So I took a call last Friday asking me to work at a freight distributor all this week, I explained I had commitments on Friday but could do Mon-Thu which was agreed upon.
Turned up this morning - all good, nice folks, clean truck etc. Came back at 1500 and said to the guy in the office I’ll see him tomorrow and he said hang on we’re not running all our trucks tomorrow so don’t need any agency drivers. Surprised I told him what I had agreed with agency and said I will contact them to find out whats going on.
Called the agency and explained the situation, the fella there said he’ll investigate and get back to me asap. 2 hours later at 1730 heard nothing so called him back and surprise surprise he had just put the phone down with the client (would you believe?!) and they confirmed no requirement for rest of week. I had genuinely turned down other work from a different agency this week that came in over weekend, so explained this and asked for recompense accordingly. He refused, said he could only apologise for the ■■■■ up, and that as ‘the client cancelled’ more than 12 hours before start of shift there would be no recompense. I told him the only reason that this situation came to light was I had the common sense to confirm their requirement for me tomorrow. Had I not done that I would have turned up tomorrow morning and neither myself or the agency would be any the wiser until that time. The poor fella couldn’t seem to understand that point bless him and continued to apologise and I’m ‘first on the list if something else comes in’, wow thanks so much!
So I’m suffering a financial loss for their incompetence and also proved himself to be gutless by not calling me back in the first instance and owning up and apologising. The reason I left my office job to drive a truck is because I encountered everyday people with no balls getting paid a fortune to produce very little so angry it hasn’t taken me long to find the first example of this in this industry.
Yup. It’s not really a surprise I guess. Just the principle of it makes me annoyed. Fortunately I am not reliant upon this sort of work to make ends meet, its effectively pocket money. Shows you cannot trust these people and certainly can’t rely upon them to provide enough work to earn a living.
On the flip side, and maybe I’ve been lucky…
But I’ve not had a day out of work since I started, & am booked weekly (in advance) at my gig.
I think I also found a good agency first hit, as the second one I signed up to, I didn’t trust within 30 seconds…
blue estate:
Out of 3 agency’s I worked for I would only go back to one
Out of the 8 agencies I worked for in the last 2 years I would not touch any of them. Happy to be full time, not great but at least I know where I stand and don’t need to put up with some git p155ing on my leg and telling me it is raining.
Sorry to hear you’ve been messed about Had almost the same thing happen this week.
Im with a couple of agencies, one had me all set up to do van deliveries for a major high street chemists (hub to store only) this was to start yesterday. The other agency then booked me in for yesterday for 4 days training with a major parcel firm, everyone swore blind they were happy to take ‘new passes’ so I took the plunge and told the other agency I was going to go with the Cat C opportunity with the parcel firm. After a very early start I got home almost 9 hours later having had a good day - with a nice man who helped me learn a run and the way things were to be done- my phone rang and it was the agency saying they were sorry but the parcel firm didnt want/couldnt take me as I was a new Cat C pass, which they already knew!!! I was absolutely livid as I’d turned down guaranteed work (which wasnt the sort of work I really wanted but ‘needs must’ as they say) which was now not available as the other agency had given my shifts away in the meantime
Will happen from time to time with agency work depending on the client, almost every agency I have ever spoke to (even outwith transport industry) they make it quite clear that there are no guarantees as to shifts/hours and some call offs can happen even though they will try to minimise this where possible.
I have occasionally had call offs normally due to planned work changing at last minute (ie single trailers being merged onto deckers so only need 1 driver instead of 2). If the client/agency likes your standard of work/attitude then they will normally try find another shift to keep you going (albeit maybe not the kind of work you really want to do every shift), tend to find this is also helped by a friendly reminder that you will find employment elsewhere if you ain’t earning from their shifts.
On other hand I know certains clients where if I am told Monday - Friday I know that won’t change and I will get the full 5 shifts as advised.
Best thing to do is if you get in somewhere you like do best job you can, impress the client and they will request you any shifts they do need cover and maybe even offer you chance to work for them directly.
MrsMac, who were the agencies you were dealing with? PM if you prefer to keep it off the public forum.
Had almost the same thing happen this week.