Seeking advice

[Anonymous]

Hi

I did a job last year and submitted my expenses. All was paid no probs. Three trips and several months later my agency tells me their client is refusing to pay my outbound journey expenses – taxi to airport and snacks at the airports – around £90 total. My agency has refunded the client from my pay without consulting me and has only just told me about this.

Apart from refusing to work for this client again – (they may ask for my airfair next time and my agency might give that to them without telling me too! )- or getting something in writing to confirm a company will cover genuine expenses does anyone have any suggestions on dealing with this?

Cheers

[deepseacon]

You missed two important things like

The Agents name and the Company then some one might be able to give you some good advice.

Also if anyone else gets work through them they can get in writing Door To Door All expense’s paid etc.

[Scott Beveridge]

Tell us their name so they can be black-balled… Yes, it DOES work both ways.

[James McLauchlan]

Did you receive a contract?

[sedco]

Snacks at the airport – they probably thought you were taking the piss and decided 2 can play at that game.

[James McLauchlan]

Ah.. the ‘Snacks‘ .. I missed that.

It pays (by way of not being jerked around) not to piddle around with the small stuff.
(Snacks at a bar/restaurant can also be considered as being booze by many companies.. so just claim main travel expenses and settle for that.

I’d get back onto the agency and suggest that whilst you accept that ‘snacks’ might be knocked back you need to know why the taxi fair has been refused as reimbursement for travel is an industry norm.
You should be able to claim for at least one method of transport to get you to and from your house/airport.
Ask them to explain in writing by email so that you may have a record of their continued refusal to pay.

As a point on claiming taxis… sometimes it’s more simple to claim MMA as no invoice is required. In the UK I believe the going rate is 40p/mile.

Remember, you are claiming expenses from the agency (your client) not their client.. if their client refuses to pay the agency that is their problem but the expense should not be passed back to you. Ask them why they paid those expenses to you in the first place. I would suggest they paid because they felt the claim was legitimate. As, no doubt, was your invoice for services performed which they also paid. What would happen if they paid your invoice and then the client refused to pay them.. are the agency thn going to deduct that from another invoice the next time you work for them?

I’d ask what right they have to deduct money from an invoice that is unrelated to the job you had previously claimed for. Both jobs probably have different job numbers so they are wrong to deduct from one job number for a problem relating to another.
From a legal perspective I would suggest they should have consulted you and agreed this by prior arrangement.
I believe what they have done is wrong and most likely illegal.

If you get no joy out of the agency in short order, you should name them so that others may be aware of who is carrying out this practice.

[Anonymous]

Easy tigers! It’s early days and I’m still waiting for a response from my agency regarding the matter. Should it prove fruitless then I’ll inform you of the parties involved.

Yes, I have a signed contract clearly stating that the agency will cover all expenses so it seems the problem is with the agency and client and nothing to do with me as per Jame’s post.

I left my home at 4am and arrived on the vessel at 10pm, UK time. The taxi was the cheapest method of transport as public transport would’ve cost at least twice the amount (it’s a long route using public transport) and I’d have had to travel the previous day and had a hotel to enable me to be at the airport in time for the early flight. Considering I was travelling through breakfast, lunch and dinner yet only had a few Starbucks coffee’s and a couple of packs of sandwiches I’d say they got a good deal all round. Perhaps I should’ve got a taxi full of lap-dancers to the airport and ate caviar washed down with champaign 🙂

I’ll keep you guys posted, hopefully it’s just an error on the clients part and lack of knowledge in these situations from the agency.

Cheers

[Author]

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