Turned up, budget not agreed

[Wanderer]

I'd signed the contract but not received a copy back signed by the agent. As the agent had not said that there was a problem I assumed that everything was ok and that the customer was just a bit slow with the paperwork (as they often are).

If they present you with an unsigned contract which you sign and return then you present yourself for work, then I would proceed as if the contract had been accepted by the agency. Not returning a signed copy to you is a stupid agency trick to try and pull a fast one.

[javadude]

I'd recommend you ignore that and make yourself invaluable if you really want to get your money out of them. Document nothing in a place that they can access. Hold everything close in. Stall them if they start asking for handover meetings. Sell yourself blatantly to the highest ranking stakeholder you know and make it clear that you're being hampered in your job of doing the work you were contracted to do by bean counters. If you're good enough and play the permie politics well enough, you'll get an extension quite quickly. If they do kick you out and ask for transfer of documentation, you don't have it but would happily create it at a handsome daily rate. It's rarely worth playing permie politics but sometimes if you're being screwed you can easily run rings round those trying to stiff you.

That's not my idea of professional behaviour. I document as much as I can, recommend improvements to processes, hand-over lots of knowledge of the project and of the technologies used to the permanent developers etc. This demonstrates my knowledge and shows that I'm helpful and professional and gets me extended. As for permie politics? Yuk. That's one thing I became a contractor to avoid.

[mavster07]

If they present you with an unsigned contract which you sign and return then you present yourself for work, then I would proceed as if the contract had been accepted by the agency. Not returning a signed copy to you is a stupid agency trick to try and pull a fast one.

I don't think I would proceed without a signed contract. Aside from the legal liability issues of being on a client site without a signed contract, it wouldn take much for the agent to pull a fast one and say no contract was agreed. It does happen.

[craig1]

That's not my idea of professional behaviour. I document as much as I can, recommend improvements to processes, hand-over lots of knowledge of the project and of the technologies used to the permanent developers etc. This demonstrates my knowledge and shows that I'm helpful and professional and gets me extended. As for permie politics? Yuk. That's one thing I became a contractor to avoid.

I usually agree entirely but if you're being stiffed then don't just bend over and take it.

[TOSH1]

I signed a contract with an agent for a contract starting today. I turned up at the customer site, waited for half an hour in reception and then got a call from the agent saying that the customer had not yet agreed the budget and I might start next week instead. The customer contact knew I was there but did not speak to me. I turned down two other contracts starting today to take this one so I loose four days income. I'm not too impressed!

i was in your position sort of. i went for an interview and then the second one with an immidiate start date and was told that i got the job but the budgut had to be finalised. 2 months later and the budgut is still not finalised

[MarillionFan]

i was in your position sort of. i went for an interview and then the second one with an immidiate start date and was told that i gat the job but the budgut had to be finalised. 2 months later and the budgut is still not finalised

Welcome back.

[TOSH1]

Welcome back.

????????

[xchaotic]

Welcome back.

... on the bench.