Rogue recruiters

[LaFéeVerte]

Thanks for the response guys! Well I've been chasing them and I keep getting told the money'll be in my account tomorrow but no joy for the last four weeks. It's coming up to the end of the month again and I'm really not in a position to go without payment for another month! Any advice?

[hugo@gabem]

Apologies in advance for the long post, I hope it's not too disjointed.

Right I've spoken to our credit control department here on what the protocol would be, and they pointed me in the direction of a series of guides from the BERR available here: http://www.creditmanagement.org.uk/berrguides.htm

I've had a quick look, and they are about 4 pages apiece, informative and not particularly wordy (making them probably some of the best documents ever produced by a government department). I encourage you to take a look at number 7 ("Chasing payment") and number 9 (the rather ominous "When all else fails"). In the meantime here is a very brief summing up of how to start things off.

The first thing you need to do is find out the name of the person responsible for making the payments, and send them a letter or email (if you can get their email address).

In the letter you should detail who you have spoken to and what they have said to you with regard to your being paid. Keep it short and unemotional, just a statement of the facts.

Ask them get in touch with you to negotiate, and provide them with a method of getting in touch, a phone number or something.

Explain what action you will be taking next (legal/small claims/contacting any recruitment body they are members with) with regard to chasing payment, sometimes the threat of action is all it will take.

That's all pretty long winded and I would imagine that you are probably more concerned with getting things done as quickly as possible under the circumstances, so speaking from personal experience: If you aren't speaking to someone responsible for making payments (probably the payroll or finance departments) you need to put pressure on so that you are, because they are the people in the know.

They should be able to tell you what the problem is (if there is indeed a problem), and potentially how to fix it. It was very rare to not get an answer from a payroll department, but as a company we had some leverage so that may have been a factor. See what they say and go from there, hopefully you'll have a clearer story.

I hope that was of some help, fingers crossed that the guys here will be able to give you a simpler more immediately effective answer.

[CliveP]

Originally Posted by hugo@gabem

Apologies in advance for the long post, I hope it's not too disjointed.

Right I've spoken to our credit control department here on what the protocol would be, and they pointed me in the direction of a series of guides from the BERR available here: http://www.creditmanagement.org.uk/berrguides.htm

I've had a quick look, and they are about 4 pages apiece, informative and not particularly wordy (making them probably some of the best documents ever produced by a government department). I encourage you to take a look at number 7 ("Chasing payment") and number 9 (the rather ominous "When all else fails"). In the meantime here is a very brief summing up of how to start things off.

The first thing you need to do is find out the name of the person responsible for making the payments, and send them a letter or email (if you can get their email address).

In the letter you should detail who you have spoken to and what they have said to you with regard to your being paid. Keep it short and unemotional, just a statement of the facts.

Ask them get in touch with you to negotiate, and provide them with a method of getting in touch, a phone number or something.

Explain what action you will be taking next (legal/small claims/contacting any recruitment body they are members with) with regard to chasing payment, sometimes the threat of action is all it will take.

That's all pretty long winded and I would imagine that you are probably more concerned with getting things done as quickly as possible under the circumstances, so speaking from personal experience: If you aren't speaking to someone responsible for making payments (probably the payroll or finance departments) you need to put pressure on so that you are, because they are the people in the know.

They should be able to tell you what the problem is (if there is indeed a problem), and potentially how to fix it. It was very rare to not get an answer from a payroll department, but as a company we had some leverage so that may have been a factor. See what they say and go from there, hopefully you'll have a clearer story.

I hope that was of some help, fingers crossed that the guys here will be able to give you a simpler more immediately effective answer.

Hugo this is great stuff - very useful info thanks. If it was me, i'd probably refuse to work another day until I was paid. Agency payroll departments are historically very bad at sorting out issues. You're best bet. as I've said before, is to speak directly to either your agent or his / her manager. Failing that go straight to the top of the tree (the MD). I always like to dig around linkedIn for the names / contact details of the head honcho. It shouldn't be too difficult getting this information. You could always ask your client to put a bit of pressure on the agency. Most recruiters jump when the client asks them to so you should certainly consider this option. On a closing note, I suggest you sort this out today. Don't leave it until tomorrow - Fridays are always the busiest day for making payments and you'll end up in the queue with all the other disgruntled contractors .

[curleyted]

I would definitely consider letting the client know the situation, if they're paying the agency on time they would be pretty shocked to find out that you're not getting paid.

[LaFéeVerte]

Cheers for the advice - I'll let you know how I get on! Wish me luck :-)

[curleyted]

Good luck!

[hugo@gabem]

Best of luck. Let us know how it goes.

[Bel]

Good luck from me too.

[lurch]

More good luck here.