Agencies - What's your opinion

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

It’d be interesting to see your opinion on agencies. Now I realise their are good and bad out their, but I’ve tried 80% of the ones around here and have found one good one. My opinion? They’re a bunch of bloodsucking cretins (mostly, whith a couple of exceptions) who want everything from the driver and will provide nothing in return (I’m talking as a spot hire driver here - not contract). I used to kid myself I’d have some control over my working life, but that’s a laugh when you don’t know where the next day’s work is coming from :unamused:. I find when they’ve got you on contract, they’ve got you by the short and curlies and they know that - that contract also doesn’t mean a great deal from their point of looking after you, if you injure yourself say when at work, but means everything to them when they give you your start time :unamused:

I’ve also had problems with them paying for jobs I’ve done, the wage slips are never right, one even had to be taken to court for holiday pay :unamused:. Then they moan about the fact that they can’t keep drivers and can’t fulfill contracts they’ve taken on, which is where the bullying tactics come in :unamused:.

“If you don’t do this job, then you’ll not work for us again.”

“Fine, goodbye :open_mouth::lol:.”

The next day they ring you and try to bully you into another job. They just don’t understand it when you tell them you don’t intend to work for them again as they have an attitude problem. If these people tried to retain a core of drivers, paid them sensibly and kept them in work, then they wouldn’t have a problem fulfilling their contracts with their clients. At the end of the day though, it’s all overheads. I find it’s when your on a seasonal low that they try and force you into jobs you don’t want, the problems with pay arise etc. A few weeks down the line, they’re nice as pie when they’re on the up and offering you huge rates because:

“You’r the best driver I’ve got for the job mate.”

Which, loosley translated, means: I’m struggling to get a decent driver for the job :laughing:. We’ve managed to alienate everyone over the winter, our drivers have all left and have a glut of work we’ve taken on knowing full well we don’t have the drivers to fulfill the contract. This is when £10+ p/h starts being bandied around. They then take an excess of drivers on through adverts in the press and a vicious cycle ensues.

“Let me refer you to our last conversation, now unless you double the rate, then you can go swivel.” (Well, it’s allways worth a try :laughing:).

Oh, yeah, did I remember to tell you about the silly quotes for the working wage, only to be told when you go to register that that job’s unavalible, but I’ve got this one that no one else is interested in, but you might just be desperate enough for work to do it.

I could go on and I’m sure their are some decent ones out their, but this seems true for the majority of them.

Just a drivers point of view on the subject, you understand, after having been [zb] on for too long. Please put me right, is it just me overreacting again, or am I close to the mark?

2

sounds about right although there are the odd decent one around. a small office near andover would be top of my list as the owners and staff were all ex drivers and had worked for every company that they sent drivers to. free uniform, office open 7am til 9pm with seating should a driver fancy a chat and coffee. the only problem i had with them was their non honoured contract that they promised. best connection pay above average and only offer me the work i want but there is not much around here unless you enjoy fighting customers for space to deliver to their local shop. sod that for a job. which is the only reason i dont work for co-op doing 4 day weeks for a good wage :unamused:

3

The only reason you have bad experiences with agencies is because YOU THEM about, not the other way round, or at least that’s the impression I get from reading your posts. :confused:

It slips my mind what it was now, but you mentioned something inferior a while ago relating to a ‘defect’ (in your opinion) on a wagon or trailer and that you refused to drive it. It really was something pathetic too, but then you wonder why the agencies are giving you a hard time. Sometimes the best course of action is to just bite your tongue and get on with it - trust me I know, because I used to have a similiar ‘I won’t do this/I won’t drive that’, attitude that you’ve got.

Sadly we don’t live in an ideal world and things aren’t allus to our liking, but if you want the money then you need to get your head down and get on with it, obviously so long as it isn’t jeopardizing safety.

:bulb:

4

I’d have to disagree that you have to “get your head down and get on with it”. That’s not the nature of agency work, which is why you aren’t afforded the benefits of permanent employment.

Agencies will try to force you into doing jobs you don’t want, that’s a plain fact. As much as people will say “we all have to do things we don’t want to”, it’s not always the case.

5

Never had a problem with the ones ive worked for but saying that i told them from day 1 i was only willing to travel within a 10 mile radius of my house to get to work and that i wasnt bothered what type of work it was as long as they stuck to the less than 10 mile rule. After that was sorted i never had a day of so i cant complain :sunglasses:

simon

6

Problem i find with some agencies is they advertise jobs that dont exist. On many occastions i have signed up with an ageny after they advertised the usual long term contract, days nights blah blah and when you sign up they say “its a bit quite at the moment” then they phone you up for one day here one day there. Only few week ago i saw advertisement for class 2 trunking 6 month contract, temp to perm. signed up with them and they said they will get me on there ASAP. I was so made up and excited about it, next thing i know there phoning me up with 3 days work for 3663 doing 20 drops! Waste of my time as i know i could get straight into that company without the need for agency as there always adverting, but wouldnt touch catering deliveries with a barge pole after i once did a days work for them already some months back.

7

Rob K:
The only reason you have bad experiences with agencies is because YOU THEM about, not the other way round, or at least that’s the impression I get from reading your posts. :confused:

It slips my mind what it was now, but you mentioned something inferior a while ago relating to a ‘defect’ (in your opinion) on a wagon or trailer and that you refused to drive it.
:bulb:

If it suddenly springs to mind, can you point me in it’s direction, because I’ve had a good search through and I can’t ■■■■ well remember it/find it. If your not, fine, but I seriousley hope your not thinking of someone else.

