Agencies to avoid....

[Illustrious]

It's a nice try though...

[LondonManc]

Ah balls, sorry yes you are right. My bad. You want This Page

You mean the one I posted two posts above your first failed attempt?

No wonder you ended up in a bus lane.

[northernladuk]

You mean the one I posted two posts above your first failed attempt?

No wonder you ended up in a bus lane.

I think that's a whoooooosh.

[rocktronAMP]

Very good, although that was with the Aston Carter part of the business.

I had no idea that TEK bought Aston Carter. I contracted with Aston Carter 12 years ago or so. Shame.

[LondonManc]

I had no idea that TEK bought Aston Carter. I contracted with Aston Carter 12 years ago or so. Shame.

Aston Carter part of TEK is still fine.

[nosolog]

Venn Group cost me money

Terrible agency or at least staff.

Got offered a job with them outside of England. Rate of pay was average and the contract was initially said to be long term i.e 9 months. After my CV was sent to the manager and manager agreed to take me the contract suddenly became a '2 week trial' and when I asked if anyone has ever failed the trial I was told by agent 'no, it is always extended at the end of 2 weeks'. Then told that it would be on a 3 month rolling contract. A few days later was told it would be 2 months on one site and then 4 months on another site in a town 2.5hours away.

Agent wanted me to start the following week and when first accepting the job offer I told him I needed guaranteed accommodation as the place of work was in a different country and out in the sticks in a small town. The agent told me accommodation was guaranteed but they just had to sort it out.

During that week I kept ringing the agent everyday for updates as he made no effort to contact me. I also asked him for the PSL and ASL approved list of umbrella companies they work for after having been told that they only use a small nr of umbrellas in case the tax gets paid incorrectly and a contractor wants to blame the agency (I have never heard of a contractor blaming agency for incorrect tax- they'd blme the umbrella). It sounded very much like the agency had a deal going whereby they earn comission for referrals to 1 particular umbrella company who's name they kept mentioning.

To cut a long story short I paid for a hotel for the first few days before the job began but in my own time made an effort to look into renting flats nearby, arranged viewings, travelled to the country and went for flat viewings day before the job was to begin. Was unable to get any flat sorted as all landlords wanted long term tenancies which is not possible so rang the agent to let him know and all he could say was 'oh well lets be realistic, maybe you can't do the job now, but you we can find you a job in a different city'!!

I had to ring the client directly to explain the situation otherwise the agency would have made out I was lazy. The client was unable to provide the onsite accommodation which the agency had first said was available (it was actually fully booked for weeks) and informed me that he had told agency long ago that there was no guaranteed accommodation and the job is not guaranteed to extend for more than 2 weeks- the client told me he had problems before wiht the agency and felt they missold the job to many contractors!

In the end I told the client I could not start the job the next day with no accommodation as the hotel was costing more per night than I would earn in a week, making me a loss of £350 a week! The client understood.

The agent then decided to phone me and said it was a 'shame you couldnt get acommodation, but we'll find you another jobs'- never apologised for wasting my time, effort and £100s of pounds on a hotel which I was unable to get refunded.

Whilst I was trying to sort out accommodation I was unable to access the internet and phone network due to poor signal in the small country town the job was based in and yet when the agent rang me he failed to notify me he had sent me an email earlier that day (the day before the job was to begin) in which he informed me that the umbrella company whom I had just signed up to which was on VENN's approved 'compliant' list was no longer suitable.

I am so glad I didn't begin the job as I suspect had I stayed and worked for the 2 weeks, not only would I have lost money to the hotel I possibly would not have been paid for any of the work done as the agency might refuse to pay my umbrella knowing full well I could not sign up to a completely umbrella the night before the job was to begin. I have read a few reviews since my saga with Venn by other contractors who claim they never got paid for the work they did!

Venn also made me travel at my own monetary expense for 7 hours all the way to their London office for a pointless 20 minute form filling exercise whereby the information they wrote down from my CV was incorrect and poorly selected. They had claimed they needed to see my passport in person but after taking a scan of it in London the next day they rang to say my passport signature did not match my signature on other forms signed right before their eyes!

They took a photo of me for an ID badge which has never materialised and they had planned to send it to my home address although I would not be there to pick it up so I asked for it to be sent to client. I do not know if it ever got sent there because I was told you didn't need ID to go onsite and also did not need to sign the official VENN contract to work onsite (the contract only appeared in my email inbox the afternoon before job was about to start).

I had read earlier that they are only interested in getting your references to cold call your previous employers.

At the end of the day the job definitely existed and client was desperate for employees but without acommodation it was impossible to peform the job.

Definitely would not ever work with them again, do not trust them for one minute what with their changing claims about umbrellas which they first told me they would sign off on, then the change of contract length and most importantly the issue with accommodation- you cannot sleep outside in the night and then appear for a job the next day!!

[psychocandy]

Terrible agency or at least staff.

