As of today, still not been paid and have contacted the agencies customer service department. The staff dealing with this are all on holiday, hmmmm.
Anyway, I checked my insurance stuff, and I have legal expenses covered. Need to find out what that means in this respect and I guess they will pay up without going down that route.
Though to be honest, every time I think of what's happened I get angry, and really may need to name and shame here.
- Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
- Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!
Reply to: My lowest point in contracting....
Collapse
You are not logged in or you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:
- You are not logged in. If you are already registered, fill in the form below to log in, or follow the "Sign Up" link to register a new account.
- You may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
- If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.
Logging in...
Previously on "My lowest point in contracting...."
Collapse
-
Originally posted by SueEllen View PostI would see if a debt collector is interested.
Then send them a solicitors letter stating that they will be referred to your debt collector if they don't pay up.
Yes they will take some of your money but 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
Debt Collections Agency | Debt Recovery Agency | 0800 068 5151 also look rather ruthless if you don't mind losing a few quid.
You are aware that its the agency you need to be hassling here not the client.
Leave a comment:
-
Originally posted by Inhfs View PostIt's worth about 5500 pounds
Then send them a solicitors letter stating that they will be referred to your debt collector if they don't pay up.
Yes they will take some of your money but 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
Leave a comment:
-
It's worth about 5500 pounds
Originally posted by wim121 View PostI think we've all had it happen before ....
Some clients will try to wriggle out of paying. Most of the time it is best just moving on and brush yourself off.
However as a last resort, I do ask my solicitor to send out a pre-written letter on his letterhead, sometimes it does the trick. He usually does it for a small charge, worth a punt.
The real question is how much is the outstanding payment worth? Sometimes, if the solicitor letter doesnt work, legal action probably wont, or end up being costly. Sometimes you just have to ignore it and move on.
Leave a comment:
-
Never had refusal to pay although I was once one of 14 taken on for an urgent project and a week later 12 of us got cancelled. Must have been a bummer for any who turned down other contracts.
Leave a comment:
-
I think we've all had it happen before ....
Some clients will try to wriggle out of paying. Most of the time it is best just moving on and brush yourself off.
However as a last resort, I do ask my solicitor to send out a pre-written letter on his letterhead, sometimes it does the trick. He usually does it for a small charge, worth a punt.
The real question is how much is the outstanding payment worth? Sometimes, if the solicitor letter doesnt work, legal action probably wont, or end up being costly. Sometimes you just have to ignore it and move on.
Leave a comment:
-
Originally posted by Inhfs View PostMy lowest point in contracting....
As for getting paid, I presume you were contracted to turn up on site and be paid a day rate to be on site 5 days a week rather than deliver a specific piece of work at a fixed price? If you are on a day rate then you invoice them for every day that you turn up available to work. If they can't find a project to book your time against then it's their problem, not yours. If the hiring manager doesn't require your services any more then they can give you notice and terminate the contract. They can't just say "Oh, I'm not going to pay you for last week because I didn't have any work for you to do".
Also, if you don't opt-out of the agency regulations then you can invoice the agency and they have to pay even if you don't have a signed time sheet. Don't sign the opt out!
Leave a comment:
-
Pretty shoddy on the clients behalf, sorry to hear what happened. You did the right thing making sure you had plenty of info backed up via e-mail.
Move on and hopefully the next role won't be as bad.
Leave a comment:
-
Pretty sorry episode. Let it get out of your system and then onwards and upwards. Hopefully next contract will be a more pleasant experience.
Leave a comment:
-
Sounds very untypical to me, pick yourself up and move on, learn lessons for the next time you see trouble coming. Good luck.
Leave a comment:
-
My lowest point in contracting....
..today I hope that's been that. I have just finished at natural contract end, my most recent assignment, and I have to say I have been left feeling relieved, but also hurt angry and stressed.
So looking to hear if this has ever happened to any of you guys, and for advice on whats happened, and ultimately, what I can do to prevent this position and sad state of affairs ever again.
I started a 3 month contract back in March with what I thought was a professional company, and for which I strongly felt had the potential to have extension. The company claimed they had lots of urgent work that required resource. I had 2 interviews before I took this, and both appealed to me, though I preferred the first one with another firm but I didn't land it. So I happily accepted a contract with company B. I was due to start first week of march, but the agency called to say there were internal issues getting things ready, would I be happy to start later that week? I said that was okay. In the meantime I was offered a short 2 day consultancy role that Wednesday but I turned it down. Of course then company B called on Wednesday to say issues still were there, could I start the following Monday? I said yes, though was annoyed I spurned a short term lucrative earner.
