Avoid Aston Carter at all costs

**BolshieBastard** · 2 May 2012, 19:47

I was recently contacted by then. Seemed OK and the rate I stated I wanted was in line with what the client had with other agents.

Depends if you take the word of contractors you know on site.

Lad Im working with tried telling me the other day he was on £70 a day more than me. Only I know he isnt because I know from someone on site what his and the other team member's rates are. We are all within a tenner of each other.

IME contractors nears always inflate their rate when discussing with other contractors.

**nomadd** · 2 May 2012, 19:47

Originally posted by oliverson View Post

In these difficult times it is agencies like these (and I've had two contracts with them before - makes me wonder what their slice was) that really do take the p155.

Problem is, they are all as bad as each other these days. Had a phone call at 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning from a secretarial bint at McGregor-Boyall, just wanted to bang on about "How low would I go rate wise?" and "Who did you report to at your previous role?" Needless to say, the phone went down on her just 5 seconds after I'd replied, "Can't say, really, but please do get an agent to phone me back if you ever have any suitable roles."

Whole market has turned to sh-- But hey, we've covered all this before in many other threads.

**Scoobos** · 2 May 2012, 20:05

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

If you're the director of a LTD company thats had zero turnover for months and are turning down staffing a role for 400 per day in this economy I think you're being foolish and not acting as a MD either.

Let Aston take their 200 p/d and if you want revenge then negotiate a direct deal with the client ONCE you've got your foot in the door - this has never failed for me, even with a preferred supplier in the picture.

I'm working for 30ph on a stupid project at a crap joint in the middle of nowhere - why? because its chinstrap time IMHO. After many months of bench somethings got to give.

**BolshieBastard** · 2 May 2012, 20:23

Originally posted by Scoobos View Post

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

If you're the director of a LTD company thats had zero turnover for months and are turning down staffing a role for 400 per day in this economy I think you're being foolish and not acting as a MD either.

Let Aston take their 200 p/d and if you want revenge then negotiate a direct deal with the client ONCE you've got your foot in the door - this has never failed for me, even with a preferred supplier in the picture.

I'm working for 30ph on a stupid project at a crap joint in the middle of nowhere - why? because its chinstrap time IMHO. After many months of bench somethings got to give.

Got to agree with this. OK I may be pissed off finding out how much an agent is making off me but, that's the model we work under. And to not take a role because the agent is getting a good rake off well, words fail me although Im not sure the OP was in the frame for this job.

TBF to AC, I told them what I wanted. They agreed to my rate. I told them I wanted weekly invoicing, they said they normally do monthly but would do weekly if I got the role. They wanted exclusivity to put me forward. I said ok but here's a list of conditions I want confirmed via email before I agree to it. They agreed to every one of the conditions I asked for.

Couldnt be fairer than that.

**oliverson** · 2 May 2012, 20:40

Originally posted by Scoobos View Post

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

If you're the director of a LTD company thats had zero turnover for months and are turning down staffing a role for 400 per day in this economy I think you're being foolish and not acting as a MD either.

Let Aston take their 200 p/d and if you want revenge then negotiate a direct deal with the client ONCE you've got your foot in the door - this has never failed for me, even with a preferred supplier in the picture.

I'm working for 30ph on a stupid project at a crap joint in the middle of nowhere - why? because its chinstrap time IMHO. After many months of bench somethings got to give.

Never said I wasn't pursuing the opportunity. I am and at the £600 quoted. Then I spotted Assh0le Carters attempts at scr3wing th contractors, supplying substandard techies at top rates in order to cream it for themselves. That's the purpose of this post Scoobos

**oliverson** · 2 May 2012, 20:43

Originally posted by BolshieBastard View Post

Got to agree with this. OK I may be pissed off finding out how much an agent is making off me but, that's the model we work under. And to not take a role because the agent is getting a good rake off well, words fail me although Im not sure the OP was in the frame for this job.

TBF to AC, I told them what I wanted. They agreed to my rate. I told them I wanted weekly invoicing, they said they normally do monthly but would do weekly if I got the role. They wanted exclusivity to put me forward. I said ok but here's a list of conditions I want confirmed via email before I agree to it. They agreed to every one of the conditions I asked for.

Couldnt be fairer than that.

What makes you think I wasn't in the frame??? Lost! Haven't even discussed it with AC.

**jmo21** · 2 May 2012, 21:21

Originally posted by BolshieBastard View Post

I was recently contacted by then. Seemed OK and the rate I stated I wanted was in line with what the client had with other agents.

Depends if you take the word of contractors you know on site.

Lad Im working with tried telling me the other day he was on £70 a day more than me. Only I know he isnt because I know from someone on site what his and the other team member's rates are. We are all within a tenner of each other.

IME contractors nears always inflate their rate when discussing with other contractors.

You're all direct then?

**d000hg** · 2 May 2012, 23:23

I got an email in Swedish from AC today. Something about Linux.

**LisaContractorUmbrella** · 3 May 2012, 08:02

£401580 per day seems pretty reasonable to me

Avoid Aston Carter at all costs