Got offered a job with them outside of England. Rate of pay was average and the contract was initially said to be long term i.e 9 months. After my CV was sent to the manager and manager agreed to take me the contract suddenly became a '2 week trial' and when I asked if anyone has ever failed the trial I was told by agent 'no, it is always extended at the end of 2 weeks'. Then told that it would be on a 3 month rolling contract. A few days later was told it would be 2 months on one site and then 4 months on another site in a town 2.5hours away.

Agent wanted me to start the following week and when first accepting the job offer I told him I needed guaranteed accommodation as the place of work was in a different country and out in the sticks in a small town. The agent told me accommodation was guaranteed but they just had to sort it out.

During that week I kept ringing the agent everyday for updates as he made no effort to contact me. I also asked him for the PSL and ASL approved list of umbrella companies they work for after having been told that they only use a small nr of umbrellas in case the tax gets paid incorrectly and a contractor wants to blame the agency (I have never heard of a contractor blaming agency for incorrect tax- they'd blme the umbrella). It sounded very much like the agency had a deal going whereby they earn comission for referrals to 1 particular umbrella company who's name they kept mentioning.

To cut a long story short I paid for a hotel for the first few days before the job began but in my own time made an effort to look into renting flats nearby, arranged viewings, travelled to the country and went for flat viewings day before the job was to begin. Was unable to get any flat sorted as all landlords wanted long term tenancies which is not possible so rang the agent to let him know and all he could say was 'oh well lets be realistic, maybe you can't do the job now, but you we can find you a job in a different city'!!

I had to ring the client directly to explain the situation otherwise the agency would have made out I was lazy. The client was unable to provide the onsite accommodation which the agency had first said was available (it was actually fully booked for weeks) and informed me that he had told agency long ago that there was no guaranteed accommodation and the job is not guaranteed to extend for more than 2 weeks- the client told me he had problems before wiht the agency and felt they missold the job to many contractors!

In the end I told the client I could not start the job the next day with no accommodation as the hotel was costing more per night than I would earn in a week, making me a loss of £350 a week! The client understood.

The agent then decided to phone me and said it was a 'shame you couldnt get acommodation, but we'll find you another jobs'- never apologised for wasting my time, effort and £100s of pounds on a hotel which I was unable to get refunded.

Whilst I was trying to sort out accommodation I was unable to access the internet and phone network due to poor signal in the small country town the job was based in and yet when the agent rang me he failed to notify me he had sent me an email earlier that day (the day before the job was to begin) in which he informed me that the umbrella company whom I had just signed up to which was on VENN's approved 'compliant' list was no longer suitable.

I am so glad I didn't begin the job as I suspect had I stayed and worked for the 2 weeks, not only would I have lost money to the hotel I possibly would not have been paid for any of the work done as the agency might refuse to pay my umbrella knowing full well I could not sign up to a completely umbrella the night before the job was to begin. I have read a few reviews since my saga with Venn by other contractors who claim they never got paid for the work they did!

Venn also made me travel at my own monetary expense for 7 hours all the way to their London office for a pointless 20 minute form filling exercise whereby the information they wrote down from my CV was incorrect and poorly selected. They had claimed they needed to see my passport in person but after taking a scan of it in London the next day they rang to say my passport signature did not match my signature on other forms signed right before their eyes!

They took a photo of me for an ID badge which has never materialised and they had planned to send it to my home address although I would not be there to pick it up so I asked for it to be sent to client. I do not know if it ever got sent there because I was told you didn't need ID to go onsite and also did not need to sign the official VENN contract to work onsite (the contract only appeared in my email inbox the afternoon before job was about to start).

I had read earlier that they are only interested in getting your references to cold call your previous employers.

At the end of the day the job definitely existed and client was desperate for employees but without acommodation it was impossible to peform the job.

Definitely would not ever work with them again, do not trust them for one minute what with their changing claims about umbrellas which they first told me they would sign off on, then the change of contract length and most importantly the issue with accommodation- you cannot sleep outside in the night and then appear for a job the next day!!

A few comments:-

1. Why did you believe the agent?
2. Why book a hotel that you can't cancel? It might cost a tad more but book one that you can cancel day before?
3. Why do you think client cares about your accomodation?
4. Why are you worried about this two week trial? A lot of contracts I've done have this sort of thing - it gives clients an out in case you're a complete tosser.

[BrilloPad]

A few comments:-

1. Why did you believe the agent?
2. Why book a hotel that you can't cancel? It might cost a tad more but book one that you can cancel day before?
3. Why do you think client cares about your accomodation?
4. Why are you worried about this two week trial? A lot of contracts I've done have this sort of thing - it gives clients an out in case you're a complete tosser.

5. Why did you go out of pocket for something abroad? I did that once. Booked a flight for an interview. The end client would pay. I did not get the gig. So agency lost interest in getting my money. It took 3 months to get it. Grrrrrrr

[TheFaQQer]

6. Why would you book a hotel that costs more in a day than you'll earn in a week?

[Eirikur]

Terrible agency or at least staff.

