What would you do?

[lindsay~]

I've just been offered a new contract. Great!!

Agent mistakenly sent me the client contract to sign...
Now I see they are making a 35% margin and I am more than miffed!!

Up until this point I was happy, now I am not.

Don't think agent has realised their very unfortunate mistake yet. Received late this afternoon ( just before home time probably)

As an aside, kinda wondering whether client has received the contractor/ agent contract....

So, what would you do?

L

[stek]

Win/win for me - but cover your arse and get another gig just in case.

Make sure agent knows you have almost all the cards, 35% is taking the piss, unless it's 100 quid a day and agent is taking 35 quid!!

if it was me I'd email/write back in an 'ooops, what have you done' kind of way, allude to going direct/going to clientco/going to agents boss, but only in hints, play it a bit.

But if this a £400 a day'er and they're marking up 35% that's £540 to you, so divide that by a reasonable 15% = 540/1.15 is £470 to you.

Please bear in mind I've been on Lee's Moonraker tonight...

[Wanderer]

Now I see they are making a 35% margin and I am more than miffed!!

Ring them up and tell them that they are going to cut that to 15% or you will tell the client and all hell will break loose.

They will scream like a stuck pig but you've got them by the short and curlies so go for it.

[deckster]

Ring them up and tell them that they are going to cut that to 15% or you will tell the client and all hell will break loose.

They will scream like a stuck pig but you've got them by the short and curlies so go for it.

Terrible advice. 100% guarantee that if you take your agency problems to the client they will not be in the slightest bit interested, and will think much the less of you for doing so. This is a matter between you and the agency and bringing the client in will only piss them off.

35% is a high margin for sure, but it's not terrible and gives you good leverage at renewal time. Right now though, having agreed a rate, to go back and say I want more is the height of unprofessionalism and would make me think twice about taking the OP on at all.

Suck it up and use it at renewal. Now is not the time.

[Scrag Meister]

Suck it up and use it at renewal. Now is not the time.

If it was a longish contract there is no way I would "suck it up" and leave it running that long. It would be eating me for the whole time.

As far as the client is concerned they only care that you're working well, and that you cost £Xpd, not into the contractor rate negotiations.

I would go back to the agent, point out your concern and try and negotiate something more reasonable, 15-20%. If the role falls through so be it. The agent is interested in keeping the contract viable, and would prefer not to have to go through the whole recruitment procedure again. 15-20% of something is better than 15-20% of nothing, in the short term anyway.

GL

[TheFaQQer]

Terrible advice. 100% guarantee that if you take your agency problems to the client they will not be in the slightest bit interested, and will think much the less of you for doing so. This is a matter between you and the agency and bringing the client in will only piss them off.

35% is a high margin for sure, but it's not terrible and gives you good leverage at renewal time. Right now though, having agreed a rate, to go back and say I want more is the height of unprofessionalism and would make me think twice about taking the OP on at all.

Suck it up and use it at renewal. Now is not the time.

WHS.

You, presumably, accepted the contract at a rate that you were happy with. If you aren't happy with the rate, then don't accept the contract - simple.

It's great leverage when a renewal comes up, but to turn round now and demand an increase is no different from the agency turning round now and demanding you get a lower rate. If the agency won't move on renewal, that's the time you make subtle comments to the client - "I'd love to extend, but I'm having a couple of issues with the agency - they think 35% margin is reasonable, and I don't!"

The client will have clauses in their agreement with the agency which prevents - or certainly disincentivizes (ugh!) - them from taking you on direct - make their life difficult and they'll quickly drop you for whoever was second.

[kaiser78]

If you're happy with your rate try and forget about the agency margin and use to re-negotiate at re-newal time. Easier said than done I know !

[Wanderer]

100% guarantee that if you take your agency problems to the client they will not be in the slightest bit interested, and will think much the less of you for doing so. This is a matter between you and the agency and bringing the client in will only piss them off.

Oh yeah, it's going to cause a major tulip fight, that's for real. I'm not saying to bring the client straight into it but use this as a threat to the agency if they won't budge. There is big money at stake here and you have to either play hard ball or get the Vaseline out and take it.

As for it being a matter between you and than agency and nothing to do with the client - that's a myth perpetuated by agents who's business model depends on keeping both sides in the dark. The fact is that I've worked for a lot of clients who are sympathetic to contractors being ripped off by unscrupulous agencies. A number of times, I have colluded with the client to negotiate the agents margin down and you will find that client has a LOT more clout with the agent than the contractor ever will so it's good to have them on your side.

And let's not forget that both the contractor and the client lose out when the agent takes a big margin, the only winner is the agent...

[lindsay~]

Thanks and a quick update

Thanks for all your replies - a mixed bag of advice there!

I finally agreed to a 30% margin. Not ideal but better than nothing! And of course a nice bit of leverage if and when we ever get to renewal in 3 months time.

Quite interesting to see the client contract. There were another couple of things that weren't in line with the contractor contract that I was able to iron out too.