Reply to: Client is a twat

[Denny]

Not being funny. But all my past clients cannot officially give personal references.

They can only state that i was employed between certain dates for the company. This is usually standard these days, unless you are working for the tulip government.

I always manage to get a written ref at the end of my contracts, usually specifying the length of time on the contract and that my work was of a satisfactory standard and why I was leaving (end of contract, no work left etc.).

[el duder]

Not being funny. But all my past clients cannot officially give personal references.

They can only state that i was employed between certain dates for the company. This is usually standard these days, unless you are working for the tulip government.

[senditback]

Presumably your a Tester then, how you finding things?

[Edvard]

Thanks for the info - just doing a quick search on Xybax after being contacted about them regarding work in Nottingham - Looks like 'their' references suck this time! From what else I've found it looks like a one-man-band 'web designer' turned chancer - I'll turn the idiot down.. eventually..

[theITcoach.biz]

Twist

Dear SendItBack,

Has anyone ever heard of a client blatantly exploiting someone then getting rid as soon as the work has been done?

Well, here's a twist on it. I had a contract in the US and the project was being "managed" (I use the term loosely) by one of the big Consultancy firms. They regularly gave contractors work they were not trained to do, and then complained to the client about their "poor work" in a bid to replace them with their own highly-paid consultants. Happened a lot.



Regards
John

[SasGnu]

Mooo/

[scriptfromscratch]

real live naming and shaming on CUK, i never thought i'd see the like

[senditback]

the agency was the good old faithful Pathway, the company that were screwing him are Xybax, needless to say Pathway are no longer working with them, they are now recruiting through Reed and MSB position in Nottingham so be wary Testers

[bobhope]

The agency is legally bound to pay you as the contract is with them and not the client. Last year, the end client I was working for went bust. The agent never received a penny for the last month of work, but still had to pay.

[cojak]

It's been heard of, but I'm impressed by the stand taken by the agency as it would be too easy for them to be complicit it their client's bad behaviour.

I think that warrants a mention for the agency as they can be shown to keep their end of a bargain. Credit where credit's due...

A pat on the back for that agency...

[senditback]

I can top this a friend of mine has just had his contract terminated after 7 working days, despite working flat out for all 7 + 4 weekend days.

The consultancy he was working for claimed his work wasn't good enough and he missed a deliverable. However the work load he was given was ridiculous, over 500 pages of documentation.

Being terminated is not the problem though as he is well rid of them. However the bunch of Kn@b heads are refusing to pay the agency he has gone through for the work he did. The agency have paid him which is fine but what a bunch of tw@ts they are. The agency are going legal.

Has anyone ever heard of a client blatantly exploiting someone then getting rid as soon as the work has been done?

[cojak]

It does however show that supply and demand appears to be in your favour for a change - if you can stand staying there you are in a position of power and can demand a rate increase!

[cojak]

C'est la vie ! One possible downside is when it comes to references. I turned down an extension giving what I thought was a good excuse and the client manager seemed OK with it. However to my surprise he took revenge when it came to a reference a year or so later. I knew the agent and he showed me the reference, it wasn't terrible but a few sly remarks were put in there. I got round it by swapping the referee and luckily it didn't cost me really but beware.

This behaviour by clients is beginning to p1ss me off. You do not need to give excuses at the end of the contract. You obviously have a valid business reason for not renewing. Snivelling excuses are only required when you cut and run before the contract finishes.

It is as unprofessional for a client to 'take revenge' for a correctly ending contract as it is for a contractor to bunk off early.

Remember this peeps and don't feel guilty or be bullied into staying when you don't want to.

And don't be pressured by the agency when this happens, either...

[decode]

The best thing about getting out of this place will be not having to see this guy rips bits of paper from his pad and spit into them. Does this about five times a day! Fecking disgusting..

[Lucy]

Re references, I would say x (client) doesn't give references, as is true for many firms these days. Fear of reprise etc.