Well i would but the cars pretty much undriveable now that the water pumps blown, it had a massive overheat when i was bringing it back so in all liklihood the head gasket is buggered now as well. Sorry if the explanations a bit confusing, but this is the first time ive ever had this kind of problem, and i havent been driving all that long (just shy of 2 and a half years) The main jist of it is is that i was expecting him to do the MOT there (he even said thats what he was going to do) but instead hes taken the car somewhere else and in between me dropping it off and picking it up, its suddenly developed a ton of faults which he now wants the best part of £1500 to rectify!

also, i forgot to mention, he quoted me a price of over £1000 to fix all the faults (the car didnt cost that much when i bought it), however when i have looked at the cost of parts, the total amount for all the parts i would need comes to less than £400.

Not sure if theres anything in this but id like a second opinion. Last thursday I took my car (57 plate Ford KA) into a local garage for its MOT. The garage owner said the cost would be £50 but this would include a service as well. Aside from there being a dent in the bodywork (which was there when i bought the car and is not critical damage), the car itself ran fine. A few weeks prior to this i had some work done on the brakes at the same garage, he said he had also had a look at the power steering and suspension as well but found no faults with it. I returned 2 hours later to pick my car up to find that my car had failed the MOT for the following reasons:- Leak on power steering system Offside suspension macpherson strut causing excessive movement. Steering rack faulty causing excessive movement. Brakes required replacement discs. I challenged him on this as he had previously stated there were no faults, much less should there have been any faults with the brakes being as id paid him to fix them less than a fortnight previously! As it turns out, they had not done the MOT there, but instead had driven it to another garage well over the other side of town, and thus he said he wanted an additional £50 for doing this. To add insult to injury, he also stated that on the way back, the water pump had failed, and thus he had had to call for the vehicle to be towed back, which he was planning to add to my rapidly increasing bill, a request to which i less than politely told him to put where the sun doesnt shine. the last straw came when he said he wasnt able to carry out the required work for at least 3 weeks and was intending to charge me storage for the vehicle while he "got round to it", to which i immediately got in my car and drove it home (i only live round the corner), where it has stayed since then and will continue to stay until i can get something sorted out for either repairs or a new car. I have used this garage for the past couple of years and this has never happenned before with him, there was nothing wrong with the car before i took it to him and i find it surprising that after i left it in his care it suddenly develops a whole host of unexplained problems, most notably which caused it to fail its MOT. I have yet to give him any money and dont beleive i should have to, but is there anything i can do about it because i believe he is trying to take the micky and rip me off.

Ok, so theye gotten back to me today, although by telephone, i did ask for their reasons to be put in writing (either by letter or email) but this request has been refused (says a lot dont it?) anyways, the reason they have given is thus:- This would be fine, were it not for the fact that employees who work direct for the company in the same job ARE paid a higher rate of pay and receive better benefits when on a company contract as opposed to an agency one. I suppose i had best start looking for someone to give me proper legal advice eh?

well, i did speak to them yesterday morning and again they just said that they were "exempt". I asked them to state exactly why they believed they were exempt and to put said reasons in writing, and was told they would get back to me. as yet, nothing. the woman i spoke to sounded unsure and rather taken aback when i asked for this, almost as if she was just supplying a "stock" answer that usually works whenever the subject comes up.

Well, this is the comparitor i have, who works at the same depot:- This is my situation:- As i said in one of my earlier posts, one of the other guys who works at the depot for the same agency has worked there for the past 3 years, and has been on permanent nights the entire time, he has had written assurances of pay rises/promises of night rate pay on several occasions, however they have always failed to materialise.

so, what "exemptions" are they trying to cite here?, or are they just trying it on?

the agency pays me

thanks for that, if im reading it correctly, they are not "exempt" as they claim, as i have not had any rights extended to me that are extended to company workers, nor am i paid when in between assignments.

no, i do not receive any pay when not working, and i have never received any kind of contract of employment. The only thing i have signed was a document confirming my bank details, which also incidentally stated my rate of pay would be £6.50 p/h for the first 4 weeks, rising to £8.50 p/h thereafter, as of today, i am only being paid £6.31 per hour.

