Help! Company not paying me for days worked for them!

[PazzoRilancio]

Hi All,

Emailed them back explaining that the 4 days doesn't cover the work carried out as part of the contract, and asked them the process for escalation as mentioned in the email. I in fact asked for the contact details of the person to speak to in order to resolve the issue, as he obviously doesn't have any power what-so-ever and covering his own back thus the lame threats.

I'm happy that due to the comms so far they can't really back down from the 4 days though (even if it did mean having to get to court for it!)

Cheers

[PazzoRilancio]

- Is the PO for a number of days over a period of time but only as and when they specify which days they want you to work
- If so, have they specified that you work or be available for each of the days you have invoiced for in advance of doing the work
- Do you have evidence to back you up

If yes to the above, then time to go in really hard, by which I mean state that you regret they are unable to compromise and as such, if you do not receive payment for the full amount within the payment date, you will have no other option but to commence legal action for recovery of the full amount plus all legal and court fees, fixed amount for non-payment of commercial debt, and interest at 8% over base rate.


If that doesn't work then time to follow the legal route.

The PO is for "20 days work" with delivery by the 9th of Aug. There is no specification on when those 20 days woudl take place, but the PO was dated the 18th of July, and the first task was on the 1st of July. Had emails every other day asking to do things up to the 10th of July which she did, even though some of the projects were cancelled.

The good news is, most communication was via email including:
1) The original message informing me they needed a contractor for July
2) The emails from the 1st to 10th of July asking me to do various things (and confirming receipt of work sent over)
3) The email on the 10th of July asking me to wait for further instruction while they reviewed the work - saying the guy to review it was away for a few days
4) The email on the 17th saying they actually have changed the role and need a technical engineer to do it moving forwards, thus the contract would be cancelled.

I also have emails from them confirming I was "with them" for 13 working days, and confirming that they subjectively evaluated my delivered work to be worth 4 days (even though they cancelled some projects several days after I begun working on them).

That's pretty much a summary of all my "evidence" I guess! Oh, and the PO, the Freelance terms signed, and the invoice.

Thanks!

[TheFaQQer]

Just got an email back - They are refusing to consider any settlement and said:
"As mentioned I’m not negotiating with you on the number of days. I am not able to guarantee payment within the next seven days. I need to know if you are going to accept the four days or not. If not, this will have to be escalated and you are at risk of having the PO cancelled."

Wow - This is ugly

Tell them to escalate it, then. You are entitled to be paid for the work that you did, not some arbitrary value that someone at the client thinks you have worked.

Wait and see what the escalation brings, and be prepared to sue.

[GB9]

The PO is for "20 days work" with delivery by the 9th of Aug. There is no specification on when those 20 days woudl take place, but the PO was dated the 18th of July, and the first task was on the 1st of July. Had emails every other day asking to do things up to the 10th of July which she did, even though some of the projects were cancelled.

The good news is, most communication was via email including:
1) The original message informing me they needed a contractor for July
2) The emails from the 1st to 10th of July asking me to do various things (and confirming receipt of work sent over)
3) The email on the 10th of July asking me to wait for further instruction while they reviewed the work - saying the guy to review it was away for a few days
4) The email on the 17th saying they actually have changed the role and need a technical engineer to do it moving forwards, thus the contract would be cancelled.

I also have emails from them confirming I was "with them" for 13 working days, and confirming that they subjectively evaluated my delivered work to be worth 4 days (even though they cancelled some projects several days after I begun working on them).

That's pretty much a summary of all my "evidence" I guess! Oh, and the PO, the Freelance terms signed, and the invoice.

Thanks!

Right. Much as I would like you to kick the tulipe out of them, I am a little concerned that you have a PO for up to a maximum of 20 days to be used as and when they require.

Did you actually complete work at their request between 1st and 10th July on each and every day, or did they ask you to be available? Either is good enough to charge for as if they ask for you to be available but don't give you work it still prevents you from doing work elsewhere.

How do you get to 13 days from there as you were told not to do anything from 10th onwards?

[PazzoRilancio]

Right. Much as I would like you to kick the tulipe out of them, I am a little concerned that you have a PO for up to a maximum of 20 days to be used as and when they require.

Did you actually complete work at their request between 1st and 10th July on each and every day, or did they ask you to be available? Either is good enough to charge for as if they ask for you to be available but don't give you work it still prevents you from doing work elsewhere.

How do you get to 13 days from there as you were told not to do anything from 10th onwards?

