Final stages of agreeing the contract with a large agency ahead of starting work with end client within days. I've just asked a different question about contract terms on the Accounting/ Legal board but this is somewhat different. It's about payment terms and how hard to push.
Background: been contracting 4 years (PM) and during that time have sometimes been direct to client and sometimes through large agencies. The first time I was through an agency I was in 'short and curlies' position, first 'proper' contract (after my actual first contract being through somebody I knew with a direct contract overseas) and with no time or inclination to negotiate, therefore I ended up signing more or less what I was given and lumping it. Payment schedule was monthly in arrears, self-billing arrangement etc too. Did not make me happy (though it must be said, it was pretty efficient, just protracted and several weeks' consultancy time exposure before getting paid, which I find uncomfortable, particularly in tandem with some of the other clauses in the contract where they could withhold payment in various circumstances.)
Spool forward and now I'm an older hand. I now negotiate everything I can on every contract, as hard as possible (obviously along the way prioritising and letting some things go where necessary on a nose/ spite/ face basis). Since that first time, I've only ever had weekly payment terms - sometimes freely offered, sometimes I had to push, but always available.
I now find myself in the position of this company seriously implying they can't support it. Not 'don't want to', not 'not prepared to' but 'can't, because we'd need to create a unique exception process just for you'.
I must say that on a point of principle I'm going to go back once again and challenge it hard, making it clear again that MyCo's payment terms are X and I won't sign up to anything else. However clearly the spectre is rising as to whether I should just let it go (on aforesaid nose/ spite/ face basis).
So my question - has anyone ever come across a major player in the market that literally CAN'T support weekly payments without an exception process (obviously we all know that they CAN pay me e.g. manually when they want, but clearly there's a difference between trying to force them to create an exception process every week just for MyCo, compared with holding out long enough, and not blinking, such that they put me into a weekly payment process they already have but just don't want to divulge). Obviously in the end it'll be about whether I have the will to walk away from the contract over this and the usual cost/ benefit decision, but I'm not quite at that stage yet and I'm trying to assess here whether they're just trying to make me blink first or whether this is genuinely going to be a massive ball-ache for them.
Extra information: unfortunately and very annoyingly, in this situation I'm contracting to one agency, that is contracting to another agency, that only then contracts to the end client (as a result of which the contract is generally a nightmare) and I'm wondering whether this chain makes the processes genuinely more difficult on their side so that aside from the usual cash flow reasons they don't want to pay me weekly, there are other reasons that make it even more of a nightmare for them.
TL: DR - is it really possible that a major player in the contract market might really be in a position where it so consistently pays monthly that it really can't easily support regular weekly invoicing without a lot of hassle?
Background: been contracting 4 years (PM) and during that time have sometimes been direct to client and sometimes through large agencies. The first time I was through an agency I was in 'short and curlies' position, first 'proper' contract (after my actual first contract being through somebody I knew with a direct contract overseas) and with no time or inclination to negotiate, therefore I ended up signing more or less what I was given and lumping it. Payment schedule was monthly in arrears, self-billing arrangement etc too. Did not make me happy (though it must be said, it was pretty efficient, just protracted and several weeks' consultancy time exposure before getting paid, which I find uncomfortable, particularly in tandem with some of the other clauses in the contract where they could withhold payment in various circumstances.)
Spool forward and now I'm an older hand. I now negotiate everything I can on every contract, as hard as possible (obviously along the way prioritising and letting some things go where necessary on a nose/ spite/ face basis). Since that first time, I've only ever had weekly payment terms - sometimes freely offered, sometimes I had to push, but always available.
I now find myself in the position of this company seriously implying they can't support it. Not 'don't want to', not 'not prepared to' but 'can't, because we'd need to create a unique exception process just for you'.
I must say that on a point of principle I'm going to go back once again and challenge it hard, making it clear again that MyCo's payment terms are X and I won't sign up to anything else. However clearly the spectre is rising as to whether I should just let it go (on aforesaid nose/ spite/ face basis).
So my question - has anyone ever come across a major player in the market that literally CAN'T support weekly payments without an exception process (obviously we all know that they CAN pay me e.g. manually when they want, but clearly there's a difference between trying to force them to create an exception process every week just for MyCo, compared with holding out long enough, and not blinking, such that they put me into a weekly payment process they already have but just don't want to divulge). Obviously in the end it'll be about whether I have the will to walk away from the contract over this and the usual cost/ benefit decision, but I'm not quite at that stage yet and I'm trying to assess here whether they're just trying to make me blink first or whether this is genuinely going to be a massive ball-ache for them.
Extra information: unfortunately and very annoyingly, in this situation I'm contracting to one agency, that is contracting to another agency, that only then contracts to the end client (as a result of which the contract is generally a nightmare) and I'm wondering whether this chain makes the processes genuinely more difficult on their side so that aside from the usual cash flow reasons they don't want to pay me weekly, there are other reasons that make it even more of a nightmare for them.
TL: DR - is it really possible that a major player in the contract market might really be in a position where it so consistently pays monthly that it really can't easily support regular weekly invoicing without a lot of hassle?
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