- Original Poster
- #1
Hi all,
this is my first post so go easy!
Right here goes....
I recently started work for a joinery firm on an agreed day rate. 9 times out of 10 payments were made on time and in full but their were a few that were not that were sorted in adequate time.
In October myself and my colleague were sent to second fix a house on a new site. We were given a timescale of 5 days. Having not done second fixing for a while and due to the size of the house we spoke to our manager and told him realistically we couldnt do it in that time. His response was "dont worry, just crack on and finish as and when" This we did and all in all it took us 8 days. My colleague spent most of his time complaining and doing very little, which was picked up by the management and once the house was finished he was asked to leave. I was approached and asked to stay which i did.
Now when my colleague got paid he was missing £360. 6 weeks later he discovered that he had been stopped an amount (they wouldnt give an exact amount) for damaging a door on a previous job and also and amount for taking so long on the house. Going further, he has been told that the client as of yet has not billed the firm for any damage. (so how can they stop him?) My invoice for the same period was also short £163 which i had no explanation for and when i spoke to accounts i was told i had to sort it with my manager.
Nevertheless i carried on on my own and soon i was put into the same size house that had just taken the 2 of us 8 days and again told to do it in 5. Again i told my manager that i couldnt do it and he said he would send in help which never came. 9 days later i had finished 98% of the house (one set of 2 doors and frame were missing) much to the anger and frustration of my site supervisor who told me several times i was no good to work on his site. The day i finished the house was coincidentally the day of invoicing. That afternoon i had a phone call sending me to another site miles away. I agreed and packed up that evening.
The following morning my car broke down on the way to work (honestly, i swear on the bible). I rang that sites supervisor and explained my predicament to which he replied "we didnt expect you to drive out here anyway". i tried to call my manager but had no answer. Long story short i couldnt fix my car so could no longer get to work. I tried my manager several times but got no answer so i text him explaining and expected a call back which never came, so i assumed they had thought it was all one big lie and washed their hands of me.
The invoice i sent in for the period i was there on my own is now overdue. I today have rang the office and they have told me that i am not being paid and that i need to speak to my manager. Obviously i tried to do this straight away but again had no answer. So i rang the office and told them. They said they would get him to ring me. That never happened either. By the end of the day the office were ignoring my calls and the manager was ignoring my calls.
So now i need to no where i stand. Yes technically the house was still not finished however the outstanding items were not on site. Also, if the deadline was so tight and the company didnt send help why can i be punished so severely? More to the point are they even allowed to just hold money back? As i was on a set hourly rate, why can they only pay what they want? If i was on price and the money went out of the house then i would obviously have to work the 4 extra days free? Do i have any leg to stand on? Its 7 weeks down the line now for my friend and hes still fighting and unfortunately i am in a situation where without the money im owed im stuck. I certainly cannot wait 7+ weeks.
Sorry its so long but i wanted to give as full a picture as possible.
Please, I really hope that someone can help me, I need the money desperately to fix my car so that i can work again, and also Christmas is on the doorstep
Thanks in advance
Dave
this is my first post so go easy!
Right here goes....
I recently started work for a joinery firm on an agreed day rate. 9 times out of 10 payments were made on time and in full but their were a few that were not that were sorted in adequate time.
In October myself and my colleague were sent to second fix a house on a new site. We were given a timescale of 5 days. Having not done second fixing for a while and due to the size of the house we spoke to our manager and told him realistically we couldnt do it in that time. His response was "dont worry, just crack on and finish as and when" This we did and all in all it took us 8 days. My colleague spent most of his time complaining and doing very little, which was picked up by the management and once the house was finished he was asked to leave. I was approached and asked to stay which i did.
Now when my colleague got paid he was missing £360. 6 weeks later he discovered that he had been stopped an amount (they wouldnt give an exact amount) for damaging a door on a previous job and also and amount for taking so long on the house. Going further, he has been told that the client as of yet has not billed the firm for any damage. (so how can they stop him?) My invoice for the same period was also short £163 which i had no explanation for and when i spoke to accounts i was told i had to sort it with my manager.
Nevertheless i carried on on my own and soon i was put into the same size house that had just taken the 2 of us 8 days and again told to do it in 5. Again i told my manager that i couldnt do it and he said he would send in help which never came. 9 days later i had finished 98% of the house (one set of 2 doors and frame were missing) much to the anger and frustration of my site supervisor who told me several times i was no good to work on his site. The day i finished the house was coincidentally the day of invoicing. That afternoon i had a phone call sending me to another site miles away. I agreed and packed up that evening.
The following morning my car broke down on the way to work (honestly, i swear on the bible). I rang that sites supervisor and explained my predicament to which he replied "we didnt expect you to drive out here anyway". i tried to call my manager but had no answer. Long story short i couldnt fix my car so could no longer get to work. I tried my manager several times but got no answer so i text him explaining and expected a call back which never came, so i assumed they had thought it was all one big lie and washed their hands of me.
The invoice i sent in for the period i was there on my own is now overdue. I today have rang the office and they have told me that i am not being paid and that i need to speak to my manager. Obviously i tried to do this straight away but again had no answer. So i rang the office and told them. They said they would get him to ring me. That never happened either. By the end of the day the office were ignoring my calls and the manager was ignoring my calls.
So now i need to no where i stand. Yes technically the house was still not finished however the outstanding items were not on site. Also, if the deadline was so tight and the company didnt send help why can i be punished so severely? More to the point are they even allowed to just hold money back? As i was on a set hourly rate, why can they only pay what they want? If i was on price and the money went out of the house then i would obviously have to work the 4 extra days free? Do i have any leg to stand on? Its 7 weeks down the line now for my friend and hes still fighting and unfortunately i am in a situation where without the money im owed im stuck. I certainly cannot wait 7+ weeks.
Sorry its so long but i wanted to give as full a picture as possible.
Please, I really hope that someone can help me, I need the money desperately to fix my car so that i can work again, and also Christmas is on the doorstep
Thanks in advance
Dave
