Terms & Conditions
- Introduction
1.1 These terms and conditions are applicable to engaging the services of Athena Collections Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “Athena Collections”). Athena Collections will act as agents of the Client / Creditor in the collection or recovery of the client’s overdue invoices or debts from third parties and any other supplementary service associated with this process.
1.2 Please read these terms and conditions before using the athenacollections.co.uk website (“Website”) or instructing us by telephone or in writing whether by post or electronic means as, in accessing and using our Website or instructing us by telephone or in writing whether by post or electronic means, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. You should print a copy of these terms and conditions for future reference.
1.3 This page, together with all documents referred to on it, tells you the terms and conditions on which we allow access to and use of our Website and/or supply any of the services listed on our Website to you. For the avoidance of doubt, any reference to terms and conditions shall include all documents referred to on this page and within the text of any such documents also. These terms and conditions will also apply to any correspondence entered between us.
1.4 The Website is operated by Athena Collections Ltd, a limited company registered in England & Wales under company number 10853122, whose registered office is at Lytchett House 13 Freeland Park, Wareham Road, Poole, BH16 6FA, United Kingdom and whose VAT number is 273382003 (” Athena Collections”, “our”, “we” or “us”).
1.5 We will do our best to ensure that all content published on the Website is accurate, however all content on the Website is provided on an ‘as is’ basis. We make no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to our Website or its contents and disclaims all such representations and warranties. You agree to assume total responsibility and risk for your use of the Website and of all information contained within it.
1.6 These terms and conditions may be modified without notice from time to time but, should this happen; they will be posted on our Website or you may request a copy. By continuing to use the service you are agreeing to the Terms & Conditions and any updates made. Updates to these Terms & Conditions will be available upon request, or on demand via our website. Please ensure that you review the terms and conditions regularly as you will be deemed to have accepted any variation.
- Website Availability
2.1 Please note that our services are available only to legal entities, persons or individuals that can form legally binding contracts under English law.
2.2 The content contained in the Website may change from time to time without notice. You acknowledge and agree that Athena Collections makes no warranty that the Website will be defect and error free, timely, meet your requirements or will be uninterrupted. Further, we do not warrant that any servers or equipment will be free of viruses or bugs or other technical defects, or that any defect will be fixed promptly or at all.
2.3 At the discretion of Athena Collections, or where the need arises, we may suspend access to our Website or close it, or any part of it, indefinitely and without notice to you or any third party.
- Website Content
3.1 Unless explicitly specified otherwise, all content, images, video and any other materials published on the Website are presented solely for your private, personal and non-commercial use.
3.2 All such content on the Website is not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed. Athena Collections therefore disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such information by any visitor to our Website, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.
3.3 Athena Collections will take all reasonable care to ensure that the information provided is accurate at the time of being added to the Website. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that our Website is accurate and kept up to date, we do not warrant, nor do we accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in our Website.
3.4 Athena Collections shall be entitled to modify or withdraw its Website (including any applicable terms and conditions and the documents referred to in them) at any time without notice. We shall not be liable to you or any third party for any such change. By continuing to use our services following such change you shall be deemed to have accepted such change.
- Intellectual Property
4.1 Athena Collections is the proprietor of the athenacollections.co.uk Website domain.
4.2 Unless expressly stated otherwise, copyright and any other rights contained in our Website, including but not limited to all branding, trademarks, selection, arrangement, product names, images, software, design, text, sound recordings, logos, artwork, look, feel and get up of our Website, devices, screen shots, copyrighted designs or other brand features, copyright and all other intellectual property rights in all material or content supplied as part of our Website and the arrangement of such content on our Website (”Copyright Material”) and other content on our Website, is owned by Athena Collections or licensed by or to Athena Collections from third parties.
4.3 Athena Collections gives no permission in respect of the use of any Copyright Material and such use may constitute an infringement of the holder’s rights. By accessing our Website, you acknowledge and agree that all Copyright Material shall at all times remain the proprietary property of Athena Collections or our licensors.
4.4 Any unauthorised use of the Website is strictly prohibited and will constitute a breach of our intellectual property rights or those of our licensors.
4.5 You are permitted to access and use the Copyright Material on the Website for your own personal reference and non-commercial use and for the purposes of using our services. This does not allow you to: modify; copy; reproduce; republish; upload; post; transmit; or distribute, by any means or in any manner, any material or information on or downloaded from our Website including but not limited to: text; graphics; video; messages; code and/or software without our prior written consent, except where expressly invited to do so.
4.6 If you are seeking permission to use any Copyright Material other than as expressly permitted by these terms and conditions, please contact us at our registered address and we will, at our discretion, consider the request. If your request is approved, that approval may be subject to terms set out in a licence which you may be required to execute. The authors of the Copyright Material must always be acknowledged.
- Privacy and Data Protection
5.1 We are committed to respecting your privacy and correctly managing any personally identifiable information you provide us with. We will do this in accordance with our Privacy and Security Policy.