I have been employed via an agency for the past 12 months. Recently i was made aware of the "Agency workers regulations act 2011" by a friend who is a union rep. According to him, after 12 weeks of continuous employment on the same assignment, i should be entitled to parity with the wages of company employees etc, as it stands, i am still only receiving minimum wage, whereas others in equivalent positions are receiving £2.50 per hour more for doing the same work. I contacted my agency to query this, and was told that they were, and i quote, "exempt from this legal ruling", but they were unwilling to clarify exactly what this exemption means. Following the advice i received from both ACAS and my friend, i wrote to them and requested my parity to be backdated from the time when i had been there continuously for 12 weeks, and if they were not able to grant this request due to exemption, then for them to explain what their exemption is. I have yet to receive an answer, either in writing or via telephone/email etc. I have searched online for a list of "exemptions", but have yet to find any, so can someone tell me what they are, or if the agency im working for are trying to decieve me. also, i should point out there is another worker there who has been working there continuously for 3 years and who is also interested in this, as he would be owed quite a substantial amount of money in back pay.

whenever you recieve anything in writing from your employer it should be treated as official, and thus something to worry about. in your case they hav einformed you of your rights and because they have then lulled you into a false sense of security you havnt exersized them. ALWAYS exersize your rights, they are there for a reason... make mention of this at the next meeting you go to, ask them to explain exactly why you are being penalised for a non-existant T&C... Trust me on this, PC World abandoned personal sales targets in 2006, due to repeated critisism in the press and due to investigations by trading standards/consumer direct. It was abandoned and replaced with the current "store target" system as PC World employees were being forced to deliberatley mislead customers in order to secure sales, and thus keep their jobs by meeting their sales targets. Some employees were simply doing as they were told, but others were more or less committing fraud, usually by adding on things that had not been asked for, or by including things that they claimed were "part of a deal". stores in the DSG group are still doing this to some extent, i was with my friend the other week when he went to pick up his new laptop from currys. the laptop was advertised and reserved with the price of £299, however in the store the pimply faced youth salesman attempted to charge an additional £65 for microsoft office 2007 and norton anti virus, neither of which were asked for and neither of which were wanted. As the company no longer has personal targets, your manager has no business disciplining you for a non-existant sales target....ergo, you have done nothing wrong.. ok... if your doctor has isssued a sicknote, then your manager has no business venturing their own medical opinion, as i will wager a large amount of money that your manager is not a qualified medical professional in any capacity. Please ask your manager to provide details of his medical qualifications. your stepdad will not be allowed to sit in on the meeting, unless he is an employee of PC world OR a union rep. If you do have another meeting, inform oyur manager that regardless of the outcome, you will be making an official complaint about them, as they have committed various faux-pas and broken a few employment regulations, as well as a few company policies.

ok, this is blatant discrimination. first step:- Ring ACAS...NOW! 2nd step:- file an official written complaint with your manager stating that you are being discriminated against based on the fact that you have fallen pregnant. Also state that you consider your impending redundancy to be unfair and that at no time have they consulted you or completed a correct (and legal) redundancy process, and that should you be made redundant, you will immediatly file for an unfair dismissal tribunal based on discrimination, harassment and failure to carry out redundancy proceedures in the correct and legal manner. 3rd step:- pick up a form ET1 from the CAB and fill it in, then wait for their response to your complaint. if the resonse is anything other than "we are sorry, you wont be getting made redundant and you are entitled to full maternity pay"...then you file the ET1 and take them to the cleaners. basically, your boss is trying to save money on maternity payments etc, and so is trying to get rid of you on the cheap, dont let them.

oops!, didnt see that :s.. anyways... ok, so you have 32 months (2 years, 8 months) service, so you fully qualify for tribunal aid and, if required, redundancy pay. ok, the first step here would be to make a written grievance to the stores HR department, detailing that you believe that you are being unfairly penalised due to the store not being able to drum up enough custom in order to help you acheive your sales target, in addition, you feel you are being victimised as your manager keeps giving you warnins without allowing you the right of appeal. ask them to show you where in your contract it states that as well as the store target, you have to meet a personal target, seeing as how PC world ifficially disbanded the "personal target" system in 2006 due to critisism over its staff deliberatley misleading customers in order to hit their personal targets. seems ot me that the manager is imposing these targets because they either dont know that that system has been abandoned, or they are simply being an arsehole

your employment will have been transferred to the new owners via the TUPE system, and as such any and all existing conditions at the time of transfer still apply to you. if they get you to sign a "new" contract, then all your T&Cs from before are rendered null and void, and you have to abide by the terms of your new contract. if you refuse to sign a new contract, and you are not obliged to sign a new one either, they can do absolutley nothing to penalise you, as under the TUPE system they have to honour your previous T&Cs, even though you havent been given one. should they penalize you for not signing their new contract, you can then lodge a formal complaint , and, if required, take tribunal action if they continue to harass, penalise or threaten you.