Job Consultant Threatens Police Action Over Offer Letter Fee – What Should I Do?

I joined a company through a job consultant who informed me that he would charge for obtaining an offer letter. I received the offer letter from the company but did not end up joining. Now, he is threatening to file a police complaint against me. He possesses a document with my signature, stating that I would pay him upon receiving the offer letter.

Dear Sagar, Rana, Ronny,

You made an agreement with a job consultant to pay his fees provided you got a job. You received the job offer and accepted the offer letter from the employer but did not join the company. The question is, why did you do it? What were the compelling reasons for refusing the job offer?

Look from the consultant's point of view. All his efforts in searching for a job candidate, organizing the interview, etc., have gone in vain. Is he not entitled to get paid for the work he did?

You mentioned that "he has a paper with my signature." What kind of paper is this? Is it a contract enforceable by law? If it is, then the consultant could exercise the option of filing a police complaint or suing you.

Well, gentlemen, exercise discretion. There is an English proverb, "measure twice and cut once." Possibly, you had taken cognizance of the proverb before entering into an agreement with the consultant.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Hi, My opinion is that you are liable to pay the charges to the consultant only if you had joined the company referred by the consultant. Now that you didn't join the company, you are not under any compulsion to make any payment to the consultant. Using his/her influence with the police department, the consultant might have threatened you, but for breach of contract, the consultant should appeal before the civil court only. Also, go through the copy of the terms and conditions of the contract you had signed with the consultant. Check if there is any clause that says the candidate should make the service charges after joining the company within __ days. If it is there, you can reply to the consultant that the question of paying charges does not arise as you haven't joined the company.

As rightly pointed out to Mr. Dinesh, we don't know the nature of the contract you had entered with the consultant. Without knowing it, members can't give you precise advice.

My $0.02: The agreement was to pay the fee upon getting an offer. You got the offer. Joining or not joining is your personal choice/decision. It has no bearing on the agreement you made. Thanks!