Got offered a job with them outside of England. Rate of pay was average and the contract was initially said to be long term i.e 9 months. After my CV was sent to the manager and manager agreed to take me the contract suddenly became a '2 week trial' and when I asked if anyone has ever failed the trial I was told by agent 'no, it is always extended at the end of 2 weeks'. Then told that it would be on a 3 month rolling contract. A few days later was told it would be 2 months on one site and then 4 months on another site in a town 2.5hours away.

Agent wanted me to start the following week and when first accepting the job offer I told him I needed guaranteed accommodation as the place of work was in a different country and out in the sticks in a small town. The agent told me accommodation was guaranteed but they just had to sort it out.

During that week I kept ringing the agent everyday for updates as he made no effort to contact me. I also asked him for the PSL and ASL approved list of umbrella companies they work for after having been told that they only use a small nr of umbrellas in case the tax gets paid incorrectly and a contractor wants to blame the agency (I have never heard of a contractor blaming agency for incorrect tax- they'd blme the umbrella). It sounded very much like the agency had a deal going whereby they earn comission for referrals to 1 particular umbrella company who's name they kept mentioning.

To cut a long story short I paid for a hotel for the first few days before the job began but in my own time made an effort to look into renting flats nearby, arranged viewings, travelled to the country and went for flat viewings day before the job was to begin. Was unable to get any flat sorted as all landlords wanted long term tenancies which is not possible so rang the agent to let him know and all he could say was 'oh well lets be realistic, maybe you can't do the job now, but you we can find you a job in a different city'!!

I had to ring the client directly to explain the situation otherwise the agency would have made out I was lazy. The client was unable to provide the onsite accommodation which the agency had first said was available (it was actually fully booked for weeks) and informed me that he had told agency long ago that there was no guaranteed accommodation and the job is not guaranteed to extend for more than 2 weeks- the client told me he had problems before wiht the agency and felt they missold the job to many contractors!

In the end I told the client I could not start the job the next day with no accommodation as the hotel was costing more per night than I would earn in a week, making me a loss of £350 a week! The client understood.

The agent then decided to phone me and said it was a 'shame you couldnt get acommodation, but we'll find you another jobs'- never apologised for wasting my time, effort and £100s of pounds on a hotel which I was unable to get refunded.

Whilst I was trying to sort out accommodation I was unable to access the internet and phone network due to poor signal in the small country town the job was based in and yet when the agent rang me he failed to notify me he had sent me an email earlier that day (the day before the job was to begin) in which he informed me that the umbrella company whom I had just signed up to which was on VENN's approved 'compliant' list was no longer suitable.

I am so glad I didn't begin the job as I suspect had I stayed and worked for the 2 weeks, not only would I have lost money to the hotel I possibly would not have been paid for any of the work done as the agency might refuse to pay my umbrella knowing full well I could not sign up to a completely umbrella the night before the job was to begin. I have read a few reviews since my saga with Venn by other contractors who claim they never got paid for the work they did!

Venn also made me travel at my own monetary expense for 7 hours all the way to their London office for a pointless 20 minute form filling exercise whereby the information they wrote down from my CV was incorrect and poorly selected. They had claimed they needed to see my passport in person but after taking a scan of it in London the next day they rang to say my passport signature did not match my signature on other forms signed right before their eyes!

They took a photo of me for an ID badge which has never materialised and they had planned to send it to my home address although I would not be there to pick it up so I asked for it to be sent to client. I do not know if it ever got sent there because I was told you didn't need ID to go onsite and also did not need to sign the official VENN contract to work onsite (the contract only appeared in my email inbox the afternoon before job was about to start).

I had read earlier that they are only interested in getting your references to cold call your previous employers.

At the end of the day the job definitely existed and client was desperate for employees but without acommodation it was impossible to peform the job.

Definitely would not ever work with them again, do not trust them for one minute what with their changing claims about umbrellas which they first told me they would sign off on, then the change of contract length and most importantly the issue with accommodation- you cannot sleep outside in the night and then appear for a job the next day!!

Should've read some of the threads on this board before going.

Anyway a trick Venn tried on me 9 or 10 years ago or so when I was still very inexperienced handling recruitment agencies.
Venn called me with some job and asked if I were interviewing anywhere else I said yes at Easyjet, even told them I had the interview a few days ago and I was waiting for feedback from the hiring manager who was not at the interview in person. Few hours later someone called me claiming to be the hiring manager from Easyjet asking me how the interview went and if I could remind him who the interviewers were, at that moment I realised it must be Venn calling and I told them it were Mike Hunt and Ben Dover (probably he didn't fall for that, but I so wish he called Easyjet and asked for these persons), it was also lesson learned never to reveal where you are interviewing.