Veritas-IT - unpaid invoices.....

[NotAllThere]

You have a contract that requires you to work for another four weeks. But there is an expectation there that you'll be paid.

Windyanna says you would be expected to prove that repeated attempts to receive payment have failed This is so a judge can see that you've acted reasonably. But if a company has failed to pay your invoices, and continues to fail, then your expectation is that additional invoices would also go unpaid. So the question is : would a judge consider that you withdrawing your services until the payment issue is resolved, a reasonable act? I think he would. I think most people would agree you'd be a fool to continue to work for a company that's already badly in default.

So long as you're company is providing services to the client, I can't see how the client can do anything legally, but pay the agency (or the receiver). But I don't think in the circumstances you'd be obliged to work, given a significant risk that you won't be paid.

This is something you should discuss with a legal expert.

[DS23]

Windy:

You say you've been through this four times before. Did you have to work for the client effectivly for free until either the agency was wound up?

down tools and out! start looking for new work.

i remember going to a liquidation meeting in the city. around the table were gathered about 5 or so creditors and we all stated names and monies owed. 5k, 8k, 2k, 20k, 42p. Yes the chap next to me had travelled halfway across london to attend a meeting on behalf of someone else (well, that is what he said) to find out if he could recover a debt of under a pound. a small ray of laughter on a most unpleasant day.

i bought myself out of my contract. i paid the liquidators a fee and they sent me a letter confirming that my contract and all related unsubmitted timesheets and expenses were free to be processed through another agency.

it was either that or wait for them to come after my unsubmitted invoices and then the debt would have been a whopping 40k

[NotAllThere]

i bought myself out of my contract. i paid the liquidators a fee and they sent me a letter confirming that my contract and all related unsubmitted timesheets and expenses were free to be processed through another agency.

That is an excellent idea. Certainly one to remember should I ever find myself in such an unfortunate position.

[funkyd]

WellI for one am straight on to PCG to find out whether I can get out my contract on the grounds that there is an expectation not to be paid - nice suggestion!

How long should it be before the administrators allow people to answer the phones? Do we know if there are even any offices open today? For all we know the offices are empty....

[WindyAnna]

funkyd - there is nothing to prevent you all from giving notice and that would be fine but would effectively mean another 4 weeks without potentially getting paid for it.

Walking out is another option - it's certainly one I considered - but it means you are into finding a new contract. Best result would be getting yoru existing contract transferred quickly.

Whatever you do it is the time that you have already worked but not been paid for that is the biggest issue. One way or another you can get yourself sorted going forward. Anyone who advises you that you can claim retrospective timesheets through a new agency is wrong.

I would try to get your client to speak to administrators and get your contract transferred to another agency with immediate effect then start billing through new agent. Fill in debt form for money you are owed.

I have tried to buy my contract from the administrators once before and they refused - I do know people said that they had been successful in the past but no-one managed it with Futuro.

In Futuro's case they were in such a dreadful state that there was no way they would ever be a going concern. Veritas may be different and may be saveable, you may get your money. Does anyone know who the administrators are yet?

I've only been through this with an agency once (Futuro) but have had the delight of working with P4 and also had 2 employers go into administration. guess I'm just lucky that way.

All I'm saying is there is nothing you can do about time already worked, you need to understand what state the company is currently in and if necessary get your client to move your contract as soon as they can - get legal advice on all of this.

Good luck with it all

Windy

[NotAllThere]

Been through it 4x? Can you keep us updated with your current agency? That way we'd know who was likely to collapse next...

[TheFaQQer]

having been through this 4 times now

Who are you through at the moment?

Sounds like you're a bloody curse!!

[dev0173]

Not us - annoyingly all our timesheets have been sumitted and billed to the client who has paid everything.

Tomorrow is going to be a very difficult day.

Veritas were notoriously bad at invoicing the client I'm currently working for. It was a well known fact amongst the financial controllers that Veritas would have to be chased to send invoices. If left to their own devices they hardly ever do it. That's the reason that some of them started insisting on having a copy of the Veritas timesheet for themselves.

I found out on friday that they hadn't bothered invoicing for the £7k they owe me. When I look through the few invoices they did raise they bear hardly any relationship to the invoices I sent them, neither in terms of days worked nor dates. It's really annoying to find out that if they'd only pulled their finger out I could have had my money months ago. Now it's sat in the clients account and the only direction it's going to go in is into the Veritas financial black hole.

We're gathering the data at the moment, but all the other contractors here suspect that Veritas hadn't billed the client for their time either. If that does turn out to be the case then it's no wonder that they went to the wall. I guess that's what happens when you try to run a company of that size with Excel spreadsheets and halfwits.

On the upside, there's a slim possibility that the administrator may pull all of this outstanding cash into the company and decide that it's not such a shabby mess after all.

And to think that their Finance Director was nominated for FD of the Year 2007! Just goes to show what a joke that particular award is. The man couldn't organise a p*ss-up in a brewery.

Jeez, I was quite philosophical when I started this post but I'm getting quite angry now. I might print this thread and pop over it to Mr. Gillers house. I'll resist the temptation to wrap it round a brick first.

[funkyd]

A lot of Veritas staff (including Jason) are on LinkedIn......

[helpless]

WellI for one am straight on to PCG to find out whether I can get out my contract on the grounds that there is an expectation not to be paid - nice suggestion!

How long should it be before the administrators allow people to answer the phones? Do we know if there are even any offices open today? For all we know the offices are empty....

Up until wednesday we also worked for veritas but are now unsure who our employers are, whether it be veritas or the unamed administrators. We were told to leave the premises on wednesday afternoon, our emails had been blocked from that morning and we were not allowed to contact anyone to explain the situation ie clients or contractors. Since wednesday the directors have not been in touch with us, we are as much in the dark as all you unfortunate contractors are, many of whom we personally had fantastic working relationships with. As previously mentioned we all have families and mortgages and are none the wiser as to whether we can start at another company or whether we have to wait to hear a decision from the administrators. We were due to be paid at the end of this month and it looks like that isnt happening either. We havent been able to gain entry to the offices since wednesday and are extremely disappointed that they havent even had the courtesy to set a voicemail or email bounceback to make you aware of what is happening. We know from reading these posts that many of you have lost faith in recruitment agencies, but please be assured that we personally are extremly disappointed and saddended that this has happened. We would like you to also be aware that all of us on the sales floor were taking calls daily prior to wednesday from contractors who hadnt been paid, we were asking the question of the directors, giving them messages, holding meetings to find out why but until wednesday we were either ignored or being lied to and reassured that things were 'in hand'. I hope that this goes someway to explaining why you havent been contacted, if it was up to us we would have explained the situation to each and every one of you individually. We dont know contract details and we can't give advice on what you should do next as we are all effectivley owned by veritas or the administrators and are all as much in the dark as each other.
Just wanted to explain.