Reply to: How to deal with dodgy agency

[KTheHeadhunter]

Have to be extra careful when contract opportunities are few and far between. Agencies often work like ponzi schemes.

Agency recruiter here - not ALL agencies are bad! Do your due diligence, ask your network & check reviews online: 99.9% of the time you will hear the same names of 2 or 3 reputable agencies. These agencies are the ones to use; there is a reason why they’ve stood the test of time :-)


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[mos]

Have to be extra careful when contract opportunities are few and far between. Agencies often work like ponzi schemes.

[jayn200]

The first contract I did I had horrible terms and like an inexperienced idiot I just quickly skimmed the contract. It was invoiced monthly on the 15th of the following month with 30 day terms. Meaning I started on the 3rd of September and my first invoice wasn't due until 15 November. Of course they ended up being late! but at that point I was so invested all I could do was hound them until they paid me sometime in December. Absolutely brutal but at least I got paid, always have. I was broke when I started that contract but thankfully had some credit cards I could rack up.

But yeah you have to look at your payment terms, the minimum payment terms I've seen is 10 days so it's really unlikely that you are owed the money yet even if you were able to invoice already. You really shouldn't harass them until the invoice is past due.

[psychocandy]

If I were you, I would give about 2-3 weeks to understand the pattern. They could be having a genuine issue. In my experience only TEKSystems is happy to pay weekly till now. Is that your agency?

I with Hays who, have been tossers in the past, but they pay me Thursday after timesheet submitted friday before.

[LondonManc]

and
Capita
RSG

In fact the only time I've had other than weekly was with smaller agencies, or direct.

Correct. Every bank I've contracted at has been through different agencies and they've all been happy to take/generate and pay weekly invoices. That's one of the benefits of agencies, their version of invoice factoring.

[Lance]

If I were you, I would give about 2-3 weeks to understand the pattern. They could be having a genuine issue. In my experience only TEKSystems is happy to pay weekly till now. Is that your agency?

and
Capita
RSG

In fact the only time I've had other than weekly was with smaller agencies, or direct.

[BigDataPro]

If I were you, I would give about 2-3 weeks to understand the pattern. They could be having a genuine issue. In my experience only TEKSystems is happy to pay weekly till now. Is that your agency?

[ascender]

This thread has made me smile while I've been on a particularly rambling standup call, so I just wanted to say well done everyone.

[psychocandy]

OP yeh I'm with the others, you can't just fire off invoices when you feel like it. Its got to be done as per contract.

And agency only got 1 or 2 stars. Good luck finding one with 5 starts - it'll be like checking to see if you've tulip a gold nuggest.

Petrol money? Seriously. Agent won't give two wanks about that and it just makes you look silly. I used to be skint and could only put a fiver in my car when I was 18. If you're finances are so bad you can't even pay for petrol thats worrying.

On that point, what are the payment terms? I hope you're not expecting money in your account day after invoice. Depends on contract terms could be 60 days. Of course, you will have read this and ensured you've got a source of money to live on until then?

[northernladuk]

His hiring manager you pedantic throb.

We know this. I bet he doesn't.

[LondonManc]

Signed by who???

His hiring manager you pedantic throb.

[NotAllThere]

You've done 4 days work and have already raised an invoice? What does your contract say about invoicing and payment schedules?
I wouldn't worry about bad agency reviews too much. Pretty much every agency will have bad reviews somewhere.

Exactly. "Dodgy agency" hardly narrows down the field.

Signed by who???

The person who has management responsibility for the contractor.

[Andy Hallett]

Proper firms don't experiment with timesheet systems.....

[northernladuk]

got it signed by my manager and emailed it, no reply.(

Signed by who???

[CheeseSlice]

Don't fire emails here and there. Phone up the agent who placed you and get an explanation from them.

Experimenting with a new timesheet system? Since its not live, ask to use the current timesheet system for now..

What does your contract say about payment schedule? Do you even have a written contract?