Decling contract after signing the paper work

[speling bee]

But there are legal issues!!!! You are not dishonouring it you are in breach of contract. You have signed a legally binding document and can be held liable for losses. Don't take this lightly. Yes... you could get away with it but the best outcome will be a lot of angry phone calls and threats, a loss or reputation and a bridge burned for awhile.

Doesn't matter if you have started it, your signature is on the paper accepting it. You are now liable.

At the end of the day do what is best for you but don't go round with this mercenary thinking you can drop clients just because you fancy it. One day someone will get sick of all this and take you to task. They have every right and the law is on their side. You have to take this seriously. If you are going to not take the contract you signed for do it as quickly as possible. Giving them a week isn't good but it is better than doing it on the Friday. You are much more likely to get in a lot more trouble the longer you leave it.

Then phone in sick and send a substitute.

[BlasterBates]

I would think very carefully. An IB can be a poisoned chalace, so be careful.

Personally I agree with the above stick with the Telco, you can still switch to an IB later.

With the Telco, usually it's easy peasy, in the IB you often have to deal with difficult people.

[SecureTheNet]

Completely agree BlasterBates! This is my first and good IB offer and I have been with Telco for almost 10 years. I like your point - that's something I am thinking now. IB is risky and alienating my core domain Telco might not be a good idea. However if I can communicate properly and dont make the Telco annoyed, I can probably come back if IB gives me pain as I have the core background of Telco. That's the line of thought I have.... tough call! Never had to deal with these..

[BlasterBates]

Completely agree BlasterBates! This is my first and good IB offer and I have been with Telco for almost 10 years. I like your point - that's something I am thinking now. IB is risky and alienating my core domain Telco might not be a good idea. However if I can communicate properly and dont make the Telco annoyed, I can probably come back if IB gives me pain as I have the core background of Telco. That's the line of thought I have.... tough call! Never had to deal with these..

Don't burn your bridges!!

If this is a longstanding client stick with them. The IB will have your rate down 10% at the next renewal. Mostly their projects are badly planned go wrong and cause huge amounts of stress.

If you know the PM and you can explain you want to give the IB a go and he says fine, then I would say go for it. Agreed some sweet talking required.

[northernladuk]

Completely agree BlasterBates! This is my first and good IB offer and I have been with Telco for almost 10 years. I like your point - that's something I am thinking now. IB is risky and alienating my core domain Telco might not be a good idea. However if I can communicate properly and dont make the Telco annoyed, I can probably come back if IB gives me pain as I have the core background of Telco. That's the line of thought I have.... tough call! Never had to deal with these..

Let me get this right. The gig you have signed and you want to bail on is the telco? And the one you want to go with is the IB? If so I think you are just not taking this seriously at all? You can communicate with the telco properly and not annoy them they might have me back? Really?!?! I don't think so. What bit of bailing out at the last minute will they be happy with? Don't rely on clients that you bin to take you back. You become high risk to them.

If I have it the wrong way around then just ignore the bit above.

[JamJarST]

Yes. I have spoken to end client over the phone but not face to face. Contract exists as I have signed the contract. Agency is just not that involved apart from working as the middle man. I understand what you are sayings as I am not new to contracting but I am new to this scenario. End client did not feel like meeting me as they knew me as I am working for their competitor.

If I am reading this right, you have signed two contracts, one at the IB and one at the Telco. Is that right?

[northernladuk]

If I am reading this right, you have signed two contracts, one at the IB and one at the Telco. Is that right?

I thought he was waiting for an offer from one... the IB if my thinking is right...

I have signed a contract which starts next week and submitted all the relevant documentation.
However another contract which I was really interested in, was being progressed very slowly for the last one month and finally they are very close to make me an offer end of this week.

I also guess the OP still hasn't informed the agent he doesn't want the gig. Not only does he not want the gig but he is going to wait until the very last minute to tell them... Poor.

[Taita]

If I was the client and it cost me money I would do my best to recover that money, I would seriously consider small claims court.

Client cannot easily sue contractor for breach if client's contract is with agent. Agent can sue but probably won't bother.

Real problem is damage to poster's rep in particular and more fodder for the contracting industry detractors. Why behave so badly when the rest of the time you trying to impress others with your business acumen and professional credentials?

[Hot Mess]

However if I can communicate properly ..

I think you've proved that's a bridge too far. I feel sorry for the IB..

[BolshieBastard]

Let me guess, this is purely about money isn't it?

Personally I would stick to the one I had signed for a few reasons:
1. It is the professional and ethical thing to do.
2. Dropping the client just days before starting is a sure way of hurting my reputation, and reputation is everything in this game, and
3. If I had been messed around and had to wait a month for an offer, I would expect the assignment to be fraught with problems.

Just my opinion.

Every contract I've seen since 97 has a clause in it saying the agent can withdraw the 'offer' for any reason in the first 7 days or if the client changes their mind blah, blah, blah. Im sick and tired of this one way street we seem to be on where agents \ clients can drop the contractor at the drop of a hat at any time especially at the start of a contract. Yet, if a contractor contemplates it, woe betide the contractor is 'unprofessional' or 'unethical.'

In the last 18 months, I've jibbed off 4 or 5 agencies regarding roles. have a got a bad reputation/ Dont know but it hasnt stopped me getting other roles this years

Reputation is everything in this game, if i know a few contractors who have messed agents about and now find it hard to pick up roles. But if you have decided that is what you want to do, i would offer to use the substitution clause to honor the notice period, the client and agent would probably decline, but this id likely to defuse any possibility of legal action.

As I said above, this year I've jibbed 4 or 5 agents off because once offered the roles, I decided something better would come up (which it did). Didnt stop agents phoning me to be put forward for roles etc.

I think asking for too high a rate is more likely to be the reason why some people find it harder to get roles. Nothing wrong with that, I've jibbed a few at offer stage too.