Can't believe what just happened

Mrs_Doyle

I did a few days work for a company in June 2006. Had to take time off work to do it, and at the time I felt it was worth while, as I would be making contacts, etc, and the money was good.
Worked for 6 days in total, including nights, as job was down the country and involved some late night, early morning hours.
Anyhow, I was never paid, and whenever I said it to the girl who hired me, and who I worked with, she kept telling me that X company can often be a bit slow with payment.
So 6 months on, I decide to email the accounts dept, detailing the days I work, and the money I was due.... and guess what.....

I never worked there!

According to their records, I don't exist.

The person who hired me, who was questioned by accounts regarding the nature of my claim, now tells me that she hired me without checking with the company, an so my work was no more then work experience in the eyes of the company.

Now, without going into too much detail, all of this took place in the media industry, the girl who hired me is fairly influential in the business, so basically, I am left with a choice.

Just drop it, and put it down as a lesson learned the hard way

or

Pursue it and risk gaining a bad reputation in the process (as I am fairly certain she will make out I was never promised anything more then work experience in the first place).

Oh God, I just feel like crying.

This girl was supposed to be my friend. Or at least that's what i thought.

Suppose the jokes just on me, next time I will make sure I have everything in writing.

What a total fool I have been.
I got in trouble in work over it, for taking too much time off, and I missed a friends wedding too.
My head is in a tizzy, I was seriously duped!

aniascor

Do you have anything at all in writing? Even an email?

Mrs_Doyle

I have one email, but its a chatty, personal one, and doesn't actually have anything concrete in it.
Ah I don't actually know why I wrote in this forum, because I have kinda decided just to drop it, and learn from it.
I am just devastated.
It's not even about the money, its more about how I just didn't see this coming.

mad m

Well how could you see it coming as you trusted the so called friend. Surely the work you did must have your mark on it in some kinda of way?

Gran Hermano

Notch it up to experience, especially if the industry is a close knit
as you suggest. Next time get a contract before you do anything.
Yes it sucks but consider it a lesson learnt.

sim2

But someone would have seen the DJ or maybe have spoken to him/her.

When you were working there, you may have had dealings with other people in the company/organisation....so would it worth your while to ring someone there who you remember from working there and ask them if they could vouch for the fact you did work there.

Or for the bitchy way: Find out the name of the personnel person in that company. Send them the details of when you worked and what you did and also a copy of the e-mail...maybe then they will be reprimanded for bringing the name of the company/organisation into disrepute or tarnishing the name of the company!!! Remember you now think that they are unreliable and that if you heard of someone else going to work there you might warn them!
A similar thing happened to me before and I lost a fair bit of money over it!

Mrs_Doyle

I could prove I was there if I really wanted to, but apart from getting my money, I don't think I would be doing myself any favours.
As I said, the lil lady in question is fairly successful and carries a lot more sway with people in the industry then I do.
I would probably end up gaining a reputation as a trouble maker.
It's not fair, but It could happen, and probably would.

sham69

Sorry to hear that Mrs Doyle,
I have to say I would not let it drop, my self respect is worth more than any money. I know thats a bit of a cliche but its the way I feel. Its easy for me to say to you don't let this drop but I respect the way you know your so called friend has a bit of pull in the industry and are afraid of the consequences.
I hope you don't look back at it in years to come and regret not doing anything about it.
Best of luck whatever your decision, its a tough one...

6th

You get a bad rep if you drop it, your collegues in the future wont respect you. Stand up for yourself .... people will respect you for it.

I'm in an industry that rips people off like that all the time, keep at them.

fatboypee

I got caught out in similar circumstances about 8 years ago, working as a contractor I was promised a big fat bonus £5000 as it was in them old days if I would relocate and help set up the new IT site, I bust me nuts working all the days, stayed in a hotel (paid by me) to do it. End of Contract, the company denied all knowledge of the bonus and to cap it all would'nt pay the hotel bill. I had not a leg to stand on.

TO THIS DAY this has haunted me, and in hindsight I would'a done a whole lot more about it, knowing how it's affected me....

FBP.

Dundhoone

Forward the mail you got back from that company to the lady who hired you.
Send it with a very polite note, asking could she have a word with company x and sort it out the mix-up.

If she just messed up, and ment for you to get paid, and if she is anyway half decent, she will make some effort to get you paid. If she cant, she may leave you with an apology, but at least thats something, and you know it was a genuine error on her part.

