Oh how I missed the agency lies

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

Forgotten how much fun it was playing the agency game.

Just had a phone call to say that my run tonight has been cancelled as the client has been moving some stuff around but I could go to the firm next door to do a night trunk and it would be the same money and I’d be back in on Friday. I’ve been going into that place 20 years and know how it works, something which the guy at the agency regularly fails to remember. The runs for days for all sites for the entire fleet are sorted out at least half a week in advance so the night runs are well and truly sorted out by the day before at the very latest. So rat well and truly smelled I told them I’d rather be stood down and have a night off and I wasn’t available Friday as I am already booked elsewhere (truth). Response was that they’ll wait until all the runs have been sorted out and get back to me.

The agency game is a great one to play especially when you don’t need/want to be working 5 days a week. I’ve already earned what I need for the week in a couple of shifts so anything extra is just earning money so I don’t need to work in the new year in Jan/Feb when the weather is crap.

2

Conor, do you have a degree in common-sense?

3

Nice one!

I too have some working developments due to take shape around the end of Jan and will be in a very similar position to yourself re working additional agency shifts - or not if it doesn’t 100% suit - happy days ahead! :smiley:

4

Conor:
Forgotten how much fun it was playing the agency game.

Just had a phone call to say that my run tonight has been cancelled as the client has been moving some stuff around but I could go to the firm next door to do a night trunk and it would be the same money and I’d be back in on Friday. I’ve been going into that place 20 years and know how it works, something which the guy at the agency regularly fails to remember. The runs for days for all sites for the entire fleet are sorted out at least half a week in advance so the night runs are well and truly sorted out by the day before at the very latest. So rat well and truly smelled I told them I’d rather be stood down and have a night off and I wasn’t available Friday as I am already booked elsewhere (truth). Response was that they’ll wait until all the runs have been sorted out and get back to me.

The agency game is a great one to play especially when you don’t need/want to be working 5 days a week. I’ve already earned what I need for the week in a couple of shifts so anything extra is just earning money so I don’t need to work in the new year in Jan/Feb when the weather is crap.

^^^^^^^^ This
+1

“It’s the only way to be sure…”

5

The only way to approach agency work , play em off against each other work for at least 3, dont do same day last minute call outs either.

6

its usually when they get a new staff member at the agy, do they start trying to play the “tricks”
However … just like Conor the guys who have been at the game for many years know most of the tricks

7

andy12:
The only way to approach agency work , play em off against each other work for at least 3, dont do same day last minute call outs either.

That’s the only time I’ve ever had them at loggerheads with each other…
Got offered a job in summer 2011 at PolyPipe Terrain once by Blue Arrow. I turned it down, when they ummed and ahhed on the rate. (If anyone pauses before speaking, it’s going to be a lie - right?)
Half an hour later I got offered the SAME job by Extrastaff… £8.50ph. I said “Is this a job and knock rigid run then?” “No, 6am start C+E paid minimum five hours”

Pffftt! :open_mouth:

"That’s the rate they pay mate…"
"That’s not the rate I’ll take though."

8

Did they get back to you?

9

Yeah. After he dug himself a hole he got to sit in it and find himself another driver, something which he is very short of. Just got a text saying they need drivers tonight and they’re paying extra money. :laughing: :laughing:

Shame I’m already elsewhere. He should have honoured the dates he gave me at the beginning of the month and then I’d not have gone onto first come, first served. I think he’s shot himself in the foot with quite a few drivers with the crap he pulls.

10

I don’t work at either agency any more. Just one incident among many that put me right off working for agencies that also handle “non driver” staff.

The biggest thing that ■■■■■■ me off, was not the money aspect (which was secondary) but the fact that ALL work EVER given to me by these damned firms was “last minute” stuff, and miles away.

FFS I want A PREMIUM for doing pain-in-the-arse shifts before we even start about “how to lie to muggins, because he won’t get out of bed for £8.50ph”

SO to me, the top ten agency lies are (in no particlar order…)

“Sorry, we’ve got no pre-booked work, leave cover, or hospital appointment shifts - ever”

“That’s the rate they pay bud” (if that were true, they’d only get drivers with 11 points smashing their kit up in this part of the world!)

“They only want a driver prepared to do the whole week in one hit” (plenty of yards I’ve worked out of, will literally have a different bod in there every day - when the workforce is short)

“We do PAYE via this umbrella firm called Nova/Depoel or whatever…” (doesn’t count, known HMRC fiddle that’s in the process of being cracked down on)

“We do contract work only. £8.50ph” Pffft! That’s indentured servant rate! If I’m to be self-employed, then I set my own rates. They start at £14ph. Are you sure you don’t want to actually employ me, and pay my stamp/sick/holiday pay properly?

