I am a typical contractor : I work through my own one-man-band limited company obtaining IT contracts through agencies. Like many forum members I work on a daily rate basis. In late August this year, while between contracts, I was contacted by a junior member of staff at an agency in London regarding a role with a blue chip client in Hong Kong.
While I was not familiar with this particular person, I have known the agency itself for many years; they are familiar with me, what I do and how I work, having completed many contracts with them successfully over the years.
The junior guy was Chinese. I assumed he was being employed by the agency because of his Chinese connections.
In our initial conversations in August we confirmed this role in Hong Kong I would be working through my limited company as usual.
I had my first interview on 9th September on the second on 19th September with the CFO. He offered me the role and told me it was to be a six month contract renewable for another six months and possibly longer. He even asked me what daily rate I wanted. The role ticked all the boxes. I was excited.
Then the delays began.
I was repeatedly reassured by the agent the client was still very keen to make use of my services but I would need to be patient as the client was undergoing an internal reorganization. News could come any day about a start date. So I waited. And waited. And waited.
During the seven week delay I turned down numerous interviews with other prospective clients and turned down one confirmed job offer (from an interview in the last week of August). However as time ticked and the role in Hong Kong seemed no closer to commencing, I began to wonder if the whole thing had been a cruel hoax.
November 8th proved to be a pivotal date.
On November 8th the agent finally called and congratulated me on getting the role. However instead of working through my limited company I was to be employed directly by the client. My immediate response was “No, that’s not correct, please renegotiate the contract immediately.” (You would think after a seven week delays the agent would make sure the contract would be issued flawlessly first time, but no!)
To my astonishment the junior showed a complete ignorance of the contractor scene, in particular of limited companies and why contractors use them. He even tried to talk me round to working as an employee, which of course I refused to do. The ball was now in the agency’s court: fix the contract.
The next day I got a call from the managing director of the agency, someone I had previously had many dealings. She stated that they had taken a decision on my behalf and stated and apologized for making the wrong choice, but would I accept it anyway? Very begrudgingly, I asked for her to come up with a proposal and see if that was to my liking.
In any case, a Hong Kong work permit would have to be obtained and that would take between four to six weeks from the moment the papers were submitted.
In the following weeks the agency in London committed a catalogue of blunders that can only be described as farcical. The MD and her junior both went off and separately attempted to correct the mistake their own ways. It was clear there was little or no communication going on between them.
The junior guy tempted me by saying he had secured a business class return flight to Hong Kong. He also stated that the client was keen to get me started and would provide me work to carry out in the UK as an interim, until the work permit was approved. Great. At last I would be working.
The MD offered to come up with a half-baked work around involving me working as an employee of the client for three months then reverting to contracting for the remaining three months.
She complicated matters by saying that if I was to work through my own limited company I would have to be paid through a fourth party payment handling company in Hong Kong. She also said they would have to obtain my work permit as, according to her, the law in Hong Kong stated that foreign workers in Hong Kong can only receive payment from a local sponsor. The client was bemused because they use Deloitte to secure work permits for foreigners in Hong Kong. By now dear reader you can now see how matters were getting out of hand very rapidly.
The flights were revoked. Offers to commence work on the project a UK location as an interim were repeatedly postponed. Calls were not returned. Emails went unanswered. No one appeared to be driving the issue. No one appeared to be taking ownership. No one appeared to be taking responsibility.
Flight to Hong Kong.
Therefore, on Friday 2nd December I had become so sick of the confusion, procrastination, obfuscation, miscommunication, assertion and retraction, I booked a return flight to Hong Kong to talk directly with the client there.
On Monday 5th December I went to the client’s offices in Hong Kong and by luck was able to meet the relevant people immediately.
One said to me “It’s a good thing you have come; we have never had to abandon an application half way through like this before” – implying the client was on the verge of tearing up the application.
Here comes the killer bit: When I met the contract manager I asked if the contract could be rewritten allowing me to work through my limited company instead of working as an employee.
Her reply: We issued that contract on November 8th to the agent allowing just that. Our contract expects you to work through your own limited company.
That’s right folks. The agents have cocked up big time. I could have been working through my limited company from that date.
We were all gobsmacked. The contract manager told me she was so appalled with the agents she was giving serious consideration to withholding the agent’s fees.
I asked about the flights. The contract manager confirmed that the flights were not available and should never have been offered in the first place.
The contract manager then told me she would call the agents in London that day and insist a contract was issued immediately for me to sign so we could all move on and start getting some work done. I then returned to my hotel room and collapsed with jetlag!
