Claim back deposit? Legal advice online

Questioner

I have outsourced an assignment to a company to build a website. For this I made a down payment of 5000,-. After a few weeks I was not satisfied. After they pushed the deadline back 3 times and the product was simply a poor performance, I withdrew the order. I had already let them know several times that I was not satisfied and that it was not what I had asked for. They wouldn't give me my deposit back. After consultation we decided that they would sell the website and that 50% of the down payment would be in my account on 1-1-2012. Unfortunately they do not want to pay now, I have received confirmation of our appointment from them by email. Now they say that they have delivered the website as agreed and that I have to pay the rest. Now I just demand the full down payment of 5000,- back Can you do anything for me?

Lawyer

I would have to read the exact agreements to give a definite answer. However, I think - based on your story - that the € 2,500 can be claimed without discussion via the court and that payment of the full € 5,000 should be based on dissolution of the agreement 50% after sale of website and then depends on the question of whether and to what extent the original agreement can be dissolved due to non-compliance (breach of contract). Then it is important whether a website was promised or an effort to build something and how bad the result was. The case lends itself to a practical deal because litigation about these amounts is not really worth it. Strange in this story is that there was a further agreement according to you: 50% after sale and they come back on that. That sounds like they have a completely different interpretation of the agreements.

Lawyer

If you believe that the supplier is in default, you must give them written notice of default and give them the opportunity to still fulfil their agreed obligations. Strictly speaking, passing an agreed deadline is sufficient to establish that there is a default. If the opportunity you gave also expires, you can terminate the agreement and possibly reclaim your down payment. In order to demonstrate that the supplier is in default, you will have to be able to specifically indicate which agreed functional requirements the website does not meet.