I work at the wrong umbrella company

JeffreyC · 29-07-2009, 11:09 AM

So, here's another annoyed contractor.

We get contract from agency last week, it's one of those annoying ones where they insist on the contractor signing it as well as us.

These are a total pain in the ***, trust me.

So we sign it, scan it and email it to said contractor, copying in both his personal and work email address. I mention that this has to be signed and returned to the agency as soon as possible,

I even got a nice auto-reply thanking me for my email, and that he will see to it soon.

Today he phones angry because he's just been told that he won't be getting paid this week as his contract hasn't been returned. Why haven't we returned it?

So I go through all the whole tale of woe, hope and desperation. His reply?

"I saw that email, I just thought it was for my attention so ignored it"

So evidently a subject line that says "Urgent: agency contract, please sign and return" isn't clear enough.

He wanted to know why I didn't personally chase him to check it had been signed and returned. Well, apart from not being his mother and him presumably being out of nappies years ago he refused to leave his mobile or work number with him as, and I remember him saying this quite clearly, his last umbrella company "phoned him constantly with pointless questions and he is too busy for that"

I can't win.

Now he's talking about seeking damages from us. You've got to love contractors.