Problems with the supplier

Your supplier sent you an offer for the supply of a material and you accepted it. However, upon serving the order, you see that he misinterpreted it and that it is not what you wanted. Can you terminate the contract for this reason?

Well, for a contract to be terminated, there must have been what is known as "error in consent"; that is, the error that occurs when a person gives their consent to enter into a contract based on a mistaken belief about a relevant aspect of it.

But this error must always be relevant, meaning it must have essentially influenced the decision-making process. And for it to be considered as such, it must meet the following requirements:

• Determinative. Only those errors that essentially and determinatively influence the will of the contracting party invalidate contracts, that is, when the erroneous belief is what motivates the decision. For example, the error may lie in the object of the sale, in the characteristics of the good, or in the conditions of the agreement.
• Causality. There must be a direct connection between the error and the intended purpose, so that, had the error not existed, the contract would not have been made.
• Excusable. Finally, the party alleging the error must have acted with sufficient diligence, so that it was inevitable to commit it: it must be an excusable error.

Thus, in such cases, examine the offer presented by your supplier and verify the exact terms, as well as the cross communications in which you informed him of what you needed. If an error not attributable to you has indeed occurred, inform the supplier (in a reliable manner) and request to terminate the contract with the return of the goods or reach another amicable solution.

Remember that you have 30 days to claim that what you received is not what you expected and that if you let this period pass, you will no longer be able to go to court to resolve the contract.