A few issues later, I eventually started the following Tuesday. I made sure my agency amended the contract to a finish date a week later.
The first 2 months were not bad after that, pretty busy on a very good project. That then came to an end. So I was assigned to 3 more contracts. These potentially could have taken me to next year for at least one, so was expecting an extension, though not taking anything for granted, I informed the new line manager that I would be available and happy to take this. This was accepted with "sure I'll feed that back"
In the last two weeks however, two projects were reassigned to permanent staff without any real reason. The pm's told me I couldnt book time to these and they were angry that I had been pulled as this caused them to adjust their schedules, etc, and due to having these consistency of resource issues constantly. This also meant my chances of extension were now slim, which I accepted.
I informed my line manager and also their senior line of this shortfall. I was told that work would be put my way so I was kept busy.
I kept feeding this back on an almost daily basis, but then the problems kicked in. My time was not approved, even though I felt what I was doing was within scope. The issue was i had no new code to book too so they said they would not pay me for unapproved work.
This week I had to spend time justifying my time and filling out detailed explanations of what I had been doing these last 9 days. This was accepted and told I would have it sorted out.
A few hours before I left, I was told that pm's had not approved and they could not justify paying me for the last few weeks. I told them this was nonsense, that I had turned up, told them of shortfall, made requests for me to be allocated work, and told that I had done no such thing.
Rather than get angry, I went back to my backed up emails, and resent those last emails proving their claims were nonsense. They had also said they had informed someone at my agency about this, and I told them I'd never heard of that person and why had they not told me? The whole thing stank.
I spent the next hour fuming, and called my agency who told me that person did not exist and they had not been informed. I also checked my contract details for any fine print in case of any clauses that said they could not pay me if no work was available even if through no fault of mine. I found nothing but I'm not a legal person.
Anyway, they suddenly changed their tune, and told me that all would be sorted out, and to submit time to other codes and they would sort it out with the pm's. This was said in front of witnesses. So I completed my day and left feeling totally shocked and feeling like I do now.
Upshot is I'm glad to be away from the shower. I start a new role next week.
But a few things....
1. I've contracted a longtime, have an accountant, do my returns, pay taxes, have my insurances, but don't really have a legal advisor or lawyer as such, how can I go aout getting one and any recommendations? I thought earlier, what if hadn't been resolved, who could I have turned to?
2. Has this ever happened to anyone before?
I enjoy contracting, it has been fantastic over the years, and although some clients are better than others, all have played fair and been professional. This I'm hoping has just been a bad experience.
Learned 3 things, never assume you'll get kept on, always keep them informed and keep emails, etc, and to seek for future roles, a suitable legal advisor to call upon, though as I say this has been the only time so far.Tags: None
- Home
- News & Features
- First Timers
- IR35 / S660 / BN66
- Employee Benefit Trusts
- Agency Workers Regulations
- MSC Legislation
- Limited Companies
- Dividends
- Umbrella Company
- VAT / Flat Rate VAT
- Job News & Guides
- Money News & Guides
- Guide to Contracts
- Successful Contracting
- Contracting Overseas
- Contractor Calculators
- MVL
- Contractor Expenses
Advertisers
Contractor Services
CUK News
- Streamline Your Retirement with iSIPP: A Solution for Contractor Pensions Sep 1 09:13
- Making the most of pension lump sums: overview for contractors Sep 1 08:36
- Umbrella company tribunal cases are opening up; are your wages subject to unlawful deductions, too? Aug 31 08:38
- Contractors, relabelling 'labour' as 'services' to appear 'fully contracted out' won't dupe IR35 inspectors Aug 31 08:30
- How often does HMRC check tax returns? Aug 30 08:27
- Work-life balance as an IT contractor: 5 top tips from a tech recruiter Aug 30 08:20
- Autumn Statement 2023 tipped to prioritise mental health, in a boost for UK workplaces Aug 29 08:33
- Final reminder for contractors to respond to the umbrella consultation (closing today) Aug 29 08:09
- Top 5 most in demand cyber security contract roles Aug 25 08:38
- Changes to the right to request flexible working are incoming, but how will contractors be affected? Aug 24 08:25
Leave a comment: