Reply to: Agent Behaviour

[SueEllen]

"The one thing you can take from all the reading is it is to be avoided at all costs and is a very complicated area. To assume your amended copy is the last one and therefore stands is not true. You may win a case but it's going to be ugly."

Yes but the last time a contractor fought a contractual issue in Court was?????

Most cases are settled out of court.

Especially if the contractor is intelligent enough to get a solicitor involved from the outset and has no issues with telling the client what is in the contract.

[psychocandy]

Why would you avoid an entire agency because of the actions of one individual. That's stupid. I'll bet you won't when they have a gig you want. You'll be pants down, leaning over a barrel ready to enter in to negotiations in a heartbeat.

To be honest, its more than one person in the agency. Have had bad experiences with 2-3 of them. Obviously, might just be this one office.

But yes if an ideal contract comes up of course I'm not going to avoid them totally. But I will take this into consideration and decide if its worth the hassle. And of course, if I see same gig advertised with someone else then it'll be the other agency I contact not them.

[northernladuk]

Needless to say, I will be doing my best to avoid this agency in the future. Sad thing is its one of the big ones.....

Why would you avoid an entire agency because of the actions of one individual. That's stupid. I'll bet you won't when they have a gig you want. You'll be pants down, leaning over a barrel ready to enter in to negotiations in a heartbeat.

[Taita]

It appears you are right but that case was back in 1877 and he did write approved on it. There are obviously many more examples and a quick read shows that the last change didn't always stand.

Doing some reading there doesn't be one size fits all answer and it can get very ugly to the point it could be possible to argue there isn't a contract in place at all which would be a bit of a nightmare scenario for us.

The one thing you can take from all the reading is it is to be avoided at all costs and is a very complicated area. To assume your amended copy is the last one and therefore stands is not true. You may win a case but it's going to be ugly.

Either way, stupid situation to be in and avoidable in this and I would think many other situations.

"The one thing you can take from all the reading is it is to be avoided at all costs and is a very complicated area. To assume your amended copy is the last one and therefore stands is not true. You may win a case but it's going to be ugly."

Yes but the last time a contractor fought a contractual issue in Court was?????

[psychocandy]

The one thing you can take from all the reading is it is to be avoided at all costs and is a very complicated area. To assume your amended copy is the last one and therefore stands is not true. You may win a case but it's going to be ugly.

Totally agree with you. And on the subject of notice periods, we can argue that one and MOO etc until the cow comes home.

But, its all about setting expectations. If client/agent know you've got a notice period then IMHO, they cant moan too much if you invoke it.

Whereas we all know, if I were to invoke it now:-

1) Client, in all likelihood, knows nothing about this.
2) First thing agent would say would be no you can't.

I could just say tough and leave anyway but all thats going to do is:-

1) Cause an almighty tulipstorm with the agency (dont care about that one too much!)
2) Piss off the client and burn any bridges there (especially when agency tell them its all my fault). Might not have been so bad if they knew the score up front.

[psychocandy]

It's not implied if the paperwork was successfully sent and the contract was accepted (even if that acceptance is only via conduct).

See Brogden's case.

I agree its a bit of a grey area now. Pimp obviously at the moment thinks it doesn't matter. Remains to be seen what would happen if I did invoke it....

But, here's the score.

1) Pimp obviously didn't like my proposed changes (in fact, I don't think hes even gone to the client with anything).

2) He knows that if he can hide long enough until I rock up on site it becomes immaterial.

3) Even with me sending him an amended contract, hes confident that by him continuing to hide, its not agreed by him yet. Who knows here what the score is now.

4) Pimp knows that its unlikely to become an issue so is taking a bit of a risk. Also, appears confident he can bulltulip his way out.

5) Pimp was confident I wasn't going to walk and even if I did he knew he could cover his arse by blaming me letting him down at the last minute.

6) Pimp knows that small details like this are not something client would be interested in.

Professionalism by pimp - not a chance...

Now I'm all for negotiation, and the 'if you don't like it then walk' stuff but that's the issue here for me. If I negotiate, I expect to get an answer yes or no, then its up to me. Not acting like a kid and hiding....

Needless to say, I will be doing my best to avoid this agency in the future. Sad thing is its one of the big ones.....

[northernladuk]

It's not implied if the paperwork was successfully sent and the contract was accepted (even if that acceptance is only via conduct).

See Brogden's case.

It appears you are right but that case was back in 1877 and he did write approved on it. There are obviously many more examples and a quick read shows that the last change didn't always stand.

Doing some reading there doesn't be one size fits all answer and it can get very ugly to the point it could be possible to argue there isn't a contract in place at all which would be a bit of a nightmare scenario for us.

The one thing you can take from all the reading is it is to be avoided at all costs and is a very complicated area. To assume your amended copy is the last one and therefore stands is not true. You may win a case but it's going to be ugly.

Either way, stupid situation to be in and avoidable in this and I would think many other situations.

[northernladuk]

Its the norm. I could kill pimps for not having courtesy but given 90% of them are still wet behind the ears, they probably can't write/email anyway. The other 10% aren't technical & don't have a feckin' clue what all the terms mean & are just 'acronym bashing' to match people rather than understanding experience. It is like me recruiting for a nuclear weapons expert, they have no idea what any of it means!

If you are trying to prove something why use an example that is utter bollocks. Kind of undermines your whole argument no?

[sgxluk]

Its the norm. I could kill pimps for not having courtesy but given 90% of them are still wet behind the ears, they probably can't write/email anyway. The other 10% aren't technical & don't have a feckin' clue what all the terms mean & are just 'acronym bashing' to match people rather than understanding experience. It is like me recruiting for a nuclear weapons expert, they have no idea what any of it means!

[TheFaQQer]

Yeah but what moron gets themselves in a position they have to argue about implied contracts.

It's not implied if the paperwork was successfully sent and the contract was accepted (even if that acceptance is only via conduct).

See Brogden's case.

[SueEllen]

Yeah but what moron gets themselves in a position they have to argue about implied contracts.

Ahem ahem.....

[northernladuk]

If you can prove you sent the paperwork in then the agent is on a path to no-where.

Yeah but what moron gets themselves in a position they have to argue about implied contracts.

[SueEllen]

I look forward to the thread where you try to invoke that notice period, my bet is on agent denies all knowledge and paperwork has gone missing

If you can prove you sent the paperwork in then the agent is on a path to no-where.

[smatty]

Still couldnt get hold of. In the end, I added the notice period I wanted to the contract I already had and sent it back to them.

Not heard a dicky bird. So who knows?

Would have loved to walk but hey ho.

I look forward to the thread where you try to invoke that notice period, my bet is on agent denies all knowledge and paperwork has gone missing

[d000hg]

So when you get an email or a voicemail from an agent about a role or job in which you have absolutely no interest, you always phone them up to let them know?

Well, PC?