Is subcontracting through Freelancer a breach of Contract?

djburchgrove

I had agreed on various web and seo work for a client, who was unhappy with some of the content posted.

Long story short, the client wants a complete refund as they discovered i'd outsourced some of this work through freelancer.

The work agreement contract did not stipulate I may be outsourcing work, however I had said I had one or two others who were working on this with me.

Thanks,

any reply much appreciated.

The Corinthian

djburchgrove wrote: »

I had agreed on various web and seo work for a client, who was unhappy with some of the content posted.

Long story short, the client wants a complete refund as they discovered i'd outsourced some of this work through freelancer.

The work agreement contract did not stipulate I may be outsourcing work, however I had said I had one or two others who were working on this with me.

Ask him if he ever outsources to suppliers or even to employees, or if he does everything himself.

He paid for some work to get done, I presume you delivered that work and unless he is unhappy with what was delivered or it is specifically stated in the contract that you must be the one doing it, then you are not in breach of anything.

The only exception to this is if you sold your services at a premium on the basis of your expertise and experience - I once came across a consultant who was engaged to write a business plan, who then farmed it out to the business studies postgrad. Otherwise, you're a business and outsourcing is one of the things businesses do. Unless you promised not to or can make a case that you should not have, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

djburchgrove

The Corinthian wrote: »

Ask him if he ever outsources to suppliers or even to employees, or if he does everything himself.

He paid for some work to get done, I presume you delivered that work and unless he is unhappy with what was delivered or it is specifically stated in the contract that you must be the one doing it, then you are not in breach of anything.

The only exception to this is if you sold your services at a premium on the basis of your expertise and experience - I once came across a consultant who was engaged to write a business plan, who then farmed it out to the business studies postgrad. Otherwise, you're a business and outsourcing is one of the things businesses do. Unless you promised not to or can make a case that you should not have, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.

God no, the person I outsourced to was capable of producing better results than I. They are slightly unhappy about one or two details that were posted online, personal phone number but that was available on their website anyway (due to spun content, i.e jumbled up content which stops google penalising sites for re-using same content).

Results produced were better than expected, client was initially very happy with the work and results, hence why they payed me in the first place.

The Corinthian

If there was no prior understanding, let alone contractual veto, on subcontracting any of the work and you've delivered all that was agreed, then they have no leg to stand on and are probably thinking that they've been scammed on the basis that had they gone to the subcontractor directly, they could have got it done for less, having cut out the middleman (i.e. you).

That's what is likely to come out if you press them on why they are objecting to you subcontracting.

If so congratulate them on having discovered capitalism.

pedronomix

You have the money, they got the work done... end of in my opinion. You are lucky that you have actually been paid and are not now trying to collect it!! tell him to take a hike, rubbish argument!

djburchgrove

Thanks for the re-assurance everyone.

They gave me 30 days to issue a refund or would pursue legal action, and I would have to cover the costs. Does this change anyone's opinion?

dbran

I would not respond and wait for their solicitors letter. This is just bullying and scare tactics.

If you did the work as specified and it is not defective then there is no legal argument that they can possibly have. And the fact that they have paid you makes this almost comical.

But then again if the SEO you did is no longer working because of what you did to his site or you used black hat methods to get them a short term ranking you might want to be careful.

dbran

Atomico

djburchgrove wrote: »

God no, the person I outsourced to was capable of producing better results than I. They are slightly unhappy about one or two details that were posted online, personal phone number but that was available on their website anyway (due to spun content, i.e jumbled up content which stops google penalising sites for re-using same content).

Results produced were better than expected, client was initially very happy with the work and results, hence why they payed me in the first place.

Hey OP, I hope the spun content was there *before* your outsourced guy started working on the client's SEO...?

I can appreciate where the client is coming from. If the job related to web design work only, then they could most likely see what had actually been done. This is not the case with SEO if links were built using some obscure site they don't know about, or even one they would know about but would want to steer clear of. I am guessing they entrusted you with the SEO work for a reason, and now that they've discovered it has gone to some unknown person they are not happy. 'I outsourced the SEO to some guys I'm working with' doesn't inspire confidence!

djburchgrove

Atomico wrote: »

Hey OP, I hope the spun content was there *before* your outsourced guy started working on the client's SEO...?

I can appreciate where the client is coming from. If the job related to web design work only, then they could most likely see what had actually been done. This is not the case with SEO if links were built using some obscure site they don't know about, or even one they would know about but would want to steer clear of. I am guessing they entrusted you with the SEO work for a reason, and now that they've discovered it has gone to some unknown person they are not happy. 'I outsourced the SEO to some guys I'm working with' doesn't inspire confidence!

I outsourced some of the work to a highly rated SEO specialist. I offer many different web services, some aspects of the work was better done by them and I told them what was needed, and kept in touch on a regular basis to ensure what we agreed was being delivered. The link building campaign in particular was taken care of by the freelancer. I reported back to the client on a weekly basis with the links that had been built and then when the campaign had finished they were happy with the results and made payment to me.

pedroeibar1

djburchgrove wrote: »

Thanks for the re-assurance everyone.

They gave me 30 days to issue a refund or would pursue legal action, and I would have to cover the costs. Does this change anyone's opinion?

If you have given us correct details, No. You've got the correct answers from Corinthian, Pedronomix and dBran.
I'd add do not write/contact them, as anything you write could be used should they go to law. To me it is a try-on. They were happy enough with your work to pay you for it. They would have some work trying to get around that in court! Even if they send a solicitor's letter, that is just 50 quid, ignore that too. Wait for the next one, which IMO would be another try-on, so respond to that with a simple one-liner saying 'Please direct future corres to our solicitors Messrs. XYZ & Co.'