General terms and conditions
Article 1. Definitions
For the purposes of these terms and conditions, the following definitions apply:
Unpaid: Unpaid BV, Crossroads Enterprise Bank no. 728.452.479, having its registered address Port Arthurlaan 11e, 9000 GENT, VAT no. BE 0728.452.479, registered as an amicable debt collector of consumer debts under the number 221489.
Customer: The company within the scope of the collection procedure as described in detail in article 1394/20 Judicial Code and wishes to make use of the Services provided by Unpaid.
Parties: Unpaid and the Customer.
GDW: The judicial officer appointed by Unpaid to carry out the tasks as described in article 4.1. and 4.2. of the Agreement.
DGDM: De Groote - De Man, Crossroads Enterprise Bank no. 878.001.735, having its registered address Heernislaan 91, 9000 GENT, VAT no. BE 0878.001.735.
Partners: GDW and DGDM
Services: the Services provided by UNPAID to its Customers, in particular providing a platform for the collection of non-disputed debts in accordance with the procedure described in articles 1394/20 – 1394/27 Judicial Code, as well as the amicable recovery of debts towards Consumers.
Dossier(s): The entirety of the debts/claims which a Customer has against a single Debtor which are transferred via the secure portal to Unpaid as a whole and at the same time.
The Law: The law of 19.10.2015 (Belgian Official Gazette 16/10/2016) concerning the collection of non-disputed cash debts, whereby articles 1394/20 – 1394/27 were inserted in the Judicial Code.
Debtor: The Customer's debtor, as referred to in the Law, to whom the debts/claims as mentioned in the Dossier relate.
Consumer(s): any natural person acting for purposes outside their trade, business, craft or profession.
Article 2. Scope
These general terms and conditions (hereinafter: "General Terms and Conditions") are applicable to the Services provided by Unpaid to its Customers via the website at www.unpaid.be.
The Customer has, by ticking the box on the website intended for that purpose, expressly and explicitly accepted these General Terms and Conditions and acknowledges that he is aware of them. The Customer's General Terms and Conditions are not applicable to this legal relationship.
Services provided by Unpaid or one of its partners, other than as mentioned in these General Terms and Conditions, are not within the scope of these General Terms and Conditions.
Except with express permission in writing from Unpaid, no deviation from these General Terms and Conditions is possible.
If any provision of these General Terms and Conditions is invalid, or is nullified, then the remaining provisions of these General Terms and Conditions shall remain in force unaffected.
Unpaid reserves the right to amend these General Terms and Conditions at any time by publishing a new version on the Website. Every order that is placed after publication by Unpaid of the new version of the General Terms and Conditions also implies acceptance of the said latest version.
Article 3. Authorisation from the Customer
By accepting the General Terms and Conditions, the Customer expressly gives authorisation to Unpaid, and to its Partners, to carry out, among others, the collections procedure in accordance with article 1394/20 Judicial Code, as defined in Article 4.1. of the General Terms and Conditions, or the amicable recovery in respect of a Consumer as defined in Article 4.2. of the General Terms and Conditions.
The Customer shall, to that end, provide to Unpaid all data or information that is requested by Unpaid including (without limitation):
- Its data: legal form and name of company, registered office, VAT registration number, name and capacity of representative;
- Counterparty data: legal form and name of company, registered office, VAT registration number; information of the Consumer;
- The invoice / invoices to be collected;
- Its general terms and conditions which are applicable to the invoice to be collected;
- The non-disputed nature of the invoice to be collected.
The Customer explicitly agrees that Unpaid will pass on data or information about the Customer to the Partners in accordance with the General Terms and Conditions.
The Customer undertakes, on the first request from Unpaid or the partners, to provide additional information or to inform Unpaid without delay of any change in the information that has been provided. If the Customer refuses to provide this additional information, Unpaid is entitled to terminate its Services unilaterally and Customer cannot make any claim against Unpaid in connection with this.
Unpaid reserves the right to alter all Customer or Consumer data and counterparty data if it suspects that it concerns material errors.
