Agency dodgy dealings

[mudskipper]

I think the client holds the cards here. If the client has agreed a 15% margin, then the client should be kicking the agent's arse and paying 15% (backdated).

If the client ain't that bothered, then there's nothing you can really do.

[SueEllen]

When you sign future contracts tell the agent to remove any clause that states you mustn't tell the client your rate. Just make a plausible reason why you want this removed and if it's plausible you can get it removed or altered.

That way the agent can't try tricks on like this.

[jmo21]

When you sign future contracts tell the agent to remove any clause that states you mustn't tell the client your rate. Just make a plausible reason why you want this removed and if it's plausible you can get it removed or altered.

That way the agent can't try tricks on like this.

Have you ever done this before? If so what was the reason you gave?

Struggling to think of anything that would compel the agent to remove that other than point blank refusing to sign the contract and them potentially losing the contract position to another agency.

[sal]

When you sign future contracts tell the agent to remove any clause that states you mustn't tell the client your rate. Just make a plausible reason why you want this removed and if it's plausible you can get it removed or altered.

That way the agent can't try tricks on like this.

It's probably just me, but i haven't seen such clause in my contracts. Then again how are they going to prove you did tell the client, yet alone do something about it... It's like the rules of conduit in most companies where employees are forbidden to share their salaries with colleagues, yet everyone knows how much everyone else is getting paid...

[TheFaQQer]

It's probably just me, but i haven't seen such clause in my contracts. Then again how are they going to prove you did tell the client, yet alone do something about it... It's like the rules of conduit in most companies where employees are forbidden to share their salaries with colleagues, yet everyone knows how much everyone else is getting paid...

Ajilon / Computer People used to have it in theirs. They also had a clause which said that if they lost work as a result of anything that you told the client, they would hold you liable.

I just told them that they were ridiculous clauses that couldn't be enforced so to take them out or I'd explain to the client why I wasn't working with them.

[PerfectStorm]

It's probably just me, but i haven't seen such clause in my contracts. Then again how are they going to prove you did tell the client, yet alone do something about it... It's like the rules of conduit in most companies where employees are forbidden to share their salaries with colleagues, yet everyone knows how much everyone else is getting paid...

Really? I find with salary most people are happier not talking about it...as if you do find out about others (careless printouts left lying around) it doesn't half get to you over time

[Taita]

Really? I find with salary most people are happier not talking about it...as if you do find out about others (careless printouts left lying around) it doesn't half get to you over time

Turn a blind eye, don't pry and then you won't cry!

[DTexas]

But seriously, agents are not the most honest of folk.

Indeed. Has an agent, ever in the history of man, ever told the end client the truth about why a contractor has declined a job offer or renewal?

I've had one agent tell me on the phone she would lie to the end client that the reason I was not accepting a renewal was because I didn't like working there & didn't like them. Not the truth, which was that their renewal terms were worse.

Another agent told me he would tell the client I would be "unable" to take up the job, when in fact it was the client's screening agency who were making it impossible for me to pass the screening with their increasingly constraining evidence demands.

There is a way around some of this, my friends.

Use your rights under the Data Protection Act to obtain correspondence between your agent and end-client, if you feel the agent has lied on your behalf. Submit it to your end-client then have fun discussing the matter with 'your' agent.

[jmo21]

I've had one agent tell me on the phone she would lie to the end client that the reason I was not accepting a renewal was because I didn't like working there & didn't like them. Not the truth, which was that their renewal terms were worse.

That's just massive stupidity to tell you.

You would simply inform the client of the real reason.

A "smart" agent wouldn't have told you they were going to do that.