Different rates pre and post interview/offer

[stacks]

I encountered that recently. Agent all along quoted £X per day, got the offer though at X -£25. £X was infact still £50 a day more than my last contract and I wanted the position so I just rolled over.

All depends how much you want the contract or time on the bench!

[2BIT]

This happens a lot. The agent is taking the pi55. The script goes like this -

1 Tell the agent that you're going to call the bloke who you met from the client co to double check.

2 The agent says to give him a few minutes and he'll get back you.

3 Then within 15 minutes the agent calls you back having got you the £50 back as if by magic.

WHS - if that doesn't work so no probs have something else lined up for that rate so will do that instead - could well have the same affect

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Another thing to take into account is the market you are in. I am noticing agencies becoming a lot more desperate for finding good developers (with a particular skillset) out there for example. If you are in a strong position then they won't have as much choice.

[BoredBloke]

How do you know that they are on a fixed percenatge. What stops them being on a fixed percentage + your £50

Have you seen the T&C's between the agent and the client?

[Wanderer]

How do you know that they are on a fixed percenatge. What stops them being on a fixed percentage + your £50

It is possible that they are pumping their margin up but more and more clients are pre-empting this by negotiating a Preferred Supplier status for a small number of agencies.

Part of the deal is that the agency takes a fixed commission, the client tells the agency how much to offer the contractor. The client has a water tight contract which says "you will pay the contractor 90% of what we pay you".

The agency does the dirty work of negotiating with the the contractor and if they can get the contractor for a lower rate then they are contractually obliged to pass this lower rate onto the client not use it to pump their margin.

So why would the agent bother negotiating a lower rate then? Because it's their JOB and it makes the client happy that they are actually doing something useful for a change.

What if the agency gets the contractor to take a rate cut and doesn't pass this saving on to the client then? If they do this then they are in breach of their contract with the client (who owes them > £100,000 at any given time) and when the client finds out they seek remedies for the breach of contract eg, withholding money they owe to the agency or even remove the agency from their PSL.

I've seen a case where an agency was ripping contractors off and they were dumped completely and all their contractors were marched off site.

[swamp]

I've seen a case where an agency was ripping contractors off and they were dumped completely and all their contractors were marched off site.

Pretty harsh on the contractors.