Claim under a service agreement. 2021 sample

What is the document for?

By law, a contract for the provision of services implies the fulfillment by one of the parties of their obligations to provide any services, and the second - payment for them in a pre-agreed amount and manner.

If any of the parties violates at least one clause of this agreement, its counterparty can file a claim.

Drawing up a document is the first step towards resolving any disagreements that have arisen.

Based on this, we can say that the role of the claim is quite serious. It allows not only to identify the problems that arose during the execution of the contract, but also to promptly prevent the situation from developing to court.

How is the service that the consumer refused paid for?

The right to refuse the service by the consumer is stipulated in Art. 32 Federal Law No. 2300-1. At any time after the contract is concluded, the customer has the right to freely inform the contractor that he does not need his help. According to the law on the protection of consumer rights, payment for services not provided if the customer refuses it must be made, but not in full. The customer must pay the contractor for expenses incurred after the start of fulfillment of obligations.

Let's give a simple example. In a hairdressing salon, a customer's hair is being styled. But the phone rings and the consumer urgently needs to leave. Accordingly, the service is considered not provided through his fault. He pays for the master’s work time, the amount that the performer spent on materials, and leaves.

However, a situation may arise where the consumer refuses to pay. If there is a dispute, the fact of partial provision of services must be proven by the contractor.

Suitable for this:

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Evidence that the service was provided.
The contract for the provision of services, if concluded in writing.
Other evidence, for example, notarized correspondence with the customer.

In addition, the contractor is obliged to prove the fact of incurring expenses for the provision of services. This is confirmed by checks, receipts, invoices for the purchase of products that were used to provide the service, price lists that take into account payment for the completion of individual stages of work.

There are cases when the customer pays a deposit to the contractor, i.e. funds for the execution of the service. These funds can be used to pay off the customer's debt. If all expenses are covered, the contractor has no right to make any additional demands. If the deposit covers only part of the costs, the contractor has the right to demand that the contractor pay for the remaining part of the services actually rendered.

What can you ask for in a claim?

The requirements in the claim depend on which clauses of the contract are violated. The main thing is that they correspond to the main purpose of creating this kind of documents: to force the other party to fulfill its obligations.

At the same time, if the essence of the claims from the contractor is almost always obvious and unambiguous: a demand for payment for their services, then for the customer this list can be much wider. In particular, he may demand a reduction in the cost of services (provided that he was not satisfied with their quality or quantity), free elimination of the negative consequences of the service provided, termination of the contract and reimbursement of expenses incurred, etc.

Also, if the terms of the contract are violated, both parties may insist on payment of a penalty, even in cases where this rule is not stated in the main document (here Article 332 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation comes into force).

Remuneration for individual services

The client is not obliged to pay the lawyer for poorly rendered services, since only those lawyer’s services that comply with the law and the contract, as well as the usually presented requirements, have consumer value for him.
In a situation where an agreement between a lawyer and a client provides for remuneration for certain services, the issue of determining that part of the remuneration that is subject to return does not cause difficulties. However, what if the remuneration is indicated as a single amount for all services? If, in the process of providing legal services, the lawyer provided certain services under the contract with poor quality, not in full, or did not provide them at all, the client has the right to demand a refund of the paid fee in the corresponding part. If the remuneration in the contract is specified as a total amount, then in the absence of special rules in the law and in the contract itself, the refundable portion can be determined by calculation.

So, for example, in the author’s practice, a case was considered when a lawyer, under the terms of the contract, assumed six responsibilities, two of which he did not fulfill: he did not take measures to search for the defendant’s property and did not provide the client with official documents confirming the presence or absence of rights of the defendant on the property, and also did not file a petition to seize the debtor’s property. The total price of all services was 60,000 rubles.

Since the price was not divided into parts for each service, the refundable part had to be determined by calculation: 20,000 rubles, taking into account two unfulfilled obligations (60,000 rubles/6 responsibilities = 10,000 rubles). This procedure for determining the returnable part is not directly provided for either in the law or in the contract, but in the current situation it was the only reasonable method for calculation, and the court agreed with it.

Please note that when calculating the returned part, the rule on determining the average market price, enshrined in clause 3 of Art. 424 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, since it applies to cases where the parties have not agreed on the price in their contract at all. Meanwhile, in the case under consideration, the total price was agreed upon, so the refundable part should be determined by calculation in proportion to the number of unfulfilled obligations under the contract.

The examples given show that clients do not have problems if they include amounts paid to an unscrupulous lawyer as part of the indemnified damages. Having proved that the services were not provided or were provided partially and/or of poor quality, he receives the right to claim the amounts paid both upon termination of the contract on his own initiative, and in the event of its expiration, since, despite the fact that in this case the obligations of the parties terminate , in the event of an unequal (non-equivalent) provision of property, the client, as the injured party, receives the right to demand money from the lawyer for work not performed or performed poorly (clause 4 of the resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated June 6, 2014 No. 35).

Key nuances when filing a claim

The claim, like the contract itself, can be drawn up in any form, but it is important that in its structure and form it complies with the standards of office work, and in its content and text - with the rules of the Russian language.

The claim should always indicate in order:

the name of the company on behalf of which it is written;
the name of the organization to which it is sent;
addresses of both parties.

The document must contain a title, and it is also necessary to make a reference to the main agreement (entering the number and date of its preparation in the form).

The main part should describe in detail the essence of the claim, including indicating the clauses of the contract that were violated. If the claim is accompanied by any additional papers, photo and video evidence of violations, they must also be mentioned in the document as a separate paragraph.

Next, you need to provide a summary that summarizes all of the above. It should indicate your requirements and the deadline for their fulfillment. Also, do not neglect the warning that in case of refusal to fulfill the claim, the interested party reserves the right to appeal to the court.

What is poor service delivery?

Inadequate provision of services is expressed in two types:

Lack of service. Each service must be provided within the time period specified in the contract. If the contract does not allow establishing a specific moment for the provision of a service, it is determined in comparison with the deadlines for fulfilling obligations established for similar services. In case of failure to provide the service within the prescribed period, the customer has the right, among other things, to recover a penalty for the protection of consumer rights.
Poor quality service. In this case, the service provided does not meet the customer’s expectations, which can be expressed in the delay in its provision, non-compliance with the usual requirements for services of this kind, as well as the requirements of regulations and accepted standards (GOST).

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How to file a claim

There are no special requirements for the execution of the document, as well as for its preparation. This means that the claim can be written on a simple blank sheet of any convenient format, or on the company’s letterhead, by hand or in printed form (the latter option is convenient because you do not need to enter the sender’s details and it is easy to make copies). But if the terms of the contract stipulate a specific format for writing and filing a claim, then, of course, you need to follow it.

The claim must be signed by the head of the company or an employee who is responsible for resolving specific issues identified in the document (the signature must only be “live”, the use of facsimile autographs is excluded).

It is not necessary to certify a claim using various types of clichés, since since 2021, companies have the right to endorse their documentation with seals and stamps only if this norm is specified in their local regulations.

The claim is drawn up in two copies , which are identical in content and equivalent in law.

After drawing up the claim, it should be registered in the document log, and the sent option should be noted in the outgoing correspondence log.

The claim can be sent by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt, or submitted by courier or company representative (in this case, you must obtain the signature of the counterparty’s representative confirming receipt of the document).

Complaint about improper provision of services

A complaint about improper provision of services can be prepared and submitted to supervisory and control authorities, namely,

to the prosecutor's office;
to the district administration;
to the federal service that oversees consumer protection;
to higher authorities;
if a complaint is filed against a person who is a member of a chamber, then the complaint can be filed with the appropriate chamber, for example, against a notary in the notary chamber of the relevant entity.

