Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Additional Charges On Vendor Invoices

The vendor must adhere to the terms of the contract. If the contract allows the vendor to tack on the surcharge, it is "legal," but if there is no provision in the contract, then the charge is inappropriate and not collectable.

(We lawyers usually reserve use of the term "illegal" for things that are prohibited by statute, and things like additional charges that are not provided for in the contract would get a less strong label, such as "not allowed.")

A starting point would be to ask the vendor to point out where in the contract there is any clause or term allowing a fuel surcharge.

Of course, it's possible that there is no long-term or general contract covering your series of purchases, and each purchase is "per quotation" at the time the order is placed, possibly with some master contract in the background which doesn't specify prices but just general terms. If so, it could be that your vendor is quoting a price and a surcharge over the phone or in some other subtle way, and whomever is placing the orders for you is failing to notice.

In any event, negotiate with the vendor to get an explanation or relief, keeping in mind that if the surcharge isn't part of the quoted or contract price, and can't be made part of it by a permissible (contractual) adjustment, then it isn't collectible as a matter of contract law.

Re: Additional Charges On Vendor Invoices

Legal? Meaning, is it a crime - NO. He can charge anything he likes. You don't like his product or price, don't buy from him. If you have a detailed contract price that he is trying to increase without consent, you can refuse to pay the increase.