“Can you work out of this yard? - They’re desperate for a driver who’s been in there before like yourself”. Not true. They can’t be “desperate” at all, if I’ve already turned down this shift earlier today, so why offer it to me again without a substantial jump in rate confirmed by email?

“They’re very hot on health & safety at this yard we’re sending you to for the first time” No, they’re hot on wise guys like me putting vehicles off road for stupid things like missing wheelnuts, loose steering wheel, no dashboard illumination/instrument displays, and red diesel in the tank…

“The rate is upto £14ph - you don’t mind working nights & weekends do you?” That rate is only achievable if you work a stupid O’clock start on a bank holiday night, and only applies to the bit actually within the bank holiday hours… The rest is… You’ve guessed it - £8.50ph!

“They won’t let you in there without an assessment” I won’t let me in there without full pay for my first shift. :grimacing:

11

Another classic when you um and ahhh over going in …

“They’ve asked for you by name”

Yeah right :unamused:

12

To be fair that did used to happen to me because it got to the point where the clients which the agency said were asking for me used to phone me direct to see if I could drive for them.

13

Conor:
To be fair that did used to happen to me because it got to the point where the clients which the agency said were asking for me used to phone me direct to see if I could drive for them.

Yep. Happens with me and my mate too. Well, what usually happens is we speak to the planners direct and arrange our own work :smiley: and the call/text message from the agency is just the standard going-through-the-motions-bull [zb] to make it look like they’re actually doing something for their slice of the cake.

The agency manager at the place I’m at now reckons it was his “fantastic” sales patter that got us in there. What actually happened was my mate had already been going in to the company for years through another agency but there’d been a fall out so he approached this new (current) agency basically saying he was bringing him the business as the company still wanted to use him whichever agency he went with. The agency didn’t even need to do anything as he arranged the work directly with the company (as we both do now), but to this day we still keep getting “reminded” that “I fought tooth and nail to get you both in there” and we should be thanking him for having such fantastic sales patter… which is about as far from the truth as it gets :laughing: . These agency wallahs are truly on another planet, but they do provide some awesome entertainment when they try to give it large like they own you. :smiley:

14

It was always a ruse when they used it on us. We were just drivers mates so literally anyone would do. The agency probably didn’t realise we all chatted in the yard before going out and they were all fed the same BS.

15

Left hand down!:

Conor:
To be fair that did used to happen to me because it got to the point where the clients which the agency said were asking for me used to phone me direct to see if I could drive for them.

Yep. Happens with me and my mate too. Well, what usually happens is we speak to the planners direct and arrange our own work :smiley: and the call/text message from the agency is just the standard going-through-the-motions-bull [zb] to make it look like they’re actually doing something for their slice of the cake.

The agency manager at the place I’m at now reckons it was his “fantastic” sales patter that got us in there. What actually happened was my mate had already been going in to the company for years through another agency but there’d been a fall out so he approached this new (current) agency basically saying he was bringing him the business as the company still wanted to use him whichever agency he went with. The agency didn’t even need to do anything as he arranged the work directly with the company (as we both do now), but to this day we still keep getting “reminded” that “I fought tooth and nail to get you both in there” and we should be thanking him for having such fantastic sales patter… which is about as far from the truth as it gets :laughing: . These agency wallahs are truly on another planet, but they do provide some awesome entertainment when they try to give it large like they own you. :smiley:

Curious to know why you don’t go direct to the company & cut out the middle man or are you payee with agency.

16

Terry T:
The agency probably didn’t realise we all chatted in the yard before going out and they were all fed the same BS.

That’s whaT used to get me. Sitting in a Salvesen/Tesco/Sainsbury’s canteen for hours with three or four others from the same agency - did they really believe we wouldn’t tell each other what rate we were on etc etc?

17

YorkshireJeff:
Curious to know why you don’t go direct to the company & cut out the middle man or are you payee with agency.

I used to but I decided this time around I can’t be doing with the aggro of 60 day terms, I couldn’t get in direct at the place I’m at anyway and PAYE rates are enough to keep me going to work.

18

YorkshireJeff:

Left hand down!:

Conor:
To be fair that did used to happen to me because it got to the point where the clients which the agency said were asking for me used to phone me direct to see if I could drive for them.