The Customer is responsible for the contents of the data which it passes on, including confirmation of the non-disputed nature of the invoices to be collected, the applicable compensation provision and the interest.
All costs incurred by Unpaid or by one its appointed partners, on the basis of erroneous or incorrect data or information supplied by the Customer may be reclaimed from the Customer.
Unpaid is entitled to alter, or increase, the compensation amount and the interest to a legal maximum in accordance with the Law, namely 10% of the principal or in respect of the Consumer cf. the documents remitted by the Customer. If no provision is made concerning compensation or interest, the Law on combating late payments in commercial transactions of 2 August 2002 shall automatically be applied, or the legal interest with regard to Consumers.
Article 4.1. Procedure regarding Debtors
Unpaid shall automatically verify on the basis of the data provided by the Customer whether the Customer and/or the invoice to be collected fall(s) within the scope of the Law.
If the Customer and/or the invoice to be collected does not fall within the scope of the Law or the Customer's debt has already expired under limitation, Unpaid shall inform the Customer of this and Unpaid is entitled unilaterally to stop providing its Services.
If the Customer does fall within the scope of the Law, Unpaid shall send the invoices that are to be collected to the partners and shall then send a reminder to pay in accordance with the Law.
If the Debtor does not respond within one month and eight days after the reminder is served or requests payment arrangements or disputes the debt, GDW shall then contact the Customer for further instructions.
Article 4.2. Procedure regarding Consumers
In case the Customer files a Claim chargeable to a Consumer, Unpaid shall order its appointed GDW (bailiff) to personally deliver a written demand letter to the Consumer.
Article 5. Payment
With regard to Debtors
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the fee to be advanced by the Client for the Services is (incl. the € 40.00 excl. VAT):
| Claim value | Advance, VAT excluded |
|---|---|
| < € 2.000 | € 363,45 |
| € 2.000 - € 5.000 | € 463,45 |
| > € 5.000 | € 613,45 |
Unpaid will attempt to recover these fees from the Debtor.
In addition to the above fee, in the event of full or partial recovery from the Debtor, Unpaid will be entitled to a 'success fee' of up to 10% of the amount of the invoice/invoices collected, incl. VAT. This 'success fee' will in any case be limited to the interest and damages to be recovered from the Debtor, incl. VAT.
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the Customer will owe Unpaid the success fee mentioned above if the Customer decides to stop the Case after delivery of the formal notice cf. the Law.
The Client authorises Unpaid and GDW to deduct the payments specified in the previous paragraph as a matter of priority and to transfer them to Unpaid.
This payment includes: the checks required by law as described in Article 3 of these General Terms and Conditions, the reminder served by GDW and also, failing a response from the other party, drafting of the official report that the debt is not disputed.
Other services provided by Unpaid or her Partners do not fall within the scope of these General Terms and Conditions or this payment schedule.
With regard to Consumers
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, for these Services in respect of Consumers, the Customer shall pay Unpaid a flat fee of €95.00 (excluding VAT).
In addition to the aforementioned fee, in the event of full or partial recovery from the Consumer, Unpaid will claim a success fee amounting to a maximum of 10% (including VAT) of the recovered invoice(s). This success fee is in any case limited to the interest and damages to be recovered from the Consumer (including VAT).
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the Customer shall owe the success fee quoted above to Unpaid if the Customer decides to discontinue the Claim after the formal notice has been sent.
The Customer authorises Unpaid and GDW to deduct the fees stipulated in the preceding paragraph on a priority basis and forward them to Unpaid.
Services provided by Unpaid or its Partners other than those described in Article 4.2 General Terms and Conditions do not fall within the scope of these General Terms and Conditions or payment schedule.
Article 6. Terms of payment
The fees as stipulated in articles 5 and 6 of the current General Terms and Conditions are payable in cash.
Failure to meet the payment deadline is lawful grounds, with no reminder or notice of default required, for standard late-payment interest to be charged at the interest rate established in article 5 of the Law of 2 August 2002 on combating late payments in commercial transactions. Any late payment shall also form lawful grounds for fixed damages of 10% of the outstanding invoice amount to be charged, with a minimum of € 50.00 to cover administrative costs. Failure to pay a single invoice on time shall automatically render all outstanding invoices payable, regardless of their maturity dates.
Any instance of payment arrears entitles Unpaid and its Partners to suspend work on the Case in question until the accounts are properly settled. Unpaid and its Partners cannot be held liable for any consequences from the suspension of the work on the Case.
Article 7. Complaints procedure
Every complaint or dispute of any kind must be served by the Customer to Unpaid in writing by E-mail at info@unpaid.be at the latest within five days after the day when the Customer has become aware of it, failing which the right to dispute it shall lapse. Unpaid shall attempt to make a formal response and propose a solution no later than two weeks after receipt of the complaint.
Article 8. Liability and Insurance
The services provided by Unpaid are considered to constitute undertakings of means. Unpaid undertakes to make every effort to ensure that the Services are provided well.
In every case the liability of Unpaid is always limited to three times the amount billed by Unpaid and paid by the Customer in the relevant Dossier within the relevant year, with a maximum of € 15,000.00.
In all cases Unpaid's liability shall always be limited to the direct damages resulting from any shortcomings. Unpaid is not liable under any circumstances for any form of indirect damages resulting from the above-mentioned shortcoming. Indirect damage includes, inter alia (the summary is not exhaustive): all forms of consequential damage, loss of profits, financial or commercial losses, increase in overheads, increased staff costs, damage due to loss of customers etc. Unpaid is also not liable for any form of damage, destruction or loss of data or documents.
Article 9. Contents of Website
Unpaid takes the greatest care with its Website and the summary of the Services which are offered there. Unpaid does not, however, guarantee the correctness of the information. The Customer is also aware that the information presented is subject to change without prior notification. Unpaid is consequently not liable for the contents of the Website or for its use. If links are created to other websites, for example with the help of a search engine, Unpaid cannot be held liable for the existence or contents of those websites.
Article 10. Intellectual rights
All intellectual property rights concerning the information, signs, notices or other expressions that are displayed concerning the services and/or in relation to the internet site are the property of Unpaid or of its associated companies. Intellectual property rights are understood as all (a) copyrights, portrait rights, patents, database rights and rights concerning trademarks, designs, know-how and commercial secrets (whether registered or not); (b) applications for registration, and the right to apply for a registration, for any of these rights; and (c) all other intellectual property rights and equivalent or similar forms of protection that exist anywhere in the world.
The current database is the property of Unpaid. Except in the exceptions expressly determined by law, nothing from this digital edition may be reproduced, stored in an automated database or made public in any way whatsoever, without express prior permission in writing from Unpaid.
The contents of this database and the information obtained through searches must be for personal use only. This information must not be used in any way for commercial purposes such as mailings, creation of databases etc. If this provision is infringed, Unpaid reserves the right to claim compensation for this.
Every copy, publication, reproduction or other use of the database and the information, signs, notifications or other expressions contained in it concerning the services and/or in relation to the internet site is strictly forbidden without prior permission in writing from Unpaid. Recording and importing of the information from Unpaid's website and related services into a database are expressly forbidden. A number of names, signs and logos which are used on this site (including the name Unpaid) are protected trademarks.
Article 11. Privacy
Unpaid undertakes to treat all personal information provided by the Client with the utmost care and confidentiality, in accordance with the privacy statement provided on the unpaid.be website.The Customer's data will be used exclusively for sending communications from Unpaid and/or to permit correct processing of the Dossiers.
If the Customer gives explicit consent for this beforehand, Unpaid may also send him commercial messages. The Customer may inform Unpaid at any time, by a simple notification, that he does not wish to receive any more commercial messages.
The Customer may request, correct or amend his data at any time or ask Unpaid not to use his data any longer.
Article 12. Applicable legislation – Competent courts
The General Terms and Conditions and, unless agreed to the contrary, all rights and obligations of the Customer, are governed by Belgian law.
In the absence of a compulsory legal stipulation to the contrary, the courts of the Commercial Court of Ghent, Department of Ghent, shall have jurisdiction.