Never thought it will happen to me...

[northernladuk]

Agent was mentioned. Surely this means you're not direct with client then?

Im sorry I wouldnt be there unless agent sorted out contract with my ltd. Nothing to do with client - thats agents problem to sort out their contract with them.

But sorting the contract between your LTD and the agent doesn't matter hey.

This can only end badly. Client is being nice but it'll all change and they wont give a monkeys if it all goes wrong and they dont pay.

Did you miss this bit?

but then the starting day came, agent made some aggreement witht the client and told me "you can work directly with them now, under any scheme they find acceptable", and (probably) went to the pub to celebrate.

[psychocandy]

But sorting the contract between your LTD and the agent doesn't matter hey.



Did you miss this bit?

I did miss that bit. Even more worrying. So agent turns down the opportunity to make some money and washes his hands of the entire deal?

Not being funny how many people have had this? Agent says dont worry about me, you crack on and go direct and I wont take a cut - its all for free all the work I've done. Never going to happen.

More like agent can see something fishy and knows the client ain't ever gonna pay anyone for this work...
And true to form client is acting like best mate saying yeh no problem it'll be sorted. Id be wondering what agent knows that I dont. Have they got an mo of doing this sort of thing?

[MattZani]

I did miss that bit. Even more worrying. So agent turns down the opportunity to make some money and washes his hands of the entire deal?

There's only one scenario where an agent turns down money: there is no money.

[jmo21]

I did miss that bit. Even more worrying. So agent turns down the opportunity to make some money and washes his hands of the entire deal?

Not being funny how many people have had this? Agent says dont worry about me, you crack on and go direct and I wont take a cut - its all for free all the work I've done.

eh?

They worked out a deal. They'll have paid the agent a lump sum instead of doing a typical client->agent->contractor payment flow.

[BlasterBates]

Hang loose, I did a three month contract without a scrap of paper, and quite a few where I was working for a week or two without the paperwork.

There are loads of contractors who've either have been terminated at a moments notice or haven't been paid because the agency or client went bankrupt, and they all had a "PCG approved" contract.

[SueEllen]

Hang loose, I did a three month contract without a scrap of paper, and quite a few where I was working for a week or two without the paperwork.

There are loads of contractors who've either have been terminated at a moments notice or haven't been paid because the agency or client went bankrupt, and they all had a "PCG approved" contract.

The contracts are to protect you if the client isn't going to go bankrupt and decides for other reasons not to pay you.

This is why you need a written contract or at worst an email saying what the agreed rate is with the full name of one of the people n who is responsible for the contract.

PCG+ membership now gives you a payout if either the client or agency goes bust.

[DiscoStu]

The contracts are to protect you if the client isn't going to go bankrupt and decides for other reasons not to pay you.

This is why you need a written contract or at worst an email saying what the agreed rate is with the full name of one of the people n who is responsible for the contract.

PCG+ membership now gives you a payout if either the client or agency goes bust.

I'd assume only with a written contract in place.

[SueEllen]

I'd assume only with a written contract in place.

I don't work without a written contract.

[mrv]

Wow, just left for a day and it exploded.

So, to clarify: it was supposed to be a vanilla contract, me -> agent -> client. Because the work itself was of international nature and outside EU, signings stalled a bit because agent did not know how to bill correctly, suggested a few umbrellas/accountants, but none of them could actually help (mostly because they had no experience abroad). Then the agent took his cut from the client and said he is pretty much done here and I'm free to work directly with the client or whatever, don't care anymore. So I come in and start working, client is happy with me and with everything, except all agreements me and client have are still coming from the initial offering that the client made. The client seems to be in no hurry to straighten things out (pretty big organisation, things tend to take a while in those), but is happy with me, my work etc. Given the company's size, position in the market, public image etc I doubt they would not pay me, but still I'm getting increasingly uneasy about it. Maybe, as ChimpMaster suggested, I'm a charity, maybe I'm just too stupid and gullible, or maybe I don't want to make what I believe to be unnecessary fuss - only time will tell.

[psychocandy]

Hang loose, I did a three month contract without a scrap of paper, and quite a few where I was working for a week or two without the paperwork.

There are loads of contractors who've either have been terminated at a moments notice or haven't been paid because the agency or client went bankrupt, and they all had a "PCG approved" contract.

Must be mad. No chance in a million years I'd do that. Not even a day without something like an email.