Later that evening I received a phone call from the contract manager. The agents had indeed emailed me a contract however the contract manager had commented that the agents had omitted details regarding notice period. I also didn’t like the fact that there was no start date and it was not printed on the agent’s official headed paper – as all their previous contracts had.
The agency’s MD and I then had a telephone conversation in which she admitted they had in fact been in possession of the appropriate contract from November 8th, but that they had become confused because it was difficult to understand.
Return to London.
On Wednesday 7th December I flew from Hong Kong back to the UK and spent the weekend suffering flu. On Monday 12th I hauled myself to London to speak to the agent. I met the MD.
I asked for the contract to be printed on headed paper. They put up a great deal of resistance, even passing to me people on the ends of phone lines and so on, trying to talk me out of this request. Only when I produced an old contract of theirs printed on headed paper did they relent.
I mentioned to the MD that I had been promised work to begin in the UK but that had been postponed several times – obviously because there was no contract in place. The MD asked where I got these offers from. I replied they had been conveyed to me through her junior. She called the junior in and asked him to confirm matters. The shock in her face confirmed this was news to her. Evidently there is a serious lack of communication between the MD and her junior.
I then explained that since September I had been turning down interviews and one confirmed job offer as I expected to be working with the client in Hong Kong soon. She asked who that job was with. I replied it was the client’s London HQ. She was visibly shocked.
I then asked the MD to specify a start date. The MD refused point blank. I asked for an explanation. The answer was utterly implausible.
The MD again admitted they had in fact been in possession of the appropriate contract from November 8th, but that they had become confused because it was difficult to understand. She also said that they had signed up to terms and conditions they didn’t understand. I was dumbfounded.
Because I felt uncomfortable signing a contract with no start date I said I would take the contract away and think about it.
On Tuesday 13th I sent the client an update of events of in London, explaining that the agent was refusing to specify a start date.
On Wednesday 14th I spoke to a specialist solicitor. He laughed in disbelief that the agent refused to specify a start date. He also warned me not to sign the contract as otherwise I would be at the agent’s mercy.
I then emailed the agent to tell them I could not accept the contract without a start date. They replied that they would consult their lawyer, but they were unlikely to specific a start date so it was not becoming a take it or leave decision for me.
Of course, I will not accept a contract without a start date. I am yet to hear the agent’s definitive reply but I expect that will be in the form of a letter from a lawyer.
Why do you think the agent does not want to specify a start date? I think it is because doing so will compromise their position in respect of work that I could have done from November 8th. They botched up then and now their aim is to keep the start date ambiguous to prevent me from making a claim against them.
While I was not familiar with this particular person, I have known the agency itself for many years; they are familiar with me, what I do and how I work, having completed many contracts with them successfully over the years.
The junior guy was Chinese. I assumed he was being employed by the agency because of his Chinese connections.
In our initial conversations in August we confirmed this role in Hong Kong I would be working through my limited company as usual.
I had my first interview on 9th September on the second on 19th September with the CFO. He offered me the role and told me it was to be a six month contract renewable for another six months and possibly longer. He even asked me what daily rate I wanted. The role ticked all the boxes. I was excited.
Then the delays began.
I was repeatedly reassured by the agent the client was still very keen to make use of my services but I would need to be patient as the client was undergoing an internal reorganization. News could come any day about a start date. So I waited. And waited. And waited.
During the seven week delay I turned down numerous interviews with other prospective clients and turned down one confirmed job offer (from an interview in the last week of August). However as time ticked and the role in Hong Kong seemed no closer to commencing, I began to wonder if the whole thing had been a cruel hoax.
November 8th proved to be a pivotal date.
On November 8th the agent finally called and congratulated me on getting the role. However instead of working through my limited company I was to be employed directly by the client. My immediate response was “No, that’s not correct, please renegotiate the contract immediately.” (You would think after a seven week delays the agent would make sure the contract would be issued flawlessly first time, but no!)
To my astonishment the junior showed a complete ignorance of the contractor scene, in particular of limited companies and why contractors use them. He even tried to talk me round to working as an employee, which of course I refused to do. The ball was now in the agency’s court: fix the contract.
The next day I got a call from the managing director of the agency, someone I had previously had many dealings. She stated that they had taken a decision on my behalf and stated and apologized for making the wrong choice, but would I accept it anyway? Very begrudgingly, I asked for her to come up with a proposal and see if that was to my liking.
In any case, a Hong Kong work permit would have to be obtained and that would take between four to six weeks from the moment the papers were submitted.
In the following weeks the agency in London committed a catalogue of blunders that can only be described as farcical. The MD and her junior both went off and separately attempted to correct the mistake their own ways. It was clear there was little or no communication going on between them.
