Agent/Agency getting their come-uppance - a tale of greed?

[Boo]

The elephant in the room : who are the agency ?

Boo

[Antman]

But lying to get more money for themselves is not on, telling the client the OP wanted more money while bleating to the OP that the client wanted to pay less. Fraud and obtaining money by deception in my opinion...

Is that the transparent world of recruitment consultancy that you're describing?

[MicrosoftBob]

The elephant in the room : who are the agency ?

Boo

Wouldn't it be easier to have a list of agencies that don't do this, at least it would be a small list

[kal]

Is that the transparent world of recruitment consultancy that you're describing?

[psychocandy]

The agency was doing their job, I don't see what's wrong with what they did? They provide a contractor at a rate to the client then they negotiate with you over what they pay you. If you just stick to your rate and refuse to budge then they will eventually cave, ,unless their story is true. To go behind their back to the client says more about you, if I was the client and you did that I would look for someone else.

Bollax. In this case the agent lied, and got greedy.

[psychocandy]

Yeh but why can't agencies be honest? OK everyones in it to make money and agencies do add value by doing the legwork up front, factoring the payments etc so I don't begrudge this.

In this case, everyone lost out due to agents greed.

I long to live to see the day where an agents margin is declared to all parties.

[GazCol]

I long to live to see the day where an agents margin is declared to all parties.

Why?

[kevpuk]

The agency was doing their job, I don't see what's wrong with what they did? They provide a contractor at a rate to the client then they negotiate with you over what they pay you. If you just stick to your rate and refuse to budge then they will eventually cave, ,unless their story is true. To go behind their back to the client says more about you, if I was the client and you did that I would look for someone else.

Bollax. In this case the agent lied, and got greedy.

Exactly!

In this instance, the rate I wanted was agreed with the Agent up front, which they confirmed in writing as being submitted and not amendable.
Then, on Client offer, the Agent thinks "Oh, I want to make more out of this - the £50/day that is currently my margin is not enough".....and the whole saga begins.

This is not professional behaviour, and this is what I took umbrage with. I really was unsure about contacting the Client directly, but two things mattered:

Firstly, I wanted the gig, feeling it a good fit in all aspects.
Secondly, I feared that if the Agent was pulling a stunt on me, they may be doing the same to the Client - Agent knew I had a rock-solid offer from a previous Client that I was going to take if this one did not pan out. She then used this to tell Client that they had to pay more to get me! This was not the case as I only wanted what I was put forward at.

Talking to the Client, in this case, turned out to unravel this all. They had been told that I was asking for more money (and that is why the Agent had to ask them for more money); playing them off against the other offer I had. This is hugely unfair, and could have damaged my chances of working with the Client in the future and so on - proper misrepresentation.

I expect to get the rate put forward at, if offered a gig - plain and simple. If this rate doesn't work for the Agent, in terms of their margin, then they should deal with this at outset - I don't especially care what the Agent actually sees in margin terms, as long as the rate I get works for me.

Quite simply, that is professional behaviour, is it not? All that has happened here is the Agent has got her agency suspended from a huge Client's recruitment list, lost *all* margin they would have earned for a potentially long-term gig, and annoyed plenty of people. Counting the cost of £50/day for 6+ months is something they can now do.....Client and I have moved on, and 'new' agency have received a 'gimme' in terms of placed candidate who they simply need to pay

[Vordrak]

Actually, in this case the agent (if this story is true) behaved unlawfully and possibly criminally. In law, Misrepresentation is where a party to a contract induces another to enter into it by a material misrepresentation of fact or law. Misrepresentation is a common law remedy, modified by Parliament in the Misrepresentation Act 1967.

Remedies for misrepresentation include rescission and damages. Rescission means you undo the contract, which never happened and therefore there are no restrictive covenants so you can go direct to the client cutting out the middle man. Damages mean you keep the money you worked for and the agency pays you the £50 per day they fleeced you for.

Actionable misconduct is not 'just doing your job'. It is also a little known fact that Recruitment Consultants and Agents can be struck off for misconduct. Under s3A Employment Agencies Act 1973 the Secretary of State can bar a recruiter, their director or the entire company by applying to an Employment Tribunal. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/35

[Wanderer]

The agency was doing their job, I don't see what's wrong with what they did?

It's possible that the agency were engaged to provide contractors on a fixed margin, then they tried to rip off the client and the contractor but got caught with their fingers in the till. No doubt some junior agent who has been in the job for 3 months will be made a scapegoat for this but of course the agency will keep doing it if they think they can get away with it.

They provide a contractor at a rate to the client then they negotiate with you over what they pay you. To go behind their back to the client says more about you, if I was the client and you did that I would look for someone else.

When I've worked to recruit contractors for clients the agencies were like flies around tulip. Company policy made it crystal clear that the agency needed to offer a fixed margin deal and it was not for them to pad their margin by negotiating the contractor's rate down. If they didn't like that then their CVs went in the bin, it was as simple as that. We also made sure the contractors knew this too so they agencies knew not to mess with us.

The tide is turning against agencies. As I've said before I don't grudge them their margin but clients and contractors alike have had enough of them playing us off against each other. Clients are wising up to their stupid tricks and contractors are growing some hair on their genitalia and dealing direct with clients to keep the agents honest.