*False* Advertising: What can I do? Anyone help?

[BrilloPad]

why should we have to take it on the chin as we are only contractors

Everything says its 400 notes a day bar the contract.

Question to put would be would you of gone for the role if it was advertised at £325pd, prob not i suggest

Why should agencies be allowed to take the pi$$ and go back on agreements

The point is we are contractors (small businesses) and not permies. Whatever Hector may think.....

It is the job of the agency to try to screw us over and our job to stand up to them.

[BrilloPad]

Thanks for the feedback.

Have managed to have a chat with the owner of the agency. What a twit he is.

I understand how the rest of the company is so screwed up now.

They did say in the advert "Up to 400" - so I guess their butts are covered.

We are in a holding pattern at the moment as the client is on holiday at the moment.

Other problems now...

There are so many "restrictive convents" in the contract... can't work with the client company for 1 year without going through them - and have to pay them 12 weeks of contracting rates if this is breached, no notice period for me, can't leave - but they can fire the contractor if they are not happy...blah..blah.... all set up to benefit them.

Basically... I want to ensure my payment terms/terminations/rates etc... are reflective of the client terms they signed with the client. And, in the event of an extension, I don't work with them unless i want to.

Have asked for transparency with the clients contract to ensure it dovetails - and got told "no, not giving it to you" by the agent.

Pah, the arrogance of them.

Now they are asking for references everyday. Clearly either trying to extract contacts - or want to canvas a negative reference so they can go back to the client and say that I am a duff candidate - a better excuse then saying i won't sign due to them fudging the rates.

Questions:
----------

* Wonder what the average restriction clause period is, to prevent a contractor working with the client after a contract has ended - 1 year, 6 months? or less??

* Also, what is a reasonable agency rate nowadays? 20% - 25% - or less?


Insights always welcome.


.

The agreement between agency and client is none of your business.

If you dont like the contract then change it before you sign.

Usual restriction clause is a year - though I bet some on here have less.

IMO there is no such thing as a reasonable agency margin - it is just what rate you are happy with.

BTW - is this your first contract?

[VectraMan]

The restriction isn't unreasonable, but all of mine have been 6 months. But I'd never agree to a contract that didn't give me a get out.

All comes down to how much you want the job vs. how much they want you.

[expat]

I always get handcuff clauses changed to 6 months, and applying only to the contract, team, or project in question. I think that's reasonable for both parties, and no-one has ever demurred at changing it to that.

Basically I don't mind signing to say that I won't do this contract behind the agent's back; but I won't sign to say that he now owns all my contacts (past and future) with that company. The current contract is his, but there comes a time when the contacts that I make on the job are my own contacts. And the contacts that I made last year at the same company in a different country, certainly do not become his contacts now!

[AZZIK]

Hi -

A quick posting.

Welcome your views...

I responded to an IT contract website advert.

The ad had an outline of the client company as well as a stipulated rate of 400 per day.

After contacting the agency and sending in a CV I got a word job spec document emailed back.

The name of the client, the role and the rate was confirmed of 400 per day on the document.

An interview date was being set up.

After the interview, the client came back to the agent and gave a thumbs up.

I was offered the role and got a contract sent through by the agent.

In the contract - the rate was 325! They had taken 75 pound off the advertised rate per day(!) - indicating budget cuts by the client.

I feel I have been *baited and switched*. They are possibly pocketing the difference.

I have tried contacting low level HR staff of the client company indirectly - but have been asked to work out contract details with the agency directly. The client still wishes to engage with the contract.


My Approach

I want the agency to open the books on this contract.

I want to review the terms of business to ensure that they are not pocketing the difference.

If they do not:

1) Can I threatened any legal implications of false advertising if they do not comply? I can show that I turned other roles down due to this higher rated role and therefore have a claim for losses due to false advertising

2) Can I threaten writing to the CEO and HR Director of the *client* company with evidence of the predatary recuritment practices. They want to get close to the client company and may blow it for them.

3) They are a memeber of the REC. I can threaten to contact the REC and ensure that they expelled due to misleading advertising - although I am unsure how effective this trade body is?

What would you do?

Welcome approaches and ideas as well as where you think I stand legally.


Thanks.

.

Which agency??

[pauly]

Which agency??

Sorry, can't provide the agency details as working it through with them. After got it sorted, happy to provide this info.

[pauly]

Its an Ecoystem

The agreement between agency and client is none of your business.

If you dont like the contract then change it before you sign.

Usual restriction clause is a year - though I bet some on here have less.

IMO there is no such thing as a reasonable agency margin - it is just what rate you are happy with.

BTW - is this your first contract?

Agency contracts are a contractors business. If the agency sign you up for a year and only have a 3 month contract with the client - guess how long you are going to be there? We should make it our business to know the deal we are part of. It prevents the middlemen from taking advantage of their gatekeeper status. Also, the client should know how much I am being paid and how much the agency is pocketing - so the client does not get pissed off, cheap staff. Its an dependent ecosystem - not some nasty hierarchy.

[DiscoStu]

Agency contracts are a contractors business. If the agency sign you up for a year and only have a 3 month contract with the client - guess how long you are going to be there? We should make it our business to know the deal we are part of. It prevents the middlemen from taking advantage of their gatekeeper status. Also, the client should know how much I am being paid and how much the agency is pocketing - so the client does not get pissed off, cheap staff. Its an dependent ecosystem - not some nasty hierarchy.

Are you new to this?

[Another Dodgy Agent]

Agency contracts are a contractors business. If the agency sign you up for a year and only have a 3 month contract with the client - guess how long you are going to be there? We should make it our business to know the deal we are part of. It prevents the middlemen from taking advantage of their gatekeeper status. Also, the client should know how much I am being paid and how much the agency is pocketing - so the client does not get pissed off, cheap staff. Its an dependent ecosystem - not some nasty hierarchy.

Agent perspective here (for what it may be worth).

Your contract is between your Ltd Co and your agency. In turn the contract the agency has with the client is between the agency and the client. The only time you need to check contracts "dove tail" is if you are going direct to the client yourself.

I am guessing what happened originally regarding £400 per day on the spec, was that £400 per day figure was total charge to the client. (Embarrassingly I made this mistake in my first year doing recruitment but thankfully reached a compromise with the hiring manager, otherwise I would have had 0% commission). Consequently the agency have realised and now need to deduct their commission from the total charge hence £325 per day (which I feel to be quite high - a £75 daily deduction from the total works out as charge out = 18.75%, charge in is a whopping = 23.076% - to put this into context I normally charge between 10% and 12.5% to my clients, the lower figure dependent on volumes of business).

As the professional's on here have previously mentioned, you either go for it or walk away and find another gig.

[basshead]

Agent perspective here (for what it may be worth).

Your contract is between your Ltd Co and your agency. In turn the contract the agency has with the client is between the agency and the client. The only time you need to check contracts "dove tail" is if you are going direct to the client yourself.

That doesn't make sense, if you work direct there's only one contract and nothing to dovetail... From an IR35 perspective the upper and lower contracts must agree or the upper contract can lead to the contract being deemed caught by IR35.