Client says NO to time off

[northernladuk]

To be honest there is no reason to overreact at this point. It's a common situation for managers during silly season and their first response is to say no and see who caves. Counter his response with your situation making it clear it's not an option and then let him go look for a plan B. No one would be stupid enough to lose resources over holiday plans. Nothing unusual or malicious here so far so no need to go to war just yet.

[psychocandy]

Yep, if you can afford it then refuse. They may then come back and say "ok, take the time off" although don't expect them to be pleased that you played hardball. You know the client so you will know if they will hold a grudge or get nasty.

Dont think its a case of whether OP can afford. Think about it - OP loses £4000 because hes got to pay anyway, but comes into client instead. Potentially, hes working for free for those weeks to pay for the holiday they just made him/her cancel. (And hes pissed his family off!).

OK. 3 months extension. Say 60 working days at £400 = £20000. OP plans to work 50 days and pay £4K for his holiday. 50 days = £16000 planned for this 3 months.

In effect, OP now has to work 60 days for £16000 (he lost £4 on the holiday). Lost a fair bit. Doesnt work in my book.

Also, give in this once and who knows where it'll lead.

[TheFaQQer]

Won't work. Your sub has to be brought up to speed by you at no cost to the client before they can start. You can't just throw a random body at your client.

That assumes that the client says "OK".

And it depends on what you do - if it's a case of you were meant to be running tests for a couple of weeks, reporting failures and sending the results onto someone else, then the handover is going to be fairly short; if you are in the middle of designing the whole solution then it's going to be more of an issue.

Back to the OP - tell the client that you are unavailable for that period, and if it's going to be an issue then you can either turn down the extension completely, or have a shorter extension that goes up to your holiday and then leave.

[rd409]

Dont think its a case of whether OP can afford. Think about it - OP loses £4000 because hes got to pay anyway, but comes into client instead. Potentially, hes working for free for those weeks to pay for the holiday they just made him/her cancel. (And hes pissed his family off!).

OK. 3 months extension. Say 60 working days at £400 = £20000. OP plans to work 50 days and pay £4K for his holiday. 50 days = £16000 planned for this 3 months.

In effect, OP now has to work 60 days for £16000 (he lost £4 on the holiday). Lost a fair bit. Doesnt work in my book.

Also, give in this once and who knows where it'll lead.

Why not increase the day rate say to £450 to cover up. The client has an option of rate increase or unavailability. Win some lose some!

[sal]

tell the client that you are unavailable for that period, and if it's going to be an issue then you can either turn down the extension completely, or have a shorter extension that goes up to your holiday and then leave.

^This

[jmo21]

The client said "Not my problem".... what an utter tool.

I would say simply say, so you want me to lose £4000 and piss off my family, because there are not enough people in the office?

If he again says yes/not my problem, I would immediately hand in my notice.

At that point the relationship is ruined for me. No respect whatsoever. Total disdain for you as a human being. Forgetting what the missus would say, having to see my kids face as I tell them holiday cancelled?! No chance.

Client Co might not care in the grand scheme of things of course, but I simply could not continue working there.

If I stayed I know I would be giving the bare minimum effort, and yes, that's not professional, I should be the bigger man etc, but it's just not worth it.

With enough notice, which OP gave, no holiday time should suddenly be revoked. When informing them of time off, of course, take into consideration any scheduled project plans, but no reasonable request should be rejected, never mind try to revoke it at a later date.

[curtis]

Holiday wins every time for me. Any time I have been offered an extension I tell them what holiday I have booked and I email the relevant person with the dates again after.

If later on they turned round and said no you can't have it then I don't then take the extension or hand my notice in and finish right before I am due to go and this is another reason I want a notice period on my contract.

[woohoo]

I would pick a quite moment and talk to your client again. Stress that you would hate to have to turn down an extension but you really need the time off and your not an employee. Be direct and honest.

But only you know if you can afford to turn down the extension and wait a few weeks for another contract.

[Elliegirl]

To be honest there is no reason to overreact at this point. It's a common situation for managers during silly season and their first response is to say no and see who caves. Counter his response with your situation making it clear it's not an option and then let him go look for a plan B. No one would be stupid enough to lose resources over holiday plans. Nothing unusual or malicious here so far so no need to go to war just yet.

Yup. Had a contract once where I mentioned my holiday plans before I was given the role. Interview was in June, holiday in September to the States. All bought and paid for. Client said 'no problem'. Got role and all booked into calendar. Bought it up again a month before holiday in casual conversation. Client said 'sorry, you can't go any more. We need you here'. I pointed out A: Agreed before I was given the role and B: All bought and paid for. Client said 'I'm afraid we are going to have to talk about this'. At no time did it occur to me to cancel my holiday. Client never came back to 'talk', I went on holiday as planned, returned and carried on with role until end of contract. Would definitely have left if it came to it though.

[psychocandy]

I got bit before by telling the agent.

Before I accepted asked agent to clear with client that I'm on hols for these weeks. Agent comes back all sorted.

So I start, mention it to client. First he'd heard about it. Wont make that mistake again.

I guess from agents point view:-

1) Hes got deal almost sewn up. If he mentions holiday then client might have an issue and back out.

2) If he keeps quiet and blags it, like he did with me, then deal is done.

3) If client/contractor then have an issue about holidays its nothing to do with them - contractor is on site. Worse that can happen is that contractor tells client they asked agent but agent is confident he can bulltulip his way out of that hole.