Need Help Writing A Clause In My Contract
Business By FlourChick Updated 3 Dec 2010 , 4:37pm by Annabakescakes
Courtesy of the bride and groom zilla I just had the pleasure of spending nearly a year working with, I'm updating my contract. I want to add a clause that allows me to terminate a contract if we are unable to... well, to put it bluntly, get along, among many other things. (These people were a major LEARNING EXPERIENCE!!!)
Is this legal?
If so, suggested wording would be greatly appreciated!
If it's not, is there anything I can put in the contract to make it clear that I don't have to tolerate any BS?
Thanks, as always!
Oh, I should add, that if it came to that I would of course refund their deposit.
Here's a policy that may serve as inspiration for your own clause:
http://www.aging.ca.gov/aaa/guidance/Nutrition_Best_Practices/Policies%20and%20Procedures/Right_to_Refuse_Service_Policy.pdf
Do a Google search for "right to refuse service" and you'll get a lot of examples of cases.
I mean I don't know about all the legal stuff but if someone was that big a pia I would probably get the refund check ready and bale on them. I'd be sure to thoroughly document my actions and the refund. Why didn't you bale on them?
OMG what if they SUE me? If they win big they get my house and the privilege of making all the rest of the payments on it--oh well. If they are laughed out of court for being idiots then oh well for them. Or my insurance will have to pay up and then they'll drop me. Like that's never happened before.
What I mean is, the future is unknown. Will there be problems? Yes. Being more able to control future events based on anomalies of the past leaves one as unclear and uncertain as the future still is.
My order blank says that after the final payment no changes can be made--so if it got to that point I'd just hold my breath, make their cake and go on. Probably drool a little in it--jk jk. If they showed me their butt that bad before then I'd so bale. But for me it's a money thing. I ain't making best friends with a client so I've had a lot of sh*tty jobs that I had to go to day after day--that would just be one more and at a certain point it ends so it's not that bad to me.
I think you should have terminated them anyhow. I could be wrong but... 
You're not wrong... I should have terminated them, but because I didn't have a clause in my contract saying that I could terminate the contract if we couldn't see eye to eye I didn't think it was something I could do. Twice I told them I felt I wasn't the right baker for them and offered them a full refund so that they could work with someone else and both times they turned me down. Like I said, lesson learned, and I've been working on updating my contract all day!
Thanks for the links!
It seems that I recall reading (on wedding wire maybe?) that a number of wedding planners have such a clause. I'm at work right now (shhhh!) but will try to remember to check my laptop files when I get home to see if I saved any. 'Coz its just the type of thing I'd save under my "oh THAT'S a cool idea!" files!
How about the 'Oh I'm so sorry, an emergency has arisen, and I am no longer available on your date. Or any other date you might choose" clause.
LOL
If I smell someone i don't want to work with, I'm VERY good at suddenly, uh..not having that date available. Out of town, death in family, whatever it takes, baby. Diplomatic, yes. Classy, yes. SUPER nice, yes. And breathing huge sigh of relief to be free of headaches = priceless!
good luck. Let us know what you come up with, but I'm sticking with my Sudden Unplanned Emergency Policy. 
If you can find examples of clauses that would be fantastic!
These people are definitely the kind to sue if I didn't stick to the letter of my contract, and BELIEVE ME, I tried to think of anything that would get me out of having to work with them, but since there was nothing in my contract that I could point to (including my own emergencies) I didn't think I could break the contract. But, you better believe my contract NOW has all sorts of clauses giving me outs! But, specifically, I really want a clause that basically says, "we're not a good match, and we should part ways". That's really what the problem with this couple boiled down to, but every time I told them that they refused to accept the refund.
From an officiant:
I have two clauses like that in my contract; one says that I can refuse to do the ceremony if they include abusive, hurtful or inappropriate language in the script revision. The other says I will not do a wedding without a license. One of my colleagues has a clause that states if the couple does not respond to an email or phone call of his regarding the event within two days, he can cancel the contract!
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I have an email out to a planner who may have some good wording. Will let you know if/when I hear back from her.
This is what I have in my contract:
If for any reason (other than nonpayment by the Client) Creative Cakes by Cathy of its own accord cancels the contract all payments, including the non-refundable retainer fee will be refunded in full.
I think this is generic enough that you could apply it because the client is being a PITA or for some other reason like you have to have surgery. I would simply tell the client that unfortunately I am no longer able to make their cake and have mailed them a full refund.
Here's one I found in my files from a Texas BBQ Caterer. It is accessible via his website at http://www.jbarhtexasfoods.com/aboutus.html
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BRIDEZILLA CLAUSE
J-Bar-H reserves the right to cancel your agreement at any time for any reason (including the day of the event,) and retain a reasonable fee and all expenses, if it is due to clients and/or client representative's behavior, actions or inactions. Agressive, abusive, rude and/or obnoxious behavior will not be tolerated towards any J-BAR-H staff, vendors or subcontractors.
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Where it reads "or client representative's behavior", I'd be inclined to put in parenthesis: "(this includes but not limited to mothers, fathers, relatives, wedding party member, event planner, etal.")
THANK YOU!!! These are perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I wanted something, short, sweet and to the point.
WARNING...WARNING...WARNING...WARNING...WARNING...WARNING - DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE ATTACHED LINK, IT WILL INFECT YOUR MACHINE WITH NASTY VIRUSES. I HAVE SENT AN EMAIL TO CAKE CENTRAL ASKING THEM TO GET RID OF IT
SORRY, PLEASE IGNORE THIS POST IT WAS ON THE WRONG THREAD, I WAS REFERRING TO AN ATTACHMENT IN ANOTHER POST
This is what I have in my contract:
If for any reason (other than nonpayment by the Client) Creative Cakes by Cathy of its own accord cancels the contract all payments, including the non-refundable retainer fee will be refunded in full.
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I have something very similar to this. I wouldn't use it unless I was going to be able to give them a really good reason, though. You can't bail out on someone that you have a contract with without a pretty good reason. They might not sue you, but word gets around and it doesn't do your reputation any good.
I have never had this happen to me, but I think that it would be good idea to go ahead and put it in there, just in case! I would hate for it to get to the last minute and for them not to have a cake, maybe I could put that if they don't want to accept the "dropping" of the contract and the refund, then they have to stay away from me! lol! Actually, I am going to be appointment only from my home studio, so I can just not make an appointment, or just not let them in if they show up! "Keep a'knockin' but you can't come in!" lol! 
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