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Agency not paying

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    Agency not paying

    Hi,

    My agency is not paying for last 3 1/2 months now. They always promise to pay on particular date, but they never pay. I am senior consultant and they owed me alot for 3+ months payments.

    I am working for client-A, clientA has contract with Agency1 (very large uk agency), that Agency1 has further contract with another Agency2(small 2-3 person agency) and I am recruited by the Agency2.

    I have requested for overdue payments within ethics via emails & phone several times to Agency2 but always get false promises. I have now informed my managers at client-A and they have further informed their Agency1, but still not getting paid by my Agency2, only getting false promises. Everyday pass is tension for me.

    - I want to continue with current job.

    - Please advice what further action I can take to recover my money.

    - Can I change the Agency2 and keep the same job with client-A, although contract has the standard clause that I can't work for same client via different agency within 6 months.

    This is the chain. I have contracted with Agency2, Agency2 has contracted with Agency1 and Agency1 has contracted with client-A.

    Thanks

    #2
    Agency not paying

    You’re still working even though they’re not paying?
    You’re not giving them much incentive to pay.
    You need to stop work and and seek legal advice. Senior consultant for 3 months is presumably worth between £30k and £50k.

    Have you got IPSE membership?

    I can only presume they’re not paying if they think they can get away with it. What does your contract say about payment terms?


    Edit: if they’re in breach of contract due to payment terms the clause about you not working direct is probably unenforceable. However you need legal assistance I think. I presume English isn’t your first language so understanding your contract won’t be easy.
    See You Next Tuesday

    Comment


      #3
      Three things to do immediately.

      1. Don't go to work on Monday. Tell the Client why - you don't work for free.

      2. Do a credit check on Agency2 - sounds like they're spending your money on themselves.

      3. Go to www.payontime.co.uk have a good read through their site and follow the steps on there.

      And Step 1 will get the quickest response.

      Good luck though, you may not get to see any of the missing cash...
      Last edited by malvolio; 20 January 2018, 14:53.
      Blog? What blog...?

      Comment


        #4
        Don't go to work Monday. See a lawyer. It may well be that agency 2 has broken contract.

        Never have more than 1 invoice outstanding.

        You should have asked here far earlier. And you need to join IPSE.

        Good luck. And please let us know.

        Comment


          #5
          Tell the agency that unless they pay at least one of the outstanding invoices you're downing tools. Give them opportunity to pay (i.e. several days) before upsetting the client. Obviously this is easier to do when not 3 months into a non payment window.

          If that doesn't motivate them to pay then likely they are having cash flow problems and the longer you work without payment the more likely they won't pay at all. You need to call them out on it and inform the client of the problem and why you may not be able to continue doing the work for them if it's not resolves asap.

          If you manage to get it resolved chase every invoice once the agreed payment terms in the contract have been breached, do not let it build up to anywhere near 3 months. You need to reduce your exposure to risk of non payment as much as possible.

          I had experience of this with a dodgy agency routinely not paying on time. Every invoice had to be chased with threats of downing tools at client if not paid within x number of days. A total ball ache to deal with and not something I'd put up with again. I stay away from smaller agencies unless payment terms are weekly or fortnightly. Fortunately I only lost one invoice worth, fellow contractors were several months out of pocket and all the funds the liquidators manage to claw back barely offset their fees. A nice little scam whichever way you look at it. The directors who pocketed hundreds of thousands while not paying the contractors received barely a slapped wrist from HMRC etc. Last I heard they were running another agency and no doubt running the same scam. Do not let scum like this get away with it if you can help avoid the predicament in the first place.

          Good luck getting it sorted. Hope it doesn't turn out to be a costly learning experience.
          Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down. Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.

          Comment


            #6
            Agency 2 are not paying probably because they're going out of business and don't have enough cash in the bank to pay you. You could give them an ultimatum of 24 hours to test that theory because they've breached the contract by not paying.

            Then either arrange a new contract with agency 1 or find a new contract. You could contact a company such as Safe Collections to try and retrieve what you're owed.

            Always be aware that agencies do fold and late payment should always ring alarm bells, make sure your invoice is paid in the following month.
            Last edited by BlasterBates; 21 January 2018, 11:56.
            I'm alright Jack

            Comment


              #7
              I did think about mentioning (after I posted) that if it is agency 2 that's at fault and have breached the contract payment terms, when you inform the client of the position (presuming you haven't already) they will help get to the bottom of the supply chain issue and may work with you to establish an alternative contact via agency 1 or other option they are willing to accept, presuming that the agency at fault doesn't get their act together.

              In the one time I was affected by an agency going bust, the client wanted to retain my services so were willing to do without me for a couple of weeks while the situation was resolved. Firstly by establishing the facts (that the agency had indeed gone bust and was in breach of contract with the client, which is the client's main concern from a legal standpoint so they are free to change things) and secondly by negotiating with another agency to take over the contract.

              Bonus being I was offered a slight rate increase as the new agency was willing to accept a smaller margin than the one that went bust. So the rate increase offset the lost invoice over the eventual length of the contract with the new agncy.
              Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down. Until tomorrow, I'll just keep moving on.

              Comment


                #8
                I previously worked for a company who was starting to smell of cashflow problems and subsequently went out of business.

                As soon as I smelt a rat I looked on companies house and saw a previous creditor had petitioned the courts for bankruptcy of the company.

                Get your contract read, if there is a breach, petition the courts, possibly after an ultimatum to agency.

                Also note to others -- companies house now have a service where you can "follow" companies and get notified of events.

                I always "follow" any companies I am contracted with, either personally or otherwise. I recently got notified that my sports club went into liquidation, so I immediately started refund proceedings with AMEX for the remainder of membership and got a pro-rata amount back, which would have been subsequently lost.

                Hope that helps.

                Comment

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