8

We pay £9/10 ph locally we have a core of drivers & the phone rings daily with drivers wanting to join.

What we have to tell ppl is that we do or dont have work for them depending on their availability/experience.

We do provide a FULL uniform after probation period, we do give travel money, we do subsidise boots ie we give £20 if the driver doesnt want our boots

wages are weekly paid Bacs payment and are rarely wrong and are corrected promtly if they are.

We are introducing a bonus/gift idea soon whereby a candidate will be selected on there performance, attitude, time keeping etc, over set period say 1 month and will be rewarded with a genorous gift/bonus

as I said earlier the phone rings daily with people wanting to join, so maybe i am doing something right

p.s. maybe being a driver helps :laughing:

ROB k how did your project go with “the family”

9

UnionJack:
ROB k how did your project go with “the family”

Gave up on the idea after looking into it more. Two main problems :

  1. The cost of insurance.
  2. All the other agencies offering companies stupidly low rates and paying their drivers £6.50/hr on class 1.

Waste of time.

10

UnionJack:
We pay £9/10 ph locally we have a core of drivers & the phone rings daily with drivers wanting to join.

What we have to tell ppl is that we do or dont have work for them depending on their availability/experience.

We do provide a FULL uniform after probation period, we do give travel money, we do subsidise boots ie we give £20 if the driver doesnt want our boots

wages are weekly paid Bacs payment and are rarely wrong and are corrected promtly if they are.

We are introducing a bonus/gift idea soon whereby a candidate will be selected on there performance, attitude, time keeping etc, over set period say 1 month and will be rewarded with a genorous gift/bonus

as I said earlier the phone rings daily with people wanting to join, so maybe i am doing something right

p.s. maybe being a driver helps :laughing:

Sounds just how an agency should be run :wink:. TBH, it’s just a shame your bit of a trek from me :laughing::wink:. I bet you retain your drivers though. To my mind, that’s good buisness, as then you know your drivers, rather than taking a chance with a new client. You’ve got confidence in them and your client’s got confidence in you. For some time, I’ve been negotiating special rates as the good agency had been sending me to first time clients as I was reliable and they had confidence in me. It was worth it to them, as they got a new contract out of it. It was worth it to me, as I was in work and on good money. I would then go that etra mile because I was happy. From my point of view, works both ways :wink:.

11

■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ useless ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ hopeless ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ idiots ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ timewasting ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ dreamers
thats what I think of agencies :exclamation:

12

Mike Bartlett:
[zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] useless [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] hopeless [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] idiots [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] timewasting [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] [zb] dreamers
thats what I think of agencies :exclamation:

So i take it your not an agency man then :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

13

Main problem with agencies is the lies they tell.
They tell them to the customers and to you.
Most of you out there will agree with me - unless you run an agency of course.
I’ve had plenty of years experience with them, so I know I’m telling the truth.
Mind you, saying that - most transport office bods tell porkies too…
Must be in the blood or something…

14

it is all down to the staff. if the office bods have experience of the industry then they are more likely to treat their drivers with respect. the ex drivers are fantastic to work for because they know the job and they wont allow their drivers to take the same abuse from the clients as they had to endure

15

ianyng:
Main problem with agencies is the lies they tell.
Most of you out there will agree with me

I certainly do. The first day after passing my class 1 I signed up with a local agency (and one with a decent reputation, to boot) and was told that, as long as I didn’t mind a mix of class 1 and class 2 work, they’d “sort me out”. Next week they found me a cushy job, Monday to Friday with a small local clay processors, delivering various pottery industry stuff - 8.30am start, finished every day by 4.30pm. Admittedly it was in an old, old Merc 1617 but work is work after all. The next week they found me one day at Exel Nisa in Stoke - the remaining four days were ‘a bit quiet mate, I don’t know what’s happening’. The only other agency I’ve worked for was Best Connection, which in fairness wasn’t too bad and they were reasonably honest, too.

16

Not having had a great deal of experience with agencys I think I am quite lucky with the one I am with. I do manage to get work over five days on average at £10 ph, The work can be a bit rough some times but thats just the luck of the draw, I am doing the next 3 days starting at 22.30 not by choice I would rather be on days.
I think the best way to deal with it is just do it and be damned. I only have 5 months exp on class 1 so I should be gratefull for what I do get.
And as an after thought I have looked local (leicester) and I reckon I am better paid by the agency than I would be by any of the local firms, seems the rates are about £8.50 on adverage. But I do find it a worry when I start the week with only a couple of days booked and have to wait and see what comes.

17

I happen to think that there must be some decent agencies out there. I’ve just never found one.
But as a whole I think agencies are so low they have more in common with a snakes zb’s than Giraffe’s, but thats only based upon personal experience.

18

I nearly forgot.
My wife was recruited, as a qualified Nurse, to work in the office of a very well known Nursing agency.
She quit after a couple of months.
To describe her treatment & the treatment they expected her to dish out to it’s Nurses as unacceptable would hardly cover it.
It was all about profit & nothing else mattered.
So its not only drivers who are treated like zb by agencies.

19

Was peeded off in my last job so registered with a local agency a few weeks back, quit said job last Thursday, phoned the agency and got a job for the Friday. This week I got night trunking Monday to Thursday so all in all not bad.

But I will wait until I get my wages before I make judgement.

One thing about agencies is that if you don’t hear from them, ring them up daily.

Mind you, I hate night trunking, 4x Cardiff to Warrington is getting tedious.

Wayne.

20

I have had the same experience as others with the non existent job scenario, an out and out lie in other words. Wayne, which agency are you with? All the ones round here I’ve tried are hopeless.

Frank