It seems logical to me that these rules are in place. You could think it's a little too limiting, but they need to be there. My father was a doctor in India, and he told me stories of the perks that these large pharmaceutical corporations offered him in exchange for recommending their products. Every week, they used to throw dinners for the families of practically all of the doctors in various hotels of your choosing. They provided us with free trips to other cities and countries in order for the doctors to sell their medicine. The reason I feel this is acceptable is because, first and foremost, you should not bring your wife to work meetings because there may be secret information involved.
According to me, there are many advantages of written contracts over verbal ones. Some of the reasons are mentioned below:
01. A written contract lays out the terms of the agreement which limits any of the parties to claim anything otherwise.
02. Written contracts protect all parties involved from any potential misunderstandings that could occur as part of the negotiation process. For example, if any of the parties claim later, they haven't read the terms and conditions well, they are still bound to honor the terms as long as the agreement meets all of the legal components of a valid contract.
03. In order to maintain business relationships, written contract is more useful than verbal ones. For instance, if one party to a contract fails to perform as agreed, the other party may have legal remedies at their disposal to compensate them for their losses associated with that failure.
I agree with the above posts that there are some cases when an oral agreement can be acceptable, however generally it is safer to rely on a written agreement. A oral agreement is outlined and agreed upon via spoken terms. A written agreement is printed document signed by all parties involved. It is far more difficult to negotiate an oral contract in the event of a breach as compared to a written agreement. With a written agreement, there is evidence and proof of what each party agreed to. This help prevents misalignment between the involved parties because the terms are clear from the beginning. In addition to providing proof of details, written contracts provide clarity. In my opinion, I would prefer to bing to an agreement via a written agreement because I would have security and peace of mind knowing exactly what is involved in the transaction. In your opinion, would you prefer to bing to an agreement via oral or written communication?
A verbal agreement is formed when two or more parties reach an agreement without the use of written documents (known formally as an oral contract). The legality of these verbal agreements, on the other hand, can be a bit murky. The majority of verbal agreements are legally enforceable. However, depending on the architecture of the agreement and the contract's aim, there are several exceptions. To avoid disagreements, it's often preferable to make a written agreement. Employers, workers, and independent contractors, for example, may find an Employment Contract or Service Agreement to be quite useful in documenting the terms of their relationships. Although an oral agreement may be legally binding, proving it in court might be difficult.
There is a tremendous difference between written and verbal agreements, especially in a legal sense. In the court of law, verbal agreements essentially pull no weight whereas written agreements offer hard evidence. I would say that people should not rely on verbal agreements because there is nothing concrete and that continuing with a project solely based on a verbal agreement does not sound like a good idea. On the other hand, a written agreement provides details that cannot be misconstrued or lost in translation.
When it comes to verbal and written agreements, written agreements are the better of the two to have. A written agreement spells out exactly what both sides agreed to which prevents confusion and uncertainty in verbal agreements. When working on a project its always best to have a written agreement. I have learned in working in pharmaceuticals “if its not written it never happened.” This is something I have found myself sometimes applying to certain situations in my everyday life.
I would prefer a written agreement. I wouldn’t rely on a verbal agreement that much. Maybe In some instances its okay, but in major agreements, I think it should be written. I don’t think it is good to start working on a project that is verbal. Working on projects cost time and money. If something comes up down the line, a partner could switch up and try not to honor the verbal agreement, and trying to go to court on a verbal agreement will be harder and longer, than going over a signed written document. The importance of written documents is that it is final. There’s no room for error. What is written on the document, is what the agreement will be. There’s too much room for the verbal agreement to be misinterpreted.
I think there is a very very important difference between a verbal and written agreement. When it comes down to it and something goes wrong, a verbal agreement does not seem like it will hold as much value and evidence power as a written agreement. It is easy for verbal cues to be misinterpreted and there is a lot of room for mistakes. I personally wouldn't start a project with just a verbal agreement being made. I would wait until there is a written agreement made between all parties that clearly spells out expectations, plans, and decisions made. Written documents are a little more permananent and legitimate. As a person who forgets things often, I peronsally choose not to take anyone's word for any agreement and try my hardest not to make any promises that I know I may not keep becasue it is easy for both me and the other person to forget. I do get though that there are some cases where a verbal agreement may be useful and more feasible, but I would not use this method in the scenario of something as big as working on a professional project or anything work related.
Hi all,
In the video lecture Dr.Simon mentioned about two terms of contract,Written & Verbal agreement. He said that verbal contract can be legal but what if the due to dispute or other reason the verbal agreement turns to failure. Is there any significant difference between Verbal Agreement & Oral Agreement? How much one should rely on verbal agreement? Is it good to start working on a project just based on verbal agreement? What are the importance of Written agreement?