Yep. Happens with me and my mate too. Well, what usually happens is we speak to the planners direct and arrange our own work :smiley: and the call/text message from the agency is just the standard going-through-the-motions-bull [zb] to make it look like they’re actually doing something for their slice of the cake.

The agency manager at the place I’m at now reckons it was his “fantastic” sales patter that got us in there. What actually happened was my mate had already been going in to the company for years through another agency but there’d been a fall out so he approached this new (current) agency basically saying he was bringing him the business as the company still wanted to use him whichever agency he went with. The agency didn’t even need to do anything as he arranged the work directly with the company (as we both do now), but to this day we still keep getting “reminded” that “I fought tooth and nail to get you both in there” and we should be thanking him for having such fantastic sales patter… which is about as far from the truth as it gets :laughing: . These agency wallahs are truly on another planet, but they do provide some awesome entertainment when they try to give it large like they own you. :smiley:

Curious to know why you don’t go direct to the company & cut out the middle man or are you payee with agency.

I’m ltd co + vat rgd. Because I know what the agency charge the customer, if I were to go direct (which is available) I would want more than the agency charge to cover the cost of the required damage insurance (min £10k cover) and PLI. These are not a great amount in the grand scheme of things but it’s hassle I could do without and like Conor says, if you go direct you’re on the same payment terms as the agencies and I don’t want my money ■■■■■■■ for that long for the very marginal benefit I’ll see. There are other complications involved when cutting out an agency and going direct which can needlessly turn business relationships sour. This particular agency is very good when it comes to payment and the money is in my account within 4 days after issuing the invoice which is exceptional. I’m happy with my current earnings from the rates I charge (which are already above average for this area) so sometimes it’s best to let things be and know when not to rock the boat.

19

Left hand down!:

YorkshireJeff:

Left hand down!:

Conor:
To be fair that did used to happen to me because it got to the point where the clients which the agency said were asking for me used to phone me direct to see if I could drive for them.

Yep. Happens with me and my mate too. Well, what usually happens is we speak to the planners direct and arrange our own work :smiley: and the call/text message from the agency is just the standard going-through-the-motions-bull [zb] to make it look like they’re actually doing something for their slice of the cake.

The agency manager at the place I’m at now reckons it was his “fantastic” sales patter that got us in there. What actually happened was my mate had already been going in to the company for years through another agency but there’d been a fall out so he approached this new (current) agency basically saying he was bringing him the business as the company still wanted to use him whichever agency he went with. The agency didn’t even need to do anything as he arranged the work directly with the company (as we both do now), but to this day we still keep getting “reminded” that “I fought tooth and nail to get you both in there” and we should be thanking him for having such fantastic sales patter… which is about as far from the truth as it gets :laughing: . These agency wallahs are truly on another planet, but they do provide some awesome entertainment when they try to give it large like they own you. :smiley:

Curious to know why you don’t go direct to the company & cut out the middle man or are you payee with agency.

I’m ltd co + vat rgd. Because I know what the agency charge the customer, if I were to go direct (which is available) I would want more than the agency charge to cover the cost of the required damage insurance (min £10k cover) and PLI. These are not a great amount in the grand scheme of things but it’s hassle I could do without and like Conor says, if you go direct you’re on the same payment terms as the agencies and I don’t want my money ■■■■■■■ for that long for the very marginal benefit I’ll see. There are other complications involved when cutting out an agency and going direct which can needlessly turn business relationships sour. This particular agency is very good when it comes to payment and the money is in my account within 4 days after issuing the invoice which is exceptional. I’m happy with my current earnings from the rates I charge (which are already above average for this area) so sometimes it’s best to let things be and know when not to rock the boat.

I totally agree with you both & at the moment have the opportunity to work direct with a client of the agency but apart from the legal contractual side i don’t think i would like to be waiting 30-60 days for payment or the risk of not getting payed at all, I am also payed 4 days after submitting my invoice to the agency so just need now to sort out a accountant (Ltd since start of September) & the obligatory flat rate vat for the extra 10% increase in hourly rate.

20

Santa:

Terry T:
The agency probably didn’t realise we all chatted in the yard before going out and they were all fed the same BS.

That’s whaT used to get me. Sitting in a Salvesen/Tesco/Sainsbury’s canteen for hours with three or four others from the same agency - did they really believe we wouldn’t tell each other what rate we were on etc etc?

It’s Salvesens I’m referring to. Before Dressingtable took it over and closed it :smiley: