Ref: 2276
Filed: 29/07/2023

Accused Company:

STRATA RESEARCH LTD.

File a Dispute against this company

Company number: ca-ON_2688332

KITCHENER, Ontario
Canada - Ontario

Allegation: Unpaid invoice

Value: CAD 24,111.38

Dispute details:

I performed 2 months of hourly consulting and issued 3 invoices that went unpaid. Strata Research has not paid and has become unresponsive.

Strata Research hired me on an hourly basis to perform technical consulting. The work was performed, hours were consumed. All hours were logged into their system weekly and frequent status report meetings were had. Strata claimed to have not received the invoices despite proof that invoices were sent. Invoices were re-sent and Strata Research claims to not be aware of the hours worked. In writing, they confirmed they were happy with the work performed. However, to this date, they are refusing to pay the 3 outstanding invoices. No amount of money has been paid.

History of events.

• April 17, 2023 - has conversation about required work and agreed to move forward
• April 18, 2023 - Strata CEO asked to start with a higher number of hours initially as they were in need of moving the project forward quickly
• April 19, 2023 - Strata immediately started work, even before contract was officially signed to expedite the process. 6.5 hours were spent in meetings and consulting that were not billed to Strata research because officially the contract had not begun. This was a good-will gesture on my part to help the customer move their project forward.

• April 21-25, 2023 - signed the contract with some corrections, official start of April 24, 2023.
• April 24, 2023 - Started the contract.
• May 1, 2023 sent invoice for April 24-30, 2023 for an amount $2,796.75
• June 1, 2023 sent invoice for May 1-31, 2023 for $15,127.88
• June 5, 2023 – emailed the customer about missed payment Received the following answer: I received the invoice from May just last week and wanted to make a quick note: It looks like you worked full time in May, although my understanding from [Project Manager] was that we were not moving at full speed. I’ve talked to [Project Manager] and she feels this got us ahead technically, so that’s great. Going forward, could you please send us a weekly email with a summary of your hours so we can budget and adjust accordingly? The April invoice was never received, I’m not sure why. I’ve searched every folder I’ve got and there’s no record of it. I had previously assumed you hadn’t started work until May. Could you please forward me a copy so I can take a look?
• June 5, 2023 - sent again invoices for April 2023, and May 2023.
• June 11, 2023 - sent reminder that not received the payment for April 2023
• June 18, 2023 - sent reminder that not received the payment for April 2023
• June 21, 2023 - received email that they no longer require my services. Sent back invoice for June 1-21, 2023 for $6,186.75. Sent request to get payment for April-June 2023 before July 2023 for total amount of $24,111.38 CAD.
• July 22, 2023 - sent reminder still no payment has been received from April-June 2023. Strata research did not respond.

Attempts to resolve dispute:

Multiple emails regarding unpaid fees with Strata research saying that will pay yet no invoices have been paid to date.

Response to accusation (by accused):

08/08/2023

The plaintiff in this dispute is not entirely truthful. Two invoices have been received to date, there has been no third sent electronically or via other means, yet the plaintiff has our contact details. When the plaintiff first sent an invoice, it was made clear he was billing us for an excessive number of hours, none of which had been requested, nor approved by anyone within our business. When we attempted to discuss this, plaintiff refused to engage, and simply said we owe him. We are happy to pay for a reasonable number of hours, however we are not prepared to pay someone who is attempting to extort money from us for nothing. None of the plaintiff's work has been used for any purpose whatsoever - it was useless to us, and none of it was approved, signed off, or otherwise accepted by our team. However, we're still happy to pay for a reasonable number of hours, given the plaintiff still did some form of work, however debatable its quality or utility.

Counter Response (by plaintiff):

09/08/2023

There is proof that 3 invoices have been sent. This was also re-stated to the customer in multiple email exchanges. There is also written statement from the customer claiming satisfaction of the work yet no amount of money has been paid. All work done was on hourly basis with all tasks assigned and approved by the project manager and team. Work was collaborative and included meetings, knowledge sharing as well as development activities that were committed to repositories. I have email proof of customer asking for increased initial hours to meet specific requirements and all tasks were created and assigned by the customer's team and hours entered in their timesheet daily and submitted weekly then sent via email to both myself and the customer. The claim that they did not approve nor had any knowlege of the hours is inaccurate. Direction was changed multiple times during the course of the project and what the customer decided to use does not constitute what work was done and should be paid for as per the agreement of the contract with was time and materials and not a fixed price deliverable. I have 30+ years of experience in consulting with contracts spanning decades with customers and a history of delivering to the customer's specifications. Regardless of the customer's behviour, I was willing to negotiate to put this matter behind us yet the customer ignored my emails entirely until this dispute was opened and still to this date, no amount of money has been paid.