Is this illegal or just part of the territory?....

[d000hg]

If you're suggesting that simply because Mr Nice Agent finds a contractor that will work for less then he will pass that saving on to Mr Hard Done By Client then you're quite frankly trying to sell snow to an Eskimo.
Unless the agency client relationship is on a fixed margin/agreed rate card then the only party that gains benefit from a cheaper contractor is the agent as they certainly won't reveal to the client how much the contractor is being paid.

I think you've misinterpreted on two counts:

1)TAV is saying a fixed-margin arrangement is quite common
2)He's happily admitting that when it's not fixed-margin, as a business, his goal is to make money

[PrinceNamor]

To be fair, I don't think he was suggesting anything about passing it onto the end client, the good business part for them being that the agency gets the increased markup.

Doesn't client co ultimately suffer as the agent puts forward only those contractors willing to accept a lower rate even though the more expensive contractor may have the better skill set? The agency has no interest in offering any quality service to either client or contractor. They are true bottom feeders.

[NotAllThere]

If a contract is advertised at £400-£500 a day, and £500 a day is said to be too expensive, then the advert is misleading. Whether by accident or design, who knows?

@PrinceNamor yes - the client suffers. And if it happens often enough, rates are driven down as clients refuse to pay good rates for crap resource. Decent contractors can't get the roles they want and go and do something else, there are no good people coming into the market, because it's not worth their while, and the whole sector goes into decline.

[TheFaQQer]

Doesn't client co ultimately suffer as the agent puts forward only those contractors willing to accept a lower rate even though the more expensive contractor may have the better skill set? The agency has no interest in offering any quality service to either client or contractor. They are true bottom feeders.

Some agencies always seem to work on that method.

Others that I've worked through seem genuinely interested in putting the right person in place, and actually take some kind of interest in the technology and skills required rather than just being a CV farm.

[SueEllen]

People on this forum are ridiculously blinkered

I was pointing out strawberrysmoothie can't prove anything so it's a battle s/he can't win regardless of the legality of it.

BTW the trick is not to agree the final rate until you get in front of the client, you get the full role description and you get the client's business card/ name and phone number.

[northernladuk]

Doesn't client co ultimately suffer as the agent puts forward only those contractors willing to accept a lower rate even though the more expensive contractor may have the better skill set? The agency has no interest in offering any quality service to either client or contractor. They are true bottom feeders.

Surely there is often competition from other agents so number 1 goal is to get someone in. There is no point for the agent to put the second choice in at a cheaper rate if he isn't going to get the work. The guy that he puts forwards has to be up to the job or else the agent is in danger of someone elses candidate being accepted. I would think it is a balance from the agent to make sure they get the right person with most likelyhood of getting placed and then from that creaming what they can. If there are two or three equally capable then the agent can play games with the money.

[NotAllThere]

I was presenting one scenario, which, with variations, I've seen played out in a few sectors, in conjunction with offshoring.

[nomadd]

I got a call the following morning stating that they didn't want to interview me as 'i was too expensive' and the usual blah blah blah.

Lesson learned. Note the agent. Move on.

I have quite a few, like TAV, on my hit-list who I just don't deal with. Period.

And when they phone you in the future (and they will), really pee them off by simply saying: "I find every role these days has multiple agencies working on it; I only deal with the reputable ones", and then put the phone down. It'll make you feel so much better.

[cojak]

Also if you recorded the conversations you have to be very careful how you tread legally.

BTW it's not illegal to record the calls it's what you then do with them which may not be legal.

Run the recording through a dictation transcriber and present that, sorted.

[2BIT]

If you were selling a piece of IT hardware - lets say, a Server, and you sold it to a client at list price plus a bit of margin, then found out, that the supplier could do it cheaper, then that is not "bulltulip" or "agency games" thats GOOD BUSINESS.

absolutely and you must expect the supplier to stand firm on the lowest they could supply said server at, if you contacted a supplier found out their price and then tried to negotiate them down then it's good business practice, if you pissed and moaned when the supplier refused to reduce their price that's just delusion...