Agency in administration - Coal IT

[malvolio]

See OP's thread in general - allowed membership to lapse, and rejoined recently, so within the 60 days 'no cover' period.

http://forums.contractoruk.com/gener...ed-nluk-4.html

OP also missed out on jury cover by a day.

Possibly the worst two hundred quid ever saved.

Ah, fair enough...

However he should still give IPSE a call. The business loss is inside his membership period...

[cojak]

This is an object lesson in why you should stop working when agencies stop paying you. There's no point throwing good money after bad.

[ruasonid]

This is an object lesson in why you should stop working when agencies stop paying you. There's no point throwing good money after bad.

A point well worth making and one to keep in mind. Also not to start without a contract in hand and only then after due diligence.

[eek]

A point well worth making and one to keep in mind. Also not to start without a contract in hand and only then after due diligence.

Due Diligence won't actually help you in cases like this where the agency supplies mainly to one company and that company then goes through a restructuring resulting in many of their contractors finishing their contracts.

[Rabotnik]

This is an object lesson in why you should stop working when agencies stop paying you. There's no point throwing good money after bad.

Exactly, but unfortunately for me, I had no warning until I already joined. Eventually I found out that some people had not been paid or only partially paid for December. Then it came out that one or two already had problems in October. All of this was blamed on another company (an invoice discounter). So all of this was in my first month, and technically I had not had any problems with them yet (since I hadn't raised my first invoice yet - they pay monthly), so I couldn't down tools blaming non-payment. Added to this was I had already worked through them in 2014-2016 and never had any problems.

Really, these guys should have stopped working immediately in October and complained to the client. Althought hindsight is 20/20...

I actually did check companies house before I started and I saw that they were worth -115K with something like 5.9M owed to creditors and 5.7M owed from debtors, but I didn't really know if this was an issue, and I thought perhaps the situation had changed anyway since those accounts were filed.

Realistically though, I felt it would be silly to turn down 450 per day just because I personally thought their financial situation was not good. And even if I'd bought insurance then, the 60 day waiting period would mean I still wouldn't be covered since they tanked on Feb 10.

Incidentally, I actually had another offer slightly closer to home for 400pd, but I turned it down due to the lower rate plus it was only 3 months, vs 6 months at the client I went with.

The whole thing was a massive ballsup really, but I didn't have time to see it coming since all of this went down within my first month there.

[SlipTheJab]

Exactly, but unfortunately for me, I had no warning until I already joined. Eventually I found out that some people had not been paid or only partially paid for December. Then it came out that one or two already had problems in October. All of this was blamed on another company (an invoice discounter). So all of this was in my first month, and technically I had not had any problems with them yet (since I hadn't raised my first invoice yet - they pay monthly), so I couldn't down tools blaming non-payment. Added to this was I had already worked through them in 2014-2016 and never had any problems.

Really, these guys should have stopped working immediately in October and complained to the client. Althought hindsight is 20/20...

I actually did check companies house before I started and I saw that they were worth -115K with something like 5.9M owed to creditors and 5.7M owed from debtors, but I didn't really know if this was an issue, and I thought perhaps the situation had changed anyway since those accounts were filed.

Realistically though, I felt it would be silly to turn down 450 per day just because I personally thought their financial situation was not good. And even if I'd bought insurance then, the 60 day waiting period would mean I still wouldn't be covered since they tanked on Feb 10.

Incidentally, I actually had another offer slightly closer to home for 400pd, but I turned it down due to the lower rate plus it was only 3 months, vs 6 months at the client I went with.

The whole thing was a massive ballsup really, but I didn't have time to see it coming since all of this went down within my first month there.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.Like you say hindsight is a wonderful thing, but we're all employees anyway according to HMRC not like we're taking the same risks as any other business with respect to late and non payment..

[uk contractor]

Sorry for anyone who lost any money but good riddance to a terrible agency. Had the misfortune to be placed into a role a few years back with them that was a disaster due to them misrepresenting the role & how long it would be for (few weeks instead of months). Rate was also less as the claimed the rate was agreed with the client beforehand & not negotiable because the account manager forgot to alter the job ad to reflect the lower rate! (which I would not have agreed to anyway). Left after a few weeks did not even bother putting it on my CV either it was a big mistake due to misinformation coming from Coal IT. Surprised they have lasted this long as well!

[GB9]

Unfortunate for the op.

I would just have walked from the client. Not their fault maybe but they are using work you have done and not been paid for. Their argument would be that they had paid someone for it but it would still be enough to pee me off enough to not want to go back.

[DeadEyedJacks]

This is an object lesson in why you should stop working when agencies stop paying you. There's no point throwing good money after bad.

At what point would you stop working then?

Invoice for December submitted 3rd Jan 2017, payment terms 28 days.

They went into administration on 10th Feb 2017.

[DeadEyedJacks]

Credit Checks worthless

A point well worth making and one to keep in mind. Also not to start without a contract in hand and only then after due diligence.

Credit checks on "Coal Intelligent Technology Limited" from May 2015 until Dec 2016 suggested credit limit double my monthly billings.

Only red flags appeared January 2017, spike in credit checks and red flag for late payment of invoices.

At which point I'm already on the hook for December work already delivered and most of January 2017.