Job offer versus contract...NIGHTMARE!

[MillieFTM]

Sorry, a bit of a long one....

I received a job offer via email from a recruitment agency that stated in the text my salary, bonus % and that my company car was £750/month. If I wanted a car more than this then I could top it up.

My contract came through and all it stated was that the company car was a band C. I didn't think to query it as I had it in black and white that my offer was for £750.

I've now started the job, and it turns out someone made a mistake and band C is actually £424/month.

Obviously this is a lot less and leaves me almost £4k down a year from where I thought I was going to be!

I really don't know what to do! Ultimately I'm not going to leave the job because of this, but I'm not sure why I should be the one to pay for someone else's mistake?

Am I being unreasonable to expect the new company to make some kind of gesture of goodwill if it was an internal mistake?

It's causing alot of upset at home because my old company offered to match the new package and I turned that down 😭

Have you flagged it with HR attaching the offer and asking for the compensation to be changed to match the offer as agreed, what was their response?

Hi, thanks for your response. I have, and they've just come back to me and said it wasn't their mistake and that they can't honour it.
Great!

Can you afford the lesser amount? If so maybe stick it out. If you can't insist on what is written in your contract. I personally would do the latter and question everything else written in the contract.ive worked in a role where I was offered an amount but never received it due to these "errors" it bread resentment and I was out of pocket so I left. Much easier to question this now than in a couple of weeks/months.

It certainly wasn’t your mistake tho
I think their inflexibility is not a good sign - it’s a big difference and you had an initial email which suggested a different package
if you’ve gone through a recruiter I’d speak to them as well

Thank you both. The conversation feels very awkward with a new company as I don't want to put anyone's nose out of line.
Although we can afford the lesser amount, it's not what I thought I was agreeing to and I really don't want to have to pay extra for the car.

As an aside, if I choose a car at this lower value £424 then we will never use it outside of work as we have a family and the sort of cars available are not practical with a young family. The value £750 I thought I was getting means I can choose a far bigger car ofcourse so we could effectively replace our family car. Only this way would it actually be of any benefit to us 😔

Why would you use it outside of work? the car is for business. Am I missing something?

You could still go back to your old employer and let them know you’d consider coming back for the matched package. Would involve eating a bit of humble pie but I’m sure your notice period in your new job is very short considering you’ve just started.

@biedrona plenty of people use company cars outside work and it’s perfectly fine to do so usually.

OP I guess the question is: do you want to die on this hill? Is the car allowance difference enough to make you rethink the job?

Yes the car is for business but also personal use so I have to pay benefit in kind tax for it which can be very hefty depending on the car.

It's not really, but it just feels wrong that I'm the one loosing out when I didn't make the mistake 😭

A company car is a perk that is offered as part of the recruitment package. It doesn't need to be connected to having to drive for work at all.

OP, I had similar with my job. The advert said I was eligible for a cc, when in fact I wasn't. Initially, hr had the same blasé response. So I spoke to my manager and told him what had happened, and then wrote back to hr (with my manager cc'd) saying that I was very disappointed in their response, had factored the cc into my considerations when accepting the job and was now left £x py less than expected. I also said that it was unreasonable to expect me to know the company car policy from outside the company as this was not provided with any offer and the situation was not a great start for me at the company.

They came back with a £2k one off "welcome payment". Still not really equivalent, but i chose to accept and not take further as I see a long term future with the company. If I was on interested in being there for a couple of years and then moving on, I would absolutely have negotiatiated harder

If the agency mistakenly put it in writing, could you try to get HR to contact them and argue they’ve made a promise on their behalf that they are being asked to honour? I can’t see a rebate from the agency fee covering over £300 a month but it looks like their error to rectify.
Did the agency offer letter specifically state that it was tbc by your employer? They may counter by saying it was up to you to check the terms/offer/ contract from the new employer.
Sorry for your situation.

I'm sorry this has happened, however your contract is between you and your employer. Whatever the recruitment agency put down in an email is meaningless and should only be considered an indication of potential offer until you get the contract & any supplementary offer letter.

Your new employer definitely will not want to set a precedent of matching anything that is stated erroneously or inaccurately by the recruitment agent because funding their mistakes on top of the recruitment fees gets very expensive quickly. It looks like someone at the agency guessed what a band C allowance might be and they don't care cos they will get their placement commission. The recruitment agency doesn't represent the company they are sourcing for and hiring company are not responsible for the recruitment agents errors or misrepresentations.

So yes, unfortunately you are being unreasonable, definitely query everything in the contract and offer with employer directly next time.

@fluffi has good points, @MillieFTM. In my experience agencies will write an overview of the offer they’ve been asked to make but write ‘this is not legally binding/will be superseded by the employers terms’ or words to that effect. It’s just a guideline in general it seems.
The agency may very well be taking the fall for a hiring manager who instructed them without checking with their seniors/HR what monetary value Band C equates to.

We’ve also had agencies who charge additional fees based on company cars as they add £ to the salary. And thus increase their fee.

Apologies if that’s unclear. An agency will assume a company car/equivalent allowance is a benefit increasing the value of the salary package and bill their percentage accordingly. With ours, they added £2k to the salary for billing purposes. It’s a good while ago so that may have changed.

Can you keep your own car and take the car as an allowance and pay tax, but get the additional salary?

What sort of car did you need at £750 a month and what can you get at £424 a month? Does that figure cover tax/insurance/servicing etc?

I think you are going to have to chalk this one down to experience. It isn’t the companies fault and you probably should have checked what Band C meant when you got the written offer.

You would probably be better off sticking with your current car and taking the cash.