Can I pay this way?

Sorry to contact you so late but I am having a little problem with a service provider.

So, I was due for assessment by a mine and after my assessment I was asked to redo my SHE policies. I then engaged a service provider that was referred to me by the assessor to have a look at my policies and advise, of which she did not do. Instead, she started working on the documents and sent them through to the assessor without me having a look at them.

The assessor then asked me to sign the documents so that they could be submitted; I was billed P10,000 for the said documents.

Now the service provider is bugging us for payment of which I have accepted that she did the work and will pay her, but due to my current financial restraints, I have asked to pay in instalments of P2,500 immediately and the balance by the end of April but they are refusing and claiming I should pay them immediately. Please kindly advise on what I should do as I had not given the go-ahead for the new documents to be done but had only requested that they have a look at my old documents.

NB: I have accepted they have done the work but not under my instruction and am willing to pay, but in 2 payments.

I don’t think I have any good news for you. That’s because I don’t think you’re being very reasonable.

What has this service provider done wrong? They took your instructions and seem to have done the work as best they could. It’s possible you weren’t as clear as you should have been to them and the only mistake I think they can be accused of making is not fully understanding your needs.

Most importantly, it was never agreed that you could pay them in two instalments, was it? If they’d agreed that, then yes, you could do that. But they didn’t. I understand your financial difficulties but is that their fault? I think the best thing you can do is your very best to pay them for the work they did for you.