In fact, a complaint is similar to a claim, with the only difference being that the claim is addressed to the person providing the service, and the complaint is addressed to the supervisory and control authorities. A complaint is made in free form, indicating the necessary information:

to whom complaints are addressed;
who the applicant is (indicate full name, address, telephone number, email if available);
the document is called a “complaint”;
the text of the complaint sets out the circumstances of the case similar to the complaint, including what the violation of the applicant’s rights is, and how this is expressed. References to legal norms are also provided if the applicant knows them;
in the petition part, the applicant indicates his requirements, i.e., what he asks: to conduct an inspection, apply measures, etc.;
a list of attached documents is indicated, if any;
the complaint must be signed, the signature must be deciphered, and the date the complaint was signed must also be indicated.

After writing a complaint

A submitted complaint can have different consequences:

The first and most convenient for everyone is the elimination of shortcomings and further cooperation.
The second is ignoring requirements. In this case, the law allows for the possibility of unilateral termination of the contract, even if such a clause is not in the document itself.

Also, a party that has suffered losses due to failure to comply with the terms of the service agreement has the right to go to court.

The claim in this case will serve as further evidence of a violation of obligations by the second party.

What are the consequences of the contractor refusing to provide the service?

If the contractor refuses to provide the agreed services, he cannot demand compensation from the customer for the costs incurred, due to the provisions of clause 4 of Art. 28 Federal Law No. 2300-1.

For violation of the terms of service provision, the contractor also pays the customer a penalty for each day of delay. Its amount is three percent of the cost of work for each day of delay. The contract may specify a higher amount of the penalty.

By virtue of Part 2 of Art. 782 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the contractor has the right to refuse to provide services. However, he must pay the customer for all losses incurred by him. As already mentioned, losses are damage and lost profits. The customer must prove the fact of incurring losses.

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Thus, if a service is not provided, the liability of the parties depends on the reason for which it was not provided. If the contractor is at fault, he compensates for losses. If the performer violates the terms, he pays a penalty. If the customer initiated the refusal to fulfill the contract, he must pay the contractor the actual expenses incurred by him.

How to get money back for services not provided

To start

You need to intelligently choose the legal basis on which you will demand a refund for a service not provided.

We talked about the most common 2 bases above.

If you are not 100% sure

Which basis to choose - better consult us.

Once you have decided

with what legal basis you will return the money, you need, depending on such basis, to draw up a claim (demand) against the contractor or a refusal of the service agreement with a demand for the return of money.

Download the sample claim you need below

After drawing up the claim (refusal), it must be handed over (sent) to the contractor.

The standard rules apply here:

Read how to correctly write and submit (send) a claim here.

From the moment of delivery

Your claim (refusal) or receipt by the contractor of the postal item count 10 calendar days.

If during this period

you have not received your money back - proceed to the next step

Note,

what if your mail item was not received by the addressee for one of the following reasons:

returning a letter after the expiration of the storage period
the recipient refused to receive the letter
the recipient is not at the address
any other reason

then in this case there is no need to try at any cost to hand the letter to the executor, look for him, contact the police or prosecutor’s office and perform other useless actions.

A common misconception

that in order to go to court it is necessary to obtain a written refusal from the future defendant. This is wrong.

Since you are already

If you verbally contacted the contractor with a claim (demand) and left (or handed over against signature) one copy of your claim (rejection of the contract), then the contractor knows what you want from him.

If he intended to do this, he would have already satisfied your demand.

And to apply to the court, the main thing is that the letter is sent to the defendant, and not that he received it.

The next stage is filing an application with the court.

According to the law in Russia, the protection of consumer rights is carried out by the court. Therefore, if the contractor did not voluntarily satisfy your request, then you need to immediately apply for such legal protection.

Don't be afraid to go to court:

There are no other options anyway. There is no service or government agency that can force an organization or entrepreneur to return your money. Only the court.
Along with filing a claim in court, you can ask to seize the property and money in the defendant’s accounts - this way you guarantee that you will receive money in the future.
Going to court does not mean that a lengthy legal battle awaits. Often, immediately after filing a claim, the defendant understands that it is more profitable for him to reach an agreement with you and we enter into a settlement agreement.

We do not recommend

independently draw up a statement of claim and engage in legal defense. To do this, contact a lawyer from the consumer protection society.