Hi GB9

I did complete a lot of work between the 1st and 10th of July yes. These bits of work were emailed over to the main guy who responded and confirmed receipt. During these days, he had emailed me asking me to do other various things as well. 2 of the projects he asked me to do, he cancelled 2 days later! In both cases I had already done 2 days worth of work (which I still have!!) - though these were never sent. Obviously doing this work meant I was unavailable for other projects as well.

I wasn't told not to do anything until the 17th which is 13 working days. The total number of days I had done work for is 10 however (including weekends), and as you mentioned, the 20 days doesn't state when it can be done which is why I had done these across the weekend to meet the timelines required. In other words, between July 1st and July 17th, I was contracted by the BBC and had done 10 days of work. On the 17th, they terminated this and told me they'd only pay me for 4 days.

Though they are saying the "4 days" resembles the project fee for the work I'd done, I have correspondence saying it was a contract for July and that the money was a "day rate", for the 20 working days in July.

I even received a message saying at the end of July, there may be scope for work in August as well! (Looking a little unlikely now!)

[GB9]

Hi GB9

I did complete a lot of work between the 1st and 10th of July yes. These bits of work were emailed over to the main guy who responded and confirmed receipt. During these days, he had emailed me asking me to do other various things as well. 2 of the projects he asked me to do, he cancelled 2 days later! In both cases I had already done 2 days worth of work (which I still have!!) - though these were never sent. Obviously doing this work meant I was unavailable for other projects as well.

I wasn't told not to do anything until the 17th which is 13 working days. The total number of days I had done work for is 10 however (including weekends), and as you mentioned, the 20 days doesn't state when it can be done which is why I had done these across the weekend to meet the timelines required. In other words, between July 1st and July 17th, I was contracted by the BBC and had done 10 days of work. On the 17th, they terminated this and told me they'd only pay me for 4 days.

Though they are saying the "4 days" resembles the project fee for the work I'd done, I have correspondence saying it was a contract for July and that the money was a "day rate", for the 20 working days in July.

I even received a message saying at the end of July, there may be scope for work in August as well! (Looking a little unlikely now!)

If you have evidence they asked you to do work but then changed their minds after it was done, then that's their problem, not yours. Make sure you remind them of their instructions and have the work ready to send if they request it.

You said earlier they put you on hold on 10th, not 17th. You may struggle to get payment for anything after that.

Also, on one hand you are saying that you worked the weekend, but then also saying you were with them for 13 working days up to the 17th, which looks like you are counting weekends as non-working.

Now i'm not saying that you aren't due more than 4 days, just want you to be absolutely sure what work you have done and realistically how long it took you. Unless they asked you to be on standby for the non-worked days up to the 17th, you may struggle with those.

[mudskipper]

.. I was expecting £2k from this contract

Not having a go at all - just wondering if this is correct? £100 a day is very low for any sort of freelance IT work. I can't believe a big media organisation are making this much fuss about what would be less than 1K.

[PazzoRilancio]

If you have evidence they asked you to do work but then changed their minds after it was done, then that's their problem, not yours. Make sure you remind them of their instructions and have the work ready to send if they request it.

You said earlier they put you on hold on 10th, not 17th. You may struggle to get payment for anything after that.

Also, on one hand you are saying that you worked the weekend, but then also saying you were with them for 13 working days up to the 17th, which looks like you are counting weekends as non-working.

Now i'm not saying that you aren't due more than 4 days, just want you to be absolutely sure what work you have done and realistically how long it took you. Unless they asked you to be on standby for the non-worked days up to the 17th, you may struggle with those.

The dates thing does get confusing but let me summarise:

1) I had done 10 days work in total between the 1st of July and when they officially terminated my contract on the 17th of July
2) They emailed me on the 10th of July telling me they will get me feedback for the last thing I delivered (there was no comment about stopping work altogether however, although I wasn't getting any replies to requests about other articles in that time even after emailing every other day)

So between the 1st of July to the day of termination (17th) was 13 working days (Mon - Fri). I had carried out 10 days of work in my own time (the PO states 20 days were included but not when those days would be).

The matter of fact is, I have carried out 10 days work for them and they're trying to say they will only pay me for 4 because they mistakenly didn't need the other stuff. Equally, please also bear in mind this was a 1 month contract (as per the email correspondence), so even though I'm apparently not "exclusive to the BBC" as per their T&C's, this very obviously prohibited me from getting other work due to expecting more within that time and thereafter?

Thanks!

[stek]

Split the difference? say u'll accept 8 days pay to avoid unnecessary legal fees on both sides?

If not you go in with all guns blazing....

[PazzoRilancio]

Hi Stek,

I did! I sent them an email without prejudice saying I'd accept a settlement of 7 days.

They replied with another threat saying they would not negotiate, and if I escalate it they won't pay me anything.