Agencies are scum.. end of

[Spacecadet]

both of my direct clients are better at paying than the first agency i was with.

One of my direct clients will actually make the payment as soon as they take receipt of my invoice. It literally took about 10 minutes the last time i invoiced them (by email)

Second agency I was with (Timothy James) invoiced like clockwork and they were the most pleasant bunch of agency people i've ever dealt with. Everything sorted out very quickly and they had a proper team of support staff at the office who knew what they were doing.

[Fran]

Agents like to deal with people they like and are much more likely to go the extra mile for you and stick their neck out with clients for you and be more flexible on other terms after a while.

Ok, I may not have been doing this for long but I think that's a good point. Agents (as most people) are more likely to be useful to you if you are polite and friendly with them. I've found agents that will do whatever they can to help you out if you are nice to them. For example my current agent has allowed me to invoice 2 weekly rather than monthly as is the company standard.

That said, if the rumors are true these are not decent people, but I would start by giving them a chance and only start getting nasty when they are consistently tulipe.

[Fran]

Ha ha tulip!

[chef]

duly noted Mr Warwick, maybe i didnt explain clearly..

I know where my bread's buttered, i called the agent (whom i have a good working relationship with as I've worked indirectly with him before) to let him know that it hadn't been paid although promised by accounts, i then spoke directly with the finance dept and only them. I have/had no intention of souring the realtionship with the agent. As you pointed out, it's a 2 way street.

BUT, speaking with the other contractors who are with the agency it seems its a standing thing that they don't pay on time and almost always wait 3-9 days post 30 day deadline before the cough up, general feelings are the FD is a bit of a tough nut and really doesnt like to part with cash.

I've worked indirectly through this agency before and never had a problem being paid, with this being the first invoice I wanted to make sure they realise that I believe a contract is what it is, a contract, what's the point in saying "payment in 30 days" if they then think "ahh it'll be fine, we'll just add a few more days on, he won't care"?? It's not my issue/problem if they're lax with getting funds in on their side. If they didnt think they can meet those terms then they should have put up 45 day terms.

Also, to pre-empt this I emailed accounts the weds before payment due (i.e 4 days before) asking if they could confirm when payment would be received as deadline was in 4 days time (i.e get that BACS run going now, your gonna hit deadline). The response i got back was "funds will be available Friday." so when Tues hits and still no funds and given what i know about them trying to stretch the limits I decided a firm hand is required. I am a business after all.

The agent has been informed that it was late, I then sent an email letting him know funds had been received. All else in between was between me and accounts dept.

So if the circumstances you describe were true then yes i'd agree, in this situation i believe i was well within my rights to act as i did.

p.s payment of 2nd invoice is due tomorrow, no sign of a remittance notice, called bank and they have no payments pending. Accounts look like they're up to their usual tricks as expected. This time i'm not involving agent at all and will simply add late payment charge to next weeks invoice (8 days time). kerching