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feel like i'm being ripped

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    feel like i'm being ripped

    I have only had one contract previously so i am fairly new at contracting, but I went for an interview for a 2 month/ 2nd line support role in a big museum and the agent told me 12 quid an hour. I was expecting more like 15/hr but i'd been on holiday for a couple of weeks and I was running short of funds so i agreed. After the interview the agent rang me and said the client liked me but would only offer 10/hr, i was reluctant but i thought it was a museum and they were poor so I agreed.
    The agent then told me he had made it a 3 month contract not a 2 month contract.
    Then the problem was that this agency was not S-CAT registered so they had to go through another agency.
    I started the job which was was pretty cool and received my 3month contract from the original agency which i signed and sent back - but my manager took one look at his contract and refused to sign because he had never authorised the extra month extension. The agent had just made that up himself. The new agency then sent a revised 2 month contract to him which he signed.

    I was happy but poor, then some new contractors started onsite doing exactly what i was doing, and after some discussion i discovered they were on 15.50/hour.
    i was pretty peeved and to cut a short story short, i have spoken to my manager, the original dodgy agent and my second agent who has been pretty helpful. I worked out that both agents are taking 4 quid each while i take home 10. The original agent would have taken 8 himself if he hadn't been forced to look for a S-CAT registered firm for me to go through.
    Sad thing is that i really enjoy the job and while there is every likelihood that the contract could get extended, there is no way i will continue giving nearly half the contract fees to a @#%$ of an agent. The second agency looks like they may reduce their cut after their contract sales manager came and met me today.

    I probably did everything wrong in agreeing a drop in pay in the beginning but it just pissed me off when other contractors turned up doing the same job i was when i was on two thirds their pay.

    I am halfway through the contract now so i probably should just grin and bear it but f#ck it, i'll make the pr1ck pay for trying to rip me. I will name them if anyone is interested - but not until i have tried to contact someone else in the agency first to see if there is anyone decent working there.
    cheers
    B

    #2
    Don't think decent people work in agencies, they're mostly barrow boys.

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      #3
      Live and learn, live and learn.

      Generally agents are scum. If an agent isn't scamming in some way then you are not looking hard enough.

      All in all it is nowhere near the worst rip offs I've seen. I know of one instance where the rather experienced contactors were only getting 20% of what the agent was being paid.

      Don't ever worry that someone is being paid more than you. Such jealousy leads to suffering. But concentrate on getting paid more yourself.

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        #4
        Live and learn. We've all been ripped off by agents and/or clients at one point, so it's nothing to sweat over.

        As I always say, what's the difference between contractor A on £20/hr and contractor B on £30/hr? Contractor B asked for £30/hr.

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          #5
          Welcome to the contracting lark mate. Unfortunately what you have experienced is more the norm than the exception.

          Tell you what...get out of technical/engineering as soon as possible and get in to management. There is no money to be made as an engineer! :rollin

          Do yourself a favour and go get your ITIL and Prince2 qualifications and dont look back from there

          Regards

          Mailman

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            #6
            Don't worry. Yes you got lightly toasted on this one, but (a) so did most of us when we first started out - you just need to learn from the experience; and (b) it's a pretty short contract you're talking about, so no big loss.

            A couple of points:
            (a) "...the client liked me but would only offer 10/hr" - this is a very common trick. If you agree a rate before/at interview it's very unusual for customers to try and drop it for no reason. Much more common is the agent trying to get himself another couple of quid. Just brass it out and say no! in future. (yes I didn't realise this the first time it happened to me either...)

            (b) - agreeing to a lower rate because the client is poor. If you want to do that, that's your lookout, but my attitude would generally be "tough". Also, I often see museum buyers in action down at the auctions and trust me they've got more cash than most.

            Glad to hear you're enjoying the work.
            Best of luck,
            tl

            Comment


              #7
              Thanks for all your replies, I appreciate the advice.

              Just to let you know what happened, I wrote a rather nasty email and sent it to the general email address and also the london office email address for the agency.
              next morning i received a phone call from my particular agent's boss, this guy had received a call from his boss to sort it out.

              Basically they agreed to pay me the rate that was originally quoted to me (12 quid/hr), and when I asked if he would backpay me to the beginning of the contract, he ummed and arrghed a bit before agreeing.

              So I consider the matter closed now, I got more than I was expecting to get and hopefully my agent got a good shellacking from his manager.
              Contract finishes at the end of the month so I'll start looking for another one, I certainly won't be looking to extend it here with 2 agencies getting a cut.
              Well I did learn something out of it anyway.
              Cheers
              B

              Comment


                #8
                haha

                15 pound an hour! LOL Code monkey

                Comment

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