Reply to: Commuting expenses and clients refusal to pay..?

[miffy]

Burn him!

What with... a red hot poker?

[DimPrawn]

Burn him!

[BrowneIssue]

The director of operations is hardly a poor supervisor... either way, I've learned from this.

One thing I will never do though, is apologize to that poor excuse for a man owner. He treats everyone like complete dirt and exploits them.

And I know the next thing you're going to say... I should be looking for a new job... and I am.

And so another company has an awful experience with an unethical contractor (you did sign a contract, you know) and the rest of us have to deal with the mess. Thanks.

"I took a contractor on once. Never again. Turned out he was fiddling his invoices by claiming for travelling to work! Cheeky sod! The boss spotted it, and gave me a good kicking for signing his timesheets. We complained to the agency and the contractor cleared off straight away. That's why we don't use contractors here any more."

OR

"Xil3 has been with us for years. There was some confusion about payments right at the start but he was really good about it. I always thought contractors were dodgy like builders but I was wrong. When we pointed out the problem he paid it back, apologised and then got his agent to arrange a meeting between him, and the boss to see how this can be avoided in future. Xil3 showed us some PCG-standard contract and we've worked to that ever since with no trouble. So he's been quite an asset. Trustworthy and everything. Mind you, he's a clever bugger. He only got himself a rate increase at his 3 month extension that more than covered what he was claiming in expenses! Still, he's been worth it. I would recommend contractors every time."

You choose. But remember, when you are a contractor you are running a business and you are only as good as your last reference. You're in it for the money, not the pride. And this £450 or whatever it is will seem insignificant two years from now.

You can rescue this situation by being professional and turn it to your favour.

[chicane]

Now you got all the advice you needed - almost: don't buy a house

Indeed - houses are money pits. What you want is a BTL city centre flat.

[DiscoStu]

advice

Now you got all the advice you needed - almost: don't buy a house

Except the bargain BTL portfolio I have for sale, it's a steal.

[AtW]

Either way, I've gotten all the advise I need on here, and thank you all for it. I think I'll just suck it up and keep the role, and learn from it.

advice

Now you got all the advice you needed - almost: don't buy a house

[Xil3]

You said: "Expenses: None, unless authorised in writing by the Client and supported by original vouchers/receipts"

and "None, unless authorised in writing by the Client" is not the same as "any expense authorized by the client is required to be paid".

Just because you sneaked some travel onto your timesheet and got some poor supervisor to sign it out of pity, does not mean they have to pay. So if you had sneaked "and a small IBM AS/400" on the bottom do you think you could have claimed for that too?

How would you react to a plumber or builder charging you mileage from his house to yours?

As far as your client is concerned, you are taking the p!ss out of them. "What else has this sod put on his invoice that he thought he might get away with?" That is what the boss is thinking. Along with "I'm not using shifty contractors again, oh no."

And while we're picking over the bones:
favour

Suggestion: apologise to your client profusely and put it down to naivety.

Also, speak to your accountant (you do have one, don't you?) about what you should be claiming for.

The director of operations is hardly a poor supervisor... either way, I've learned from this.

One thing I will never do though, is apologize to that poor excuse for a man owner. He treats everyone like complete dirt and exploits them.

And I know the next thing you're going to say... I should be looking for a new job... and I am.

[DiscoStu]

The expense was described as a commuting expense, and was clearly visible, which was signed off.

Either way, I've gotten all the advise I need on here, and thank you all for it. I think I'll just suck it up and keep the role, and learn from it.

Good call

[BrowneIssue]

Maybe you should go back and read the whole thread... cause you're clearly clueless. I did state that it was stated in the contract that any expense authorized by the client is required to be paid! Which means the contract is in my favor and not theirs!

You said: "Expenses: None, unless authorised in writing by the Client and supported by original vouchers/receipts"

and "None, unless authorised in writing by the Client" is not the same as "any expense authorized by the client is required to be paid".

Just because you sneaked some travel onto your timesheet and got some poor supervisor to sign it out of pity, does not mean they have to pay. So if you had sneaked "and a small IBM AS/400" on the bottom do you think you could have claimed for that too?

How would you react to a plumber or builder charging you mileage from his house to yours?

As far as your client is concerned, you are taking the p!ss out of them. "What else has this sod put on his invoice that he thought he might get away with?" That is what the boss is thinking. Along with "I'm not using shifty contractors again, oh no."

And while we're picking over the bones:
favour

Suggestion: apologise to your client profusely and put it down to naivety.

Also, speak to your accountant (you do have one, don't you?) about what you should be claiming for.

[Xil3]

In addition to the above, do you also have it in writing that the client has authorised travel between your home and your normal place of work? Without this, the clause above is virtually meaningless.

The expense was described as a commuting expense, and was clearly visible, which was signed off.

Either way, I've gotten all the advise I need on here, and thank you all for it. I think I'll just suck it up and keep the role, and learn from it.

[chicane]

I did state that it was stated in the contract that any expense authorized by the client is required to be paid!

In addition to the above, do you also have it in writing that the client has authorised travel between your home and your normal place of work? Without this, the clause above is virtually meaningless.

[Dow Jones]

Not worth the advice given...

I am surprised by the amount of advice given to you and your inability to understand it - are you prepared to walk out of a contract (or even worse, to risk prosecution) for what amounts to a day and a half's work for most (or even a day for some) here ???
Once more - and I am not going to bother again - you have to understand what 'acting in good faith' means - as in signing a timesheet - and what not (ie submitting false expenses) is.
Do you ever buy a round at your local (joking!) ?

[DiscoStu]

Maybe you should go back and read the whole thread... cause you're clearly clueless... I did state that it was stated in the contract that any expense authorized by the client is required to be paid! Which means the contract is in my favor and not theirs!

Clearly your expenses were authorised by mistake, otherwise the client wouldn't be trying to get them back. The question now is do you have a tantrum over 1-2 days pay and lose your gig, or accept that you should never have claimed for them in the first place, mend some fences and carry on with your contract...

[VectraMan]

YOU SHOULD HAVE READ THE BLOODY CONTRACT, STUPID, BEFORE YOU SIGNED IT! IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IT, PAY SOMEONE WHO DOES.

To be fair, I looked at mine recently because I'm being moved to a different site and wondered if I should be claiming expenses for the extra distance, and it doesn't say anything explicitly about any one site or anything to do with commuting vs. travel on the client's business. It just has something about expenses needing to be approved and accompanied with a receipt.

Easy mistake if you didn't know, and really the muppet signing the timesheets should have picked this up from day one.

For £450 I think I'd give it up to keep in the client's good books. How much are you going to spend on lawyers trying to fight it? How much will a day in court cost you in lost income?

[Xil3]

I walked away from a well-paying, high-profile gig earlier this year because I read the contract and didn't like what it said. The agent was quite cross I had read it and even more so that I disputed it. Ain't life a bitch?

You might find it is you coughing up the dough because you didn't read what you signed.

I normally try to be supportive and positive, especially to newbies. In your case I am going to make a rare exception:

Go back to permie work. It is contractors with attitudes like yours that gives the rest of us a bad name.

YOU SHOULD HAVE READ THE BLOODY CONTRACT, STUPID, BEFORE YOU SIGNED IT! IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IT, PAY SOMEONE WHO DOES.

Maybe you should go back and read the whole thread... cause you're clearly clueless. I did state that it was stated in the contract that any expense authorized by the client is required to be paid! Which means the contract is in my favor and not theirs!