Well known agency causing probs.

[PinkPoshRat]

That wasn't what you were asked.

I know, I know. I PMed my answer to pondlife. I don't want to be the butt of everyone's jokes. Ah too late now...

The contract is between brolly and agency. My mis-understanding was that by opting IN, the pay when paid clause takes affect.

[northernladuk]

I know, I know. I PMed my answer to pondlife. I don't want to be the butt of everyone's jokes. Ah too late now...

The contract is between brolly and agency. My mis-understanding was that by opting IN, the pay when paid clause takes affect.

and by not reading your contract carefully enough to let a mistake in your money get past....

Out of interest is this the same gig you got while dealing with the Agent A and Agent B thing you had awhile ago? The one where the agent got you a gig but you thought he was pulling a fast one?

[PinkPoshRat]

You have a fine memory sir! No, it's not the same one. This is with a very well know agency, Ealn.

[Pondlife]

Hi PPR,

Just read your PM but will answer here as the details are posted here already.

You are opted in and therefore you have to prove you turned up when you say you did to the agency. This is not the same as getting your work approved by the client. If you turned up, the agency must pay you for those hours at the agreed contracted rate.

You (well the brolly) have a contract with the agency.
1) Do you have a physical signed copy?
2) Do you have any evidence you were on site... emails, meeting notes etc etc

If so talk to the brollies legal bods. Failing that, a solicitor from one of the names you've seen on the board here. Or if you're not comfortable with this, then citizens advice.

You say you made a mistake with the rate... Does the contract state £x per hour and you thought it was £x per day? If so, (sorry for this) could it be that your expectations of what was required were based on, for example £200 per day and the client was expecting some management consultant at £1600 per day and hence is arguing you were not up to the job?

OR did Elan send you a signed contract with £x per hour as a mistake?

[PinkPoshRat]

Hi PPR,

Just read your PM but will answer here as the details are posted here already.

You are opted in and therefore you have to prove you turned up when you say you did to the agency. This is not the same as getting your work approved by the client. If you turned up, the agency must pay you for those hours at the agreed contracted rate.

You (well the brolly) have a contract with the agency.
1) Do you have a physical signed copy?
2) Do you have any evidence you were on site... emails, meeting notes etc etc

If so talk to the brollies legal bods. Failing that, a solicitor from one of the names you've seen on the board here. Or if you're not comfortable with this, then citizens advice.

You say you made a mistake with the rate... Does the contract state £x per hour and you thought it was £x per day? If so, (sorry for this) could it be that your expectations of what was required were based on, for example £200 per day and the client was expecting some management consultant at £1600 per day and hence is arguing you were not up to the job?

OR did Elan send you a signed contract with £x per hour as a mistake?

The agency have said they will pay, but haven't. My brolly say they've sent emails to agency, and if they don;t hear from agency by 10am tomorrow, they will pick up the phone and call them.

The mistake as far as the rate in concerned is that it wrongly states my rate is £166 per hour. It should be per day.


To add insult to injury, on the day I was told to leave I received a text message from the agency. Text was addressed to another person & was asking them to get in touch as they had an urgent contract with the same client - I got that text BEFORE I was called and told to push off. SHame I never saw that text until I got home that day, otherwise I would have given the agency a real telling off.

[Pondlife]

The agency have said they will pay, but haven't. My brolly say they've sent emails to agency, and if they don;t hear from agency by 10am tomorrow, they will pick up the phone and call them.

The mistake as far as the rate in concerned is that it wrongly states my rate is £166 per hour. It should be per day.


To add insult to injury, on the day I was told to leave I received a text message from the agency. Text was addressed to another person & was asking them to get in touch as they had an urgent contract with the same client - I got that text BEFORE I was called and told to push off. SHame I never saw that text until I got home that day, otherwise I would have given the agency a real telling off.

Do you physically have a signed copy of this contract? If so, tell them you will invoice the for the amount at that hourly rate if they don't pay what you're expecting sharpish. The minion who signed it must be bricking themselves right now, probably hence all the fuss.

[codingmonkey71]

Similar issue

I've had a contractor via the same agency (elan) - for Thales. I had a similar issue re day rate and hourly rate. They stated I was on an hourly rate of £400 per hour, and got them to agree their mistake..and they put me on immediate payment terms as a result. I think they were really bricking it - re paying me £400 per hour !! In hindsight, I wish I had pushed it more...as I had worked 3 weeks by the time I noticed!!

[Wanderer]

they have now kicked me off site with no explanation other than quoting a clause in the contract that says they can

If it's within the terms of the contract then just go. That's the way contracting works and they are within their rights to do it. Don't take it personally, move along to the next job and write this one off to experience.

They are now not paying me for the days I worked. I'm through an umbrella (and not the umbrella off the agency PSL list! & I eventually managed to get them to write an OPT IN contract)

They should always pay you for the work done, unless they have a legitimate dispute in which case you would negotiate with them. Since you didn't opt out, you should even be paid if the client refuses to sign timesheets for those days.

[PinkPoshRat]

Lessons learned so far regarding this agency:

They tell big fat lies
They automatically send out 'OPT OUT' contracts
They are always on client's side
They do not pay on time (if at all)
They send out umpteen duff contracts out until they finally get it right
They will try to get contractors to use a brolly on their PSL, but when really pushed will back down and allow any brolly.
They have been in deep poo with this client as their margin's are way too high

I'm flippin chuffed that I have another contract starting in a few days with a decent bunch. As my inclination is to never ever trust any of the big named brands again.

[Normie]

I was supposed to be a PM, but was being treated like the bosses PA.

The mistake as far as the rate in concerned is that it wrongly states my rate is £166 per hour. It should be per day.

I'm not having a dig here, honestly, but do you think that at that rate, the client was expecting more of a PA than a PM?