If she deliberately took advantage of you, she will ignore the mail or fob you off again. At least you will have the measure of her. You'll have to chalk it down to experience.

Zombrex

It is a leason not to do things for money informally.

Really you should have gotten an email, from HR or from your friend, detailing the work, what you were required to do, when you would start, how long it would be for, and how much you would get paid.

If you had all that then it would be up to the company to sort out.

But it sounds like you have a very informal agreement between friends, so the company could easily brush you aside and say that they never agreed to anything and anything you though had been agreed was just a mistake on your part Simply showing that you were there probably wouldn't be enough.

I'm afraid you will just have to put it down as a lesson to learn.

Dave!

fatboypee wrote:

I got caught out in similar circumstances about 8 years ago, working as a contractor I was promised a big fat bonus £5000 as it was in them old days if I would relocate and help set up the new IT site, I bust me nuts working all the days, stayed in a hotel (paid by me) to do it. End of Contract, the company denied all knowledge of the bonus and to cap it all would'nt pay the hotel bill. I had not a leg to stand on.

TO THIS DAY this has haunted me, and in hindsight I would'a done a whole lot more about it, knowing how it's affected me....

FBP.

With this person's experience in mind, I think you should stand up for yourself (assuming you have proof) and don't let them screw you like that. I'd feel so used if I were in your situation.

kmick

I would take a triple headed attack
.
1) Gather all the documentation you have regarding the job, emails, invoices, actual copies of your work, lists of hours, train ticket receipts, etc etc etc. Anything you can get your hands on. Tell the company you are filing a small claims court application to recover your money. If they tell you to get lost - file it and see what happens. It only costs a fiver. They probably wont even turn up and you will get a default judgement.

2) Ring the Finance and HR departments seperately if such things exist (one of the magers if not) explain your situation but do not get into details such as contracts etc. Tell them you have records of the work you did. If they wont play ball tell them you have a friend in a Debt recovery Agency and you are going to call in a favour. Explain it will affect their credit rating - watch as they panic...

3) If the work you did was web work or anything that is public facing tell them you are invoking copyright on that material and as far as you are concerned they have stolen it from you. I dont know too much about this but it may be enough to scare them and at the very least they will have to take the material down. Media companies take copyright very seriously.

If you keep at them they will pay up. Let me tell you this you will get far more respect being a hard ass than you will doing nothing. They probably only owe you a couple of grand. It wont be worth the hassle not to pay up.

There are people all over the world who wont pay their bills. The reason they do it is that they think that they can get away with it because people are lazy. Not only did you lose the money but you also lost the days pay you took off.

<Sneaky Trick> If they get back to you and make an offer for say the 1500 they owe you tell them you agreed 3000. They may send on something which had the figure 1500 on it strengthening your case in the small claims court even further.

Good luck - get the bustards

ps no professional company expects people to do work for them for free. This is a lie.

serena06

the exact thing happened to me last year, never spoke to the person again. it's unbeliavable how people can do such things, it's just so unfair to take advantage of someone elses work like that

I mean what do you have to loose???

nesf

Wicknight wrote:

It is a leason not to do things for money informally.

Really you should have gotten an email, from HR or from your friend, detailing the work, what you were required to do, when you would start, how long it would be for, and how much you would get paid.

If you had all that then it would be up to the company to sort out.

But it sounds like you have a very informal agreement between friends, so the company could easily brush you aside and say that they never agreed to anything and anything you though had been agreed was just a mistake on your part Simply showing that you were there probably wouldn't be enough.

I'm afraid you will just have to put it down as a lesson to learn.

I'd have to agree, if you agree to do work informally then you are putting yourself out on a limb to begin with really. From experience, never put anyone in the business world in a position to screw you over unless there is no other option. Some people will hold up their side of the deal but there's always a few bastards out there that will take advantage of the situation and it can be very hard to tell which someone is a lot of the time.

mountainyman

The small claims court is a good idea.
The other thing to do is seek a winding up order against the company.
If they tell you that as far as they are concerned the work was free invoice them and use that invoice as the basis of the claim.

MM

mick.fr

I am not gonna cry for you, get a contract/letter before starting anything, simple as that.

leeroybrown

This was dragged back up from the depths by '6th' after over 6 weeks. The OP has probably forgotten it's even here at this stage.