Terms of service

1. About these terms

These terms are between Chaseworth Ltd (“Chaseworth”, “we”, “us”), a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17540989, registered office 115 Holmfield Road, Leicester, LE2 1SF), and the business that creates an account with us (“you”).

Our service is only for businesses. By creating an account you confirm that you are acting for your business, not as a consumer, and that you have authority to agree to these terms on its behalf.

2. Your account and verification

• You must give accurate details and keep them up to date.
• We verify every business before acting for it, by checking Companies House or asking for proof of your business. We may refuse or close an account if we can’t verify it or if we have concerns about how it is being used.
• Keep your login details secure. You are responsible for what happens on your account.

3. Instructing us

When you send us an invoice, you instruct and authorise us to act as your agent to recover it, and you confirm that:

• the debt is genuinely owed to your business by another business, not by a private individual acting as a consumer;
• the work or goods were provided and the invoice is accurate;
• you have told us about any complaint, dispute, part payment, credit note or payment arrangement;
• you have not already passed the debt to another collector or solicitor, and you will not do so while we are acting for you.

We may decline any invoice, for example if it is disputed, too old to recover, or owed by a consumer.

4. What we do

Depending on the case, we may contact your customer by email, phone and post, send formal demand letters and letters before action, and claim statutory late payment interest and compensation on your behalf. You can track each case in your account.

We act firmly but professionally and within the law. We do not guarantee that any money will be recovered.

5. Our fees

Our fee is a percentage of the money recovered on each invoice:

• No recovery, no fee: if nothing is recovered, you pay us nothing.
• The fee applies to all money recovered after you instruct us, including any late payment interest and compensation your customer pays.
• If we have agreed a different rate with you in writing (for example a founding client rate), that rate applies.
• We invoice you after money is recovered. Our invoices are payable within 14 days.
• There are no setup fees, monthly charges or minimum terms. We will tell you if VAT applies to our fees.

6. Payments from your customer

• Your customer pays you directly. We do not hold your money.
• You must tell us within 5 working days if your customer pays you anything, agrees a payment plan, returns goods, or you issue a credit note, so we can stop chasing and keep your account accurate.
• Our fee is due on any payment your customer makes after you instruct us, whoever it is paid to, including payments made directly to you.

7. Court action and costs

• Court action is always your choice. We will not start or recommend proceeding with a court claim without explaining the likely costs and getting your written agreement first.
• Court fees, solicitor fees and enforcement costs are separate from our fee. You pay them only where you have agreed to them in advance. Any of these costs the court orders your customer to repay will be credited to you when recovered.
• Each cost is shown in your account and on your statement.

8. Disputes and complaints by your customer

If your customer disputes the invoice or complains about your work, we will pause chasing and ask you for your response in writing. We may stop acting on a case if the debt is disputed and the dispute isn’t resolved, without any fee becoming due unless money is later recovered.

9. Stopping a case or closing your account

• You can ask us to stop work on any case at any time by contacting us or through your account.
• If you stop a case, or settle directly with your customer, after we have contacted them, our fee is still due on any money your customer pays within 60 days of you stopping the case.
• You can close your account at any time. These terms continue to apply to fees for money recovered before or within 60 days after closure.
• We can stop acting on a case, or close an account, if you break these terms, if we reasonably suspect fraud, or if continuing would be unlawful or unreasonable. We will tell you why where we can.

10. Your responsibilities

• Give us accurate, complete information and documents, and tell us promptly about anything that affects a case.
• Do not ask us to chase debts that are not genuinely owed, are owed by consumers, or that you know are disputed without telling us.
• Do not use our service for anything unlawful or abusive.

You are responsible for any loss we suffer because information you gave us was knowingly false or misleading.

11. Data protection and confidentiality

We each comply with UK data protection law. You confirm you are entitled to share your customers’ details with us for recovering money owed to you. Our privacy policy explains how we handle personal information. We keep your business information confidential and use it only to provide our service, except where the law requires otherwise.

12. Our liability

• We do not guarantee recovery and are not responsible for your customer’s failure to pay.
• We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, business or goodwill.
• Our total liability to you under these terms in any 12-month period is limited to the fees you paid us in that period.
• Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited by law.

13. General

• We may update these terms. We will tell you about important changes in advance by email or in your account. Changes do not affect cases already in progress unless you agree.
• If any part of these terms can’t be enforced, the rest still applies.
• These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.
• Questions or complaints about our service: hello@chaseworth.co.uk. We aim to reply within one working day.