If anyone of you had an experience regarding to those questions please share.
If only two people are present while making the verbal agreement, then it will not be sufficient. Three other people should be present while creating the verbal agreement to be safe. This is because if you go to court and say they did not follow our verbal agreement, there will be three witnesses who can testify in court to back up the claims. Written agreements are significant because the words don't lie; if someone does something against the agreement, then there will be no issue backing up yourself when you have the written agreement.
We generally use the verbal agreement when dealing with mundane tasks in daily life. To give an example, when we call a plumber to the house, we make a verbal agreement for a low-budget job and expect him to complete the job. However, when it comes to high-budget home renovation or if there is a long-term job, a written agreement enters our lives. Thanks to the contract, we put our rights in writing and we can defend our rights by putting forward our contract in a possible problem. I don't know how valid it is legally when a verbal agreement with a professional job is a problem. Frankly, I don't think it will be very valid legally. However, I know that if we are doing a professional job, we should definitely use the written contract and if we are not sure about this written contract, we should get help from a lawyer.
As you mentioned in your post, one of the more important differences between written and oral contracts is the risk associated with each. If issues were to occur between partners resulting in a breach of contract, lawsuits would flow much more quickly and easily since there is written proof that both parties agreed to the contract. On the other hand, it would be really hard to prove a case if a contract were oral only since there’s no evidence of what the contract consisted of or if it was ever made at all. I’m sure verbal contracts should be fine if all parties really trust each other, but if one day I need to develop a contract with a partner, I’d aim for making a written contract. Unfortunately, partner relationships can weaken with time resulting in a decrease in project quality and breaches in contracts, so it’s best to always minimize your risks. I haven’t worked in industry yet, so I’m interested in learning about how common verbal contracts are and if anyone has had poor experiences with them.
When I first heard about the verbal agreement, I felt uneasy about the strength of that type of contract. It is common knowledge that if it is an important concern then it’s better to “get it in writing” or to at least have a document to reference for evidence. So my opinion is that I would not rely on a verbal agreement, I would prefer to have it in writing. For one thing it is easier to have something to reference on what each party needs to accomplish and a written agreement makes it easier to enforce.
I don't believe that it would be a good start to have a project based on a verbal agreement because it needs to be clear on all sides what is required from both parties. The team needs to be able to know what they need to do and in what time frame and the consumers need to know when it will be realistically ready and what they owe the company. It needs to be in writing so if anything goes wary, there is accountability.
The difference between a verbal and a written agreement is that the terms are written down and both parties have to sign the agreement before the partnership officially begins. With a verbal agreement, there is no proof of what is agreed upon and if there is a breach it turns into a "he said, she said" agreement, which no ones side can be proven and is based on who seems more believable. Written contracts give more security since it outlines what is required of each party and what constitutes a breach and the penalties for breaching. Also, you can clarify what type of contract and the type of partnership it related to. For any situation, I would always try to have some written proof that was agreed upon whether it was through text messages, emails or even a letter signed by both parties. I would always want to have a written contract especially if I wanted to start a project because if it becomes successful or if they try to back out of performing the necessary duties, the written contact will provide some substance to how profits will be split or if there is a fine for backing out.
I agree with my peers that a written agreement is most preferred over a verbal agreement. I think we would all like to believe in the best of people, but unfortunately that isn't always the case. In court, a written agreement is more easily defended as everything is laid out in writing and signed by the participating members. A verbal agreement becomes more "they said this/that" and is harder to defend if something goes wrong or if there is a miscommunication. I don't see where a verbal agreement would be the correct choice in proceeding with a project unless there is a video/voice recording of the agreeing parties. Even then, it still feels a little sketchy. I personally think that a paper trail is always better. Although not as serious as upholding agreements for projects, my time during my internship showed me how important a paper/email trail (basically a written one) is for clearing up miscommunications, even for more simpler mistakes. You can quickly refer back to an email, for example, and see exactly what you were assigned to work on and what you would be contributing.
As the video lecture mentioned, a verbal agreement can be a legal contract. A verbal agreement would be convenient when a company needs to cooperate with another company for a project. However, this kind of agreement is just for starting up the project earlier. The detail and the content of the verbal agreement on the meeting would be recorded and transformed into a formal paper contract most of the time. People should not rely on verbal agreement too much, and it can only use for communication. Paper contracts can protect the company itself and have much more validity than oral recordings or agreements.
