Agents!! Why do they try this on every time?

[Sausage Surprise]

They send you for an interview at an agreed rate of £x.
The client likes you and you get offered the role.
Agent comes back to you "Client says can you do it for £25/50 a day less?"
What a load of cockrot! Client has said no such thing and agent is trying to increase his margin.

I have told him NO! Now waiting for him to come back with some sob story about "times being hard, etc etc"

This is not the first time this has happened!

[Manic]

Good stuff, let us know how you get on.

[nodric]

Stand your ground and do not let them bully you! I've had this almost relentlessly over the last 5 years. The agent is never going to loose face with the client, assuming he didn’t simply lie about the rate up front!

Just say no, you agreed a rate, and that’s what you will do it for, or you’ll look elsewhere. Mention of course you’ll drop the client a note of apology stating why you cannot now take the role! I more or less guarantee the latter will do the trick

.

[conned tractor]

They did this to me just last week.

So I adopted the touching toes position and accepted it since I was not in a position to risk losing the gig. Now once my feet are under the table and client is on my side I will hav a a slight grudge to bare, especially if the market picks up.

This was a 6.7% of rate squeeze.

[original PM]

In the current climate this could also come from the end client.

You know how it is - the permies want to look good in front of their manager so they try and squeeze the rate the pay the agency.

Cutting costs is king!

[Spacecadet]

If you're clever then you always factor in the haggling down when quoting your day rate

[The Agents View]

from my perspective - it does happen alot. Hiring Manager quite simply wants to look good - Squeeze a few quid out of the deal to line up budgets - if the agent hasn't factored it, then it will get passed to you - remember alot of the time we're not looking to keep the amount of money we take the same, just the % of the deal.

Sometimes we can flex and make it work - sometimes we have to combine a cut at our end with squeezing you, and sometimes we have to squeeze you straight away - that said - I think there are agents out there who are trying to take the pi55. It's tough to know which are which though. Personally I tend to try and avoid having to negotiate with contractors - i'd rather do it with the client - but sometimes I have to....just the way it is.

[Bright Spark]

The key to this is to have other offers on the table, then your negotiating
from a position of power, Also having another source of income apart from
contracting and being an expert in your area helps a lot.

[Sausage Surprise]

Stand your ground and do not let them bully you! I've had this almost relentlessly over the last 5 years. The agent is never going to loose face with the client, assuming he didn’t simply lie about the rate up front!

Just say no, you agreed a rate, and that’s what you will do it for, or you’ll look elsewhere. Mention of course you’ll drop the client a note of apology stating why you cannot now take the role! I more or less guarantee the latter will do the trick

.

Genius..

[Flubster]

Had this a few months back. Role was advertised at £450/day. Did interview, got offered role "but client has reviewed budget and can offer £415/day tops".

I came back with "actually, now I fully understand the role, I'm upping to my rate to £475 due to extra complexity of tasks".

Agent kept fannying on about trying to get hold of client, client on holiday, etc, etc. Finally, he rang me on a Saturday evening (I was out and couldn't take the call) then again first thing Sunday morning at which point I told him to get stuffed (nobody wakes me up on a Sunday morning).

So, I walked away from the role purely cos the agent dicked about too much.