Opinions Required...

[kat2206]

Hey Guys... Would just like your opinions/professional knowledge on an issue please.

Myself and my colleague are both sales reps for the same company, to carry out our job we need a car, mobile and laptop (to be able to work from home/do quotes etc).

Our boss is a law unto himself and took our laptops away 4 weeks ago to have necessary software installed on them, he emailed us on Friday night and again on Sunday to advise that if we dont start to bring in more orders by the end of July then staff cut backs would be made swiftly. However, we cant carry out our jobs without having the laptops in place to be able to do these said quotes to then convert them into orders.

I have emailed the boss twice since Friday night to request that we have these laptops returned so that we can do our jobs as both myself and my colleague have numerous quotes that we need to be able to submit to the potential customers and without the lpatops we cannot submit the quotes.

We are out on the road every day, seeing potential customers advising them fof the best course of action and confirming that we will get the quotes out to them very soon, obviously we are lying and in my eyes being very unprofessional too as we are promising something that we cannot physically do.

However by the end of July and we havent received the laptops hence no more orders coming in then our positions are going to be made useless and potentially sacked however surely this is "not our fault" as the boss is refusing to give us the necessary "tools" that we need to be able to carry out our daily duties.

I have been employed by the company for 7 months and my colleague only 4 months during this time we have brought in substantial orders.

Any advice/suggestions other than look for a new job lol....

[Nosha123]

I would pick up the phone and ask him outright how he expects you to process orders without the laptop.. dont wait for an email to reach him

[daffy654]

Write a letter to your boss explaining exactly what you have told us here. He will either give you the laptops back or not.
As you haven't been with the company long enough you have no chance of a tribunal for unfair dismissal.


.... look for a new job :)

[bigfoot3000]

Is your boss purposefully trying to sabotage the company? In these times of rough I thought that he would've been doing everything in his power to keep the company afloat. With the company going down it sounds like he's probably sold the laptops to pay his rent!

[kat2206]

Hi Nosha, unfortunately he nevers picks up his phone. I rang him on his mobile last week and he didnt answer so I called the office to see if he was there, he was but he told the receptionist that he was far too busy to come to speak to me...

I have an order to place for another £4500 today and he hasnt replied as I cant process it without either him doing it or doing it myself on my laptop...

Is there any laws out there that I can use against him as he isnt providing the necessary tools to be able to do our job and then potentially sacking us for not doing the job... contradiction in terms i know!

[bigfoot3000]

Kat this is the wrong section, put this same question in the "Law" section where more people can help you.

[mollykins]

is there not any computers you can use at the office to put this information onto?

[LoftyLottie]

Molly read the question properly.

It sounds very much as if you are soon to be out of a job and because of the time you have been with the company you can't go down the route of constructive dismissal, etc.

He sounds like a nasty piece of work and a coward.

I would start looking elsewhere.

[kat2206]

Hi Mollykins, unfortunately as reps we dont work out of the office, its based in Essex, at least 3 hours drive for me to get to, we only really go into the office when its time for sales meetings every 3 months. We are basically stuck!! I offered to go down to the office last week to be able to do my quotes and the boss wouldnt let me.

Bigfoot, thank you... never even thought of putting it in the law section... doh!

[mollykins]

aahhhh . . . .