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Unpaid Invoices - But Rather Complicated

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    #11
    Originally posted by dack View Post
    Agency was declared dissolved in Aug 2008 so in theory the liquidators are done & dusted. The cleint owes the agency 11 weeks of invoices......
    FTFY.

    AFAIK there is nothing in law that states invoices must be passed on to someone else in the way that you're hoping.

    Might be best speaking to a solicitor.
    Contracting: more of the money, less of the sh1t

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      #12
      Originally posted by dack View Post
      Yes, how they initialy thought they would pay and then changed their mind is unbelievable.
      Not really. They might initially have assumed that they owed you the money on the basis you weren't paid, and then someone higher up twigged that it's not their responsibility and that they already paid the money to the agency.


      Still don't understand why you would not invoice because the agency was going under... what made you think that could be a good idea?
      Originally posted by MaryPoppins
      I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
      Originally posted by vetran
      Urine is quite nourishing

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        #13
        Originally posted by Andy Hallett View Post
        Your contract was with the agency, along with the financial liability. The Administrator of said agency would have recovered any funds owed by end clients and distributed to creditors accordingly.

        I'd be amazed if end client paid your claim in full, your only hope is that they will enter in to a retrospective direct contract for the six weeks you did that the agency wouldn't have invoiced for. As an agency we have managed to do this on a few occasions when a consultancy or RPO has gone pop.

        In short:

        1) Use agencies who have financial strength
        2) Timesheet and invoice immediately
        3) Consider credit insurance
        Yes, I was amazed when client first said they'll be paying full amount but now suspect that was simply an error by the individual I've been dealing with.

        As it's public sector, I know they will pay but I beleive their issue is that they need to have the neccessary paperwork in place first and this is where they come stuck.

        The agency was Pendragon and had been with them some 5+ years and they paid every fortnight on the nose. It was only the last several months when payments started being erratic.
        You ain't seen me, right!

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          #14
          Originally posted by kingcook View Post
          FTFY.

          AFAIK there is nothing in law that states invoices must be passed on to someone else in the way that you're hoping.

          Might be best speaking to a solicitor.
          Back in 2009, a colleague contractor in the same boat had a barrister girlfriend who ran our situation by one of her colleagues who specialises in this area.

          He advised that if the client refused to pay and it ever went to court, contracts or not, any court would order the client to pay whoever performed the work given that the agency was dissolved and the liquidator had done their job and was no longer ‘in the picture’.

          But yes, need to take legal advice on this now.
          You ain't seen me, right!

          Comment


            #15
            Originally posted by d000hg View Post
            Not really. They might initially have assumed that they owed you the money on the basis you weren't paid, and then someone higher up twigged that it's not their responsibility and that they already paid the money to the agency.


            Still don't understand why you would not invoice because the agency was going under... what made you think that could be a good idea?
            Witholding further invoices was our only leverage with the agency to get them to pay outstanding invoices. Without them they couldn't invoice the client and so we hoped it would motivate them into paying the backlog.

            Once they had gone into liquidation, we knew any invoices submitted then would defo be unpaid. At the time, I had completetly written off the money and had nothing to lose by hanging onto unsubmitted timesheets and there was slight outside chance I may be able to submit thme at some point in the future...........
            You ain't seen me, right!

            Comment


              #16
              Originally posted by dack View Post
              As it's public sector, I know they will pay but I beleive their issue is that they need to have the neccessary paperwork in place first and this is where they come stuck.
              The necessary paperwork would be some kind of waiver from the liquidator and other creditors that they don't need to pay what they owe, and then some kind of back-dated contract with you to pay your company for the work instead of the agency.

              If you choose not to raise the invoices, then that's your decision. There now isn't anyone that you had a contract with who you can invoice, unless the client now agrees to pay you instead. So the next discussion would be how much are you charging them per day? Is it what they were paying the agent, or what the agent was paying you?

              They have no contract with you, so are perfectly within their rights to either pay nobody or pay the liquidators.
              Originally posted by MaryPoppins
              I hadn't really understood this 'pwned' expression until I read DirtyDog's post.

              Comment


                #17
                Originally posted by d000hg View Post
                Not really. They might initially have assumed that they owed you the money on the basis you weren't paid, and then someone higher up twigged that it's not their responsibility and that they already paid the money to the agency.
                I asked that question in my initla contact with thme as I had no way of knowing if the agency had ever been paid. To date they've never said the invocies wree paid to the agency/liquidators has been paid and no money is owed.

                They just keeping saying they're investigating the legal aspects of who to pay.
                You ain't seen me, right!

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                  #18
                  To be honest, always thought the chances of the client paying me directly was slim to say the least. So it was really a punt when I sent off 11 weeks of invoices to the client back in Sep 2013. When they replied to say they'll be making payment I nearly fell of my chair! When they then changed their minds and said they need to first "investigate" I was livid!

                  I'll be coughing up for an hour of face to face legal advice next week and if I'm they tell me "fat chance" then so be it. Either way, I'll let you all know the outcome for future reference
                  You ain't seen me, right!

                  Comment


                    #19
                    Originally posted by dack View Post
                    Agency was declared dissolved in Aug 2008 so in theory the liquidators are done & dusted. The client owes somebody 11 weeks of invoices......
                    That's my understanding of "dissolved". The fact the liquidators didn't recover this money from the client means the client has got away with it (a win for the taxpayer); it doesn't mean they owe you.

                    The problem is people want to think that what's "right" and "fair" applies in these situations, and generally it doesn't. Even if a client numptie did arrange to pay you the money, there's every chance someone later will come along and ask for it back.

                    I would put it down to experience and get on with your life.
                    Will work inside IR35. Or for food.

                    Comment


                      #20
                      Originally posted by dack View Post
                      I asked that question in my initla contact with thme as I had no way of knowing if the agency had ever been paid. To date they've never said the invocies wree paid to the agency/liquidators has been paid and no money is owed.

                      They just keeping saying they're investigating the legal aspects of who to pay.
                      It's unlikely that invoices you didn't raise have been paid. For those that you did not submit, there is no-one that you can submit them to, since the contract for the work was with the now defunct agency.

                      For the invoices you submitted to the agency which weren't paid, you would have been a creditor of the agency. The liquidator should have chased the client for the money, and should have been paid. Any money that was due to the creditors would have already been paid out as part of the liquidation process.
                      Originally posted by MaryPoppins
                      I hadn't really understood this 'pwned' expression until I read DirtyDog's post.

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