5.2 By using the Website, you agree to the processing of information about you as detailed in the Privacy and Security Policy and warrant that all data you provide to us is accurate.
- Conditions of Supply
6.1 Athena Collections Will:
- maintain separate bank accounts for any monies recovered from third parties and due to our clients.
- account to our clients monthly, subject to our terms of payment as noted below and remit to clients such sums as are recovered during the specified period net of any charges, fees, commission or VAT unless otherwise agreed between the parties.
- adhere, where applicable, to all rules, regulations & guidelines imposed by the relevant regulatory bodies, in the conduct of such activities on behalf of the client.
- Conduct its dealings with all third parties in keeping with the client’s instructions and shall do nothing, as the client’s agent, to put at risk the client’s reputation.
- allocate late payment interest and debt recovery costs under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, on all commercial debts, where applicable.
6.2 By instructing us, you warrant that you are legally capable of entering into contracts and are at least 18 years old or an incorporated body.
6.3 If you instruct us, you will be subject to the policies and terms and conditions in force at the time that you instructed us, unless we notify you of any change to the terms and conditions. We have the right to assume that you have accepted the change to the terms and conditions, unless you notify us to the contrary within seven working days of being notified.
6.3.1 If you instruct us and should you require us to instruct our solicitors on your behalf, you give us your explicit consent and authority to act on your behalf in relation to the recovery of the debts we have been instructed upon. You may revoke this authority at any time by giving us notice in writing.
6.4 Should you require us to instruct solicitors to commence legal action on your behalf, then you shall be liable for all fees and costs as invoiced to you. Athena Collections may operate under a financial referral agreement with the chosen Solicitors practice, selected at your request.
6.5 We reserve the right to delay or not instigate legal action or any other stages within the process in the event that any invoice shall be overdue for payment.
6.6 We shall not be held liable for any counterclaim and/or set off arising from an action, nor any costs incurred by you or awarded in favour of a debtor or third party and you shall irrevocably indemnify Athena Collections in the event of costs and/or damages being awarded against you as a result of all the aforementioned.
6.7 We may present you with various letters of authority, seeking your approval to instigate certain actions. By signing your authority, you hereby agree and accept that you have been fully informed and considered your options including any potential adverse outcomes and associated costs. Any fees quoted are not exhaustive, as it is impossible to predict the outcome of any legal action. Athena Collections does not provide legal advice. Athena Collections will offer the options available to you, depending on the circumstances. Any advice given by a Solicitors practice will be done so in accordance with their terms of business as is standard under the rules of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
6.8 You shall immediately inform us of any payment made direct to you whether it is in full or part of any outstanding debt that you have placed with us for collection / recovery.
6.9 You acknowledge that we shall not be liable for any loss or damages suffered by you as the result of any collection / recovery activity.
6.10 We reserve the right to apply a minimum commission amount of £40.00 (forty pounds) in all instances whereby the total commission amount is less than this sum.
6.11 All accounts referred to us will be collected in GBP Sterling. All other currency debts placed with us will be converted to GBP Sterling on the day of the debt being listed with us at the prevailing rate detailed on https://www.xe.com/ (an independent currency exchange site).
6.12 We may sub-contract all or any part of the collection process as it is deemed necessary.
6.13 If we are instructed by an unincorporated body (e.g. a sole trader or partnership), we are required to verify the identity of the instructing party or parties in accordance with Anti Money Laundering regulations, either prior to accepting your instructions or prior to accounting to you.
6.14 Telephone calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.
- Pricing
7.1 Any recovery of the client’s debts (including any applicable VAT) shall be charged a commission by Athena Collections and/or a handling charge as shall be agreed between the parties, together with any additional disbursements and/or costs if applicable. Commission will be charged by us and is payable to us by you even in the event that we have successfully recovered the principal debt (whether payment is made to you or us and including any VAT that may be claimed on your behalf) but we have not recovered costs and interest, if permissible. Commission will only be charged on the amount recovered.
7.2 Supplementary services will be charged to the client at the rate appearing in the current price list and may be amended from time to time without notification and at the discretion of Athena Collections. A copy of the current price list is available upon request.
7.3 Clients’ will be liable to Athena Collections for these charges immediately following the receipt of the client’s instructions by any means of communication.
7.4 VAT will be payable at the prevailing rate.
7.5 In the event of the client revoking their instructions, we reserve the right to charge a ‘close out’ fee equal to the agreed commission rate as if the debt had been paid in full.
7.5.1 In the event of any invoice payable to us becoming sixty (60) days overdue then we reserve the right to close off the case and charge a ‘close out’ fee equal to the agreed commission rate as if the debt had been paid in full.
7.5.2 If we have reasonable grounds to suspect that you have received payment direct and you do not inform us then we reserve the right to charge a ‘close out’ fee equal to the agreed commission rate as if the debt had been paid in full.
7.6 Commission will be charged by us and is payable to us by you where payment is made by any third party, by any contra arrangement, or after the involvement of our client in the recovery/collection process and even in the event that it is established that payment had already been made prior to instructing us.
- Terms of Payment
8.1 Where we account to clients’ net of their charges, any outstanding balance due to us in excess of recoveries made shall be payable within thirty days from the date of the invoice.
8.2 Where the client accepts by way of payment, the return of goods supplied or some other form of compensation or contra agreement, our commission will be payable on the equivalent value of such settlement.
8.3 Where we account to client’s gross of any recoveries, invoices shall be payable within thirty days from the date of invoice. In the event that the invoice remains outstanding for thirty days then we reserve the right to switch our accounting process from gross to net without further notice to the client.
8.4 Where a ledger account does not exceed the sum of £10.00 (ten pounds) either in debit or credit, no payment will be made or will be required at that time. The amount shall be debited or credited to the client’s ledger account as appropriate and until such time the ledger account exceeds this sum. In the event the client has no other active accounts a final invoice will be issued or credit raised to settle the account.
8.5 We reserve the right to apply interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate per annum, calculated on a daily basis on any ledger account or individual invoice unpaid after thirty days from the date of the invoice date. Alternatively, at our discretion we may decide to apply the provisions of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
8.6 All outstanding invoices subject to clause 8.5 will be immediately due and payable, regardless of the date of the invoice. In addition, you will be liable to pay us any costs arising in the pursuance of recovery of overdue invoices, howsoever incurred.
- Liability
9.1 You agree fully to indemnify, defend and hold us, and our officers, directors, employees, agents and suppliers, harmless immediately on demand, from and against all claims, liability, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of any breach of the terms of this disclaimer by you or any other liabilities arising out of your use of our Website.
9.2 If you follow a link to any other websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies.
9.3 To the extent permitted by law, Athena Collections and third parties connected to us hereby expressly exclude:
All conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity; and Any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by any user in connection with the services provided in connection with the use, inability to use, or results of the use of the Website, any websites linked to it and any materials posted on it, including:
- loss of income or revenue;
- loss of business;
- loss of profits or contracts;
- loss of anticipated savings;
- loss of data;
- loss of goodwill;
- wasted management or office time; and
- whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable, provided that this condition shall not prevent claims for loss of or damage to your tangible property or any other claims for direct financial loss that are not excluded by any of the categories set out above.
- Jurisdiction
10.1 These terms and conditions and all associated terms in documents referred to by them are governed by English Law. Likewise, any Contract entered with Athena Collections through instructing us via the Website, by telephone or in writing whether it is by post or electronic communication will be governed by English Law.
10.2 Any dispute which cannot be resolved between us shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
- Severability
11.1 If any of these terms and conditions or any provisions of a Contract concluded under these terms and conditions are determined by law to be unenforceable to any extent, such term, condition or provision will to that extent be severed from the remaining terms, conditions and provisions which will continue to be valid to the fullest extent permitted by law.
- Communications
12.1 Notice will be deemed received and served immediately when posted on our website or communicated via telephone, 24 hours after an e-mail is sent, or three (3) days after the date of posting of any letter. In proving the service of any notice, it will be sufficient to prove, in the case of a letter, that such letter was properly addressed, stamped and placed in the post and, in the case of an e-mail, that such e-mail was sent to the specified e-mail address of the addressee.
- Transfer of Rights and Obligations
13.1 Any Contract between you and Athena Collections concluded under the terms of these terms and conditions, is binding on you and us and on our respective successors and assigns. You may not transfer, assign, charge or otherwise dispose of any contract, or any of your rights or obligations arising under it, without our prior written consent. Athena Collections may transfer, assign, charge, sub-contract or otherwise dispose of any contract, or any of our rights or obligations arising under it, at any time during the term of any contract.
- Force Majeure
14.1 You agree that Athena Collections will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under these terms and conditions, including any Contract between you and us concluded under the terms of these terms and conditions, which is caused by events outside of our reasonable control.
14.2 Such events include, but are not limited to the following acts, event, non-happening, omission or accident beyond our reasonable control:
Strikes | Explosion |
Lock-outs or other industrial action | Storm, flood or other extreme weather |
Civil commotion | Earthquake |
Riot | Subsidence |
Invasion | Epidemic or other natural disaster |
The acts, decrees, legislation, regulations or restrictions of any government | Impossibility of the use of public or private telecommunications networks |
War (whether declared or not) or threat or preparation for war | Impossibility of the use of railways, shipping, aircraft, motor transport or other means of public or private transport |
Fire | Terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack |
14.3 Our performance under any contract is deemed to be suspended for the period that the Force Majeure Event continues, and you agree to allow us an extension of time for performance for the duration of that period.
- Waiver
15.1 The failure of Athena Collections to take any action in respect of a breach of these terms and conditions shall not constitute a waiver of their enforceability. Athena Collections reserves its rights in respect of these terms and conditions at all times.
15.2 A waiver by us of any default shall not constitute a waiver of any subsequent default.
15.3 Any waiver by us of any of these terms and conditions shall be effective when expressly communicated to you as described in Communications above.
V.10.190424