The junior guy tempted me by saying he had secured a business class return flight to Hong Kong. He also stated that the client was keen to get me started and would provide me work to carry out in the UK as an interim, until the work permit was approved. Great. At last I would be working.
The MD offered to come up with a half-baked work around involving me working as an employee of the client for three months then reverting to contracting for the remaining three months.
She complicated matters by saying that if I was to work through my own limited company I would have to be paid through a fourth party payment handling company in Hong Kong. She also said they would have to obtain my work permit as, according to her, the law in Hong Kong stated that foreign workers in Hong Kong can only receive payment from a local sponsor. The client was bemused because they use Deloitte to secure work permits for foreigners in Hong Kong. By now dear reader you can now see how matters were getting out of hand very rapidly.
The flights were revoked. Offers to commence work on the project a UK location as an interim were repeatedly postponed. Calls were not returned. Emails went unanswered. No one appeared to be driving the issue. No one appeared to be taking ownership. No one appeared to be taking responsibility.
Flight to Hong Kong.
Therefore, on Friday 2nd December I had become so sick of the confusion, procrastination, obfuscation, miscommunication, assertion and retraction, I booked a return flight to Hong Kong to talk directly with the client there.
On Monday 5th December I went to the client’s offices in Hong Kong and by luck was able to meet the relevant people immediately.
One said to me “It’s a good thing you have come; we have never had to abandon an application half way through like this before” – implying the client was on the verge of tearing up the application.
Here comes the killer bit: When I met the contract manager I asked if the contract could be rewritten allowing me to work through my limited company instead of working as an employee.
Her reply: We issued that contract on November 8th to the agent allowing just that. Our contract expects you to work through your own limited company.
That’s right folks. The agents have cocked up big time. I could have been working through my limited company from that date.
We were all gobsmacked. The contract manager told me she was so appalled with the agents she was giving serious consideration to withholding the agent’s fees.
I asked about the flights. The contract manager confirmed that the flights were not available and should never have been offered in the first place.
The contract manager then told me she would call the agents in London that day and insist a contract was issued immediately for me to sign so we could all move on and start getting some work done. I then returned to my hotel room and collapsed with jetlag!
Later that evening I received a phone call from the contract manager. The agents had indeed emailed me a contract however the contract manager had commented that the agents had omitted details regarding notice period. I also didn’t like the fact that there was no start date and it was not printed on the agent’s official headed paper – as all their previous contracts had.
The agency’s MD and I then had a telephone conversation in which she admitted they had in fact been in possession of the appropriate contract from November 8th, but that they had become confused because it was difficult to understand.
Return to London.
On Wednesday 7th December I flew from Hong Kong back to the UK and spent the weekend suffering flu. On Monday 12th I hauled myself to London to speak to the agent. I met the MD.
I asked for the contract to be printed on headed paper. They put up a great deal of resistance, even passing to me people on the ends of phone lines and so on, trying to talk me out of this request. Only when I produced an old contract of theirs printed on headed paper did they relent.
I mentioned to the MD that I had been promised work to begin in the UK but that had been postponed several times – obviously because there was no contract in place. The MD asked where I got these offers from. I replied they had been conveyed to me through her junior. She called the junior in and asked him to confirm matters. The shock in her face confirmed this was news to her. Evidently there is a serious lack of communication between the MD and her junior.
I then explained that since September I had been turning down interviews and one confirmed job offer as I expected to be working with the client in Hong Kong soon. She asked who that job was with. I replied it was the client’s London HQ. She was visibly shocked.
I then asked the MD to specify a start date. The MD refused point blank. I asked for an explanation. The answer was utterly implausible.
The MD again admitted they had in fact been in possession of the appropriate contract from November 8th, but that they had become confused because it was difficult to understand. She also said that they had signed up to terms and conditions they didn’t understand. I was dumbfounded.
Because I felt uncomfortable signing a contract with no start date I said I would take the contract away and think about it.
On Tuesday 13th I sent the client an update of events of in London, explaining that the agent was refusing to specify a start date.
On Wednesday 14th I spoke to a specialist solicitor. He laughed in disbelief that the agent refused to specify a start date. He also warned me not to sign the contract as otherwise I would be at the agent’s mercy.
I then emailed the agent to tell them I could not accept the contract without a start date. They replied that they would consult their lawyer, but they were unlikely to specific a start date so it was not becoming a take it or leave decision for me.
Of course, I will not accept a contract without a start date. I am yet to hear the agent’s definitive reply but I expect that will be in the form of a letter from a lawyer.
Why do you think the agent does not want to specify a start date? I think it is because doing so will compromise their position in respect of work that I could have done from November 8th. They botched up then and now their aim is to keep the start date ambiguous to prevent me from making a claim against them.
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