise he’s just a bit cr4p and you need to go Alan Sugar on him

Have you mentioned it yet?

If things really are as you perceive them, perhaps he’d be prepared to make a repayment in order to secure future business?

But if it was be I think it’d just be good riddance and I’d have learned a lesson.

In the contract you have with him (if you have one), is there anything to say he can only take a certain percentage commission? If not you can’t do a thing, if there is, ask to see his invoices and proof of payment (invoices can easily be forged) – he might be getting the best prices he can (or has a preference for a certain supplier because of back-handers or whatever).

In whichever case, I would learn from your mistakes and make sure you have a contract that states commission rates.

BTW – what industry is it?

I’d go with the above largely. The onus is on you to keep him honest but it doesn’t seem like you have proof that he’s profiting, it might just be that he’s getting a crap deal from his suppliers or is generally doing a terrible job. Prices have gone up (our suppliers have increased by 20% in some cases) all over the place and you may need a drastic shift in where you spend your money to get it close to what it was.

No contract, between us, just a verbal agreement.

He has supplied goods to me on credit and wants paying, I am of course reluctant to do this – is it right to withhold payment until it is resolved?

It seems that he has got greedy / desperate and has seen me as a bit of a soft/ easy touch.

WGA

To be blunt, if he’s got away with it for 18 months, he’s right (assuming he’s trying to pull a fast one which is by no means certain yet).

If he’s supplied the goods and you’re contractually obligated to buy them (i.e. you have a PO and he’s shipped them and you’ve used them), you’re going to have to pay or learn to be friendly with your solicitor as the chances are it’d be a legal issue quite quickly. Try to negotiate with him first and see where you end up.

Dos he have a funny handshake and spend time in a lodge (!not a Sedish/Finnish one) ?

No purchase order or firm official quote with any terms and conditions. No signed agreement or contract.

I don’t want it to go legal of course, I plan to try and negotiate, but if it does (go legal), do I have a leg to stand on?

Well it gets worse…

I have just checked the last batch of invoices (unpaid) and 3 out of 5 are invoiced not as the agreed price out of three they are £380 more than agreed.

Also he has invoiced me with my company name incorrectly.

This is becoming a major ball ache as I now have to trawl through all the paperwork with a fine tooth comb.

a)why are you on here if you now have so much work to do “trawling through all the paperwork with a fine tooth comb”?

b)how many invoices have you not paid him?? You sound worse than he is! If your slack at paying, I’d be putting my prices up to, as I wouldn’t be able to rely on you to pay quickly to pay for my own bills, so would add more on top to compensate for any credit I had to take.

c)why and how have you only just noticed that the invoices are wrong. It sounds as if you haven’t a clue how to run a business properly.

Own up Vanilla83 – you’re the supplier he’s talking about aren’t you?

lol I wish. By the sounds of it (if wetgrassagain paid his invoices), I’d be rolling in it by now.

The OP is also very vague about what is being “supplied”. And now the “supplier” is a broker.

harsh vanilla!