Thanks to everyone who contributed an agency rating to our now defunct "Rate the Agencies Survey."
We decided to close down the Rate the Agencies Survey because we are a small company with limited resources and not in a position to cope with the legal hassels that this feature could bring down on us.
However, we have collected the "best" of the worst abuses reported to us and display them your edification and delight below.
All material below represents a direct quotation from a report submitted by a working contractor.
There are many fine agencies who don't carry on this way, but finding them requires that you do some serious screening and research upfront. When in doubt, always try to get a personal referral from a satisfied consultant before contacting any consulting firm. If you can't do this, at least ask the agency to give you some references.
And now, here they are, the consulting firm behaviors we've inducted into the Consulting Firm Hall of Shame ...
Bait and Switch
Offered a contract 'in Hawaii', paying $60/hr with free local housing, transportation, and monthly trips home to the mainland (extremely attractive terms, don't you think, considering the desirable location?). Recruiter 'needed to check' which city the contract was in. I submitted my resume', and never heard from them again about this or any other contract (1 year now). This may have been a new start-up's way of building a resume' data base.
This firm also advertises signing bonuses but never pays them as well as exobortant salaries that it never delivers.
Agent promised interview and requested my list of references. As I found later this promise was a lie and my list of references was used for marketing.
Sales representative pressured me to sign a non-compete agreement after I interviewed with the client, stating verbally to me that an offer was on the table. I signed the agreement. The day after I signed the non compete, the representative stated that the client withdrew the offer. I confronted the representative with this suspicion and my impression was that the offer of a position was an out and fabrication to induce me to sign the non compete agreement.
Although the recruiter and I had agreed to a rate before the interview, when I called her several hours after the interview (which had gone well, as I was rejoining my former project), she tried (and failed) to chisel me down, saying that 'the client is reluctant to pay your rate'. This might have been plausible, except that she had quoted me what she said was the billing rate, and it was below that of at least one other team member (I had checked). When I mentioned this, she quickly dropped "the client's" demand, