Why You Shouldn’t Use Templated Terms & Conditions

When it comes to business, one of the fundamental things you need is terms and conditions. They are the social and legal contract that is designed to protect you, your site, brand, and your customers. They’re a place for you to tell your customers what you expect from them, and how they should behave when working with you. That includes details around payments, when they are due, and what the consequences will be if they miss those deadlines. The problem is, a lot of business owners tend to try and cut corners, and they will use templated terms and conditions from online in their business. Doing this might seem simple, but it can cause a lot of issues for your business, especially when it comes to payments. And here’s why.

They Won’t Work In Your Favour

When it comes to contracts, they generally benefit the party who drew them up. The problem with templates terms and conditions is that you weren’t the one who drew them up – someone else was. And so while they might be generally OK, if you have to reference them, or rely on them in any way, they may well just fall apart. In this case, they will either do nothing, or worse they will work in your clients favour instead. By having bespoke terms and conditions written, you have full control over how you do business with your clients, and you have an iron clad backing for your business.

They Allow Your Clients to Avoid Paying

If you haven’t written your terms and conditions yourself, then it can be challenging to enforce them properly. Particularly if the fine print doesn’t match up with what you actually want. This is unfortunately something we see all too often – business owners didn’t read through their templated terms and conditions before using them, and when a client doesn’t pay, or pays late, they realise it’s because those terms and conditions allowed them to. After all, if you want payment within 15 days, but your terms and conditions say 28 days, the latter is the legally enforceable time, and you won’t be able to chase payment until that time is up. By writing them yourself (or having a lawyer to write them for you), you can ensure your clients will pay on time, and you have legal recourse if they miss the timeline.

It’s Illegal

We probably should have led with this, but taking someone else’s terms and conditions is illegal. It’s copyright infringement, and just as with copying any kind of content, you could get yourself and your business into a lot of legal hot water. So while it might seem tempting to just lift the terms and conditions from another similar business, we strongly advise against it. But sadly it’s all too common. We’ve even seen a business owner who didn’t bother to read the terms and conditions they copied, and they left the other businesses name in! And while there are some websites that will sell ‘templated’ terms and conditions, these are likely to be so vague that they won’t actually benefit your business in any way.

At Debtcol, we specialise in making sure you get the money you are owed in a timely manner. But that doesn’t always mean chasing down late paying clients. We also work with you to put new processes in place that support you, and ensure your customers know they should pay on time, what will happen if they don’t – and that you have recourse if they miss it. and that starts with your terms and conditions. If you’d like to find out more, please just get in touch with the team today and book your free consultation.