Just burned bridges with a large agency

[Robinho]

I think you're worrying far too much about everything you mentioned in the OP.

[lukemg]

I would have sewn the contract up tight and taken my chances....
Forget about blacklists, they don't exist and even if a single agent takes against you there usually a few options for each gig.
Forget and move on.

[2BIT]

Obviously, I'll never get anywhere with that agency again. It might even have a wider impact if there's any truth in the blacklist rumours I suppose. I may have made a very bad decision or a very good one, but I made one, and stuck to it. Fortunately, my current client still wants me for the foreseeable future...

see I'm not convinced about this blacklist thing, who is going to take their time to contact other agents to warn them off you- it wont generate any revenue and is not guaranteed to work as the other agents may feel they are being blagged out of a good candidate - plus you could always play the same game and threaten to put them on your blacklist and contact your own network

agents think we are stupid

[TheFaQQer]

see I'm not convinced about this blacklist thing, who is going to take their time to contact other agents to warn them off you- it wont generate any revenue and is not guaranteed to work as the other agents may feel they are being blagged out of a good candidate - plus you could always play the same game and threaten to put them on your blacklist and contact your own network

agents think we are stupid

Some agents I know are reasonably pally with each other, having worked together at different places. I'm fairly sure that if it came up in conversation, they would tell each other who to avoid - not the same as circulating an email / list to everyone, but some form of warning.

[The Agents View]

see I'm not convinced about this blacklist thing, who is going to take their time to contact other agents to warn them off you- it wont generate any revenue and is not guaranteed to work as the other agents may feel they are being blagged out of a good candidate - plus you could always play the same game and threaten to put them on your blacklist and contact your own network

agents think we are stupid

If there's a blacklist, then I've never seen it, or heard of it. I have my own mental list of who I would and wouldn't use based on experience alone.

And FYI - I work for the biggest agency in the country, and my MD is here most days......

[Support Monkey]

This time next week they won't even remember your name, don't even worry about it, their not going to.

[TheFaQQer]

This time next week they won't even remember your name, don't even worry about it, their not going to.

I don't believe that's true. I know of one contractor I've worked with in the past who sends her CV in regularly to an agency I know, and they won't touch her - it just goes straight in the bin. They have a database of people they won't deal with, and I know three people that are on it.

[Support Monkey]

I don't believe that's true. I know of one contractor I've worked with in the past who sends her CV in regularly to an agency I know, and they won't touch her - it just goes straight in the bin. They have a database of people they won't deal with, and I know three people that are on it.

And i have had agencies i have burned call me a couple of weeks later with another contract, its swings and rounabouts, i think for a large agency it will be less of a concerned where as a one man band/smaller agency will remember you

[AussieDigger]

I agree with fellow posters. You should have taken the time to turn the contract into what you wanted. At the end of the day, any agency that bullies a client into signing a contract is asking to get nailed I think.

Interesting comments on the blacklist though. Not sure agencies realise that binning a CV based on a prior experience and thereby prejudicing the client and the candidate is actually unlawful. They wouldn't want to get caught because I know someone who felt the agent was doing this, went to the client via another agent, and got the gig. The agent who binned their cv looked foolish. Clients find this stuff out, they're not stupid. And neither are we as contractors.

[2BIT]

If there's a blacklist, then I've never seen it, or heard of it. I have my own mental list of who I would and wouldn't use based on experience alone.

absolutely, I've never believed there is a blacklist- certainly individuals (both agents and contractors) will have black-lists in their head, I blacklisted two agents over the last week