need advice quick on client gone bad

[darrenb]

It's still a pretty brutal market out there as this cautionary tale will show.

I recently started a contract. Client said they had an urgent situation, needed someone right away, said I was perfect, told me to come in and start a long contract without even a face-to-face interview. Unwisely I started without a countersigned contract, not wishing to be pre-empted by another. I knew it was a bit too good to be true, but wasn't going to miss out on a opportunity.

On the morning that I started, I noticed there was someone else starting with suspiciously similar skills! At this stage it looks very much like I was a backup candidate, and the more expensive option.

Anyway I guess it was a bit embarrassing for them to break the news, and they had a pretty strong verbal arrangement with me. I was assigned tasks and have been getting on well with the team and showing my expertise. But now the directors who hired me have started avoiding me, not answering my emails, and trying to add conditions to the contract that were not agreed. I suspect that are trying to provoke me to quit. They are communicating with me through an agency who has been giving me all the usual malarkey. I've stayed professional in talking to everybody.

So there are various options for me:

a) Continue going in and (hopefully!) getting my daily rate despite the absence of a real contract... and get progressively frozen out in this painful situation.

b) Go in and make a scene.

c) Forget it, just try to invoice for the time worked so far, and try to find a contract where I'm really needed. I do have options, just not really solid ones.

d) a better idea? I hope you can think of one.

And as for all the people saying I should never start without a signed contract, don't bother, I've learnt my lesson.

[BolshieBastard]

Well if you havent got a countersigned contract and the client doesnt sign your timesheets, you're working for nothing.

Do you really want to keep doing that for a week or two before deciding enough is enough?

Its a tough market agreed but what's the point working for nothing?

Oh and never start a contract without it being signed!

[darrenb]

You see my basic dilemma.

If I quit, they will act shocked, blame it on me, end of contract, end of any possible pay, black mark with the agency and anyone who hears of it.

If I stay, they will stop assigning tasks, maybe even accuse me of incompetence, or just find lots of other ways to make life hard.

[darrenb]

Well if you havent got a countersigned contract and the client doesnt sign your timesheets, you're working for nothing.

Do you think that's literally true though? The agency prepared a contract according to terms that I agreed with the client initially, so there is a document, even if it's only signed by one party. Also I have emails from the client supporting the agreement, work emails showing I've been assigned tasks, etc....

Also, it's not clear they will refuse to sign my timesheets. Everybody there knows I am doing good work. Even if they don't sign, I still have a case for invoicing.

What do you think, is this still a contract in fantasy land?

[Clippy]

I'm sure I've heard it said on here before that if you have verbally agreed a contract and then subsequently turn up on site you are then bound by that contract which I presume applies to both parties.

[zamzummim]

double post !!

[zamzummim]

No one here can give you a definitive answer, but my opinion is just keep professional about it, keep going to work and do an excellent job. No fuss, and don't act difficult. You are at site, and you have verbal agreement.

If the client wants to get rid of you, then they'll get rid of you, you are just a contractor, they don't need to go through making you feel fed up and blaming you for it, they wont stop assigning tasks, or accuse you of incompetence, all they need to do is tell you to go !! so I think this is just in your head. Most likely they are not replying to your mail because legally all this contract stuff has to go through the agency. Stay cool!

[darrenb]

If the client wants to get rid of you, then they'll get rid of you, you are just a contractor, they don't need to go through making you feel fed up and blaming you for it

I don't agree. It's a small place and these guys are acting like nice guys all the time. They've played a pretty rotten trick on me I think, and they don't want people to know. It would be much easier on them if I just disappeared... "Oh he must found something better paying, typical contractor."

So you should think I should stay cool and carry on. But then there's Bolshie's point. What do I do when the agency says, "Sorry can't pay you, no signed contract" ?

[grey_lady]

How recently did you start, Monday? payment is the most important thing so I would be timesheet signing and invoicing every Friday and chasing the agent on a daily basis for a signed contract.

[blacjac]

I don't agree. It's a small place and these guys are acting like nice guys all the time. They've played a pretty rotten trick on me I think, and they don't want people to know. It would be much easier on them if I just disappeared... "Oh he must found something better paying, typical contractor."

So you should think I should stay cool and carry on. But then there's Bolshie's point. What do I do when the agency says, "Sorry can't pay you, no signed contract" ?

Knowing that the client has agreed to the terms of the contract in an email, but are just delaying signing it, and that they have had you on site doing proper work, then I reckon that the law is on your side and a court would deem the contract to stand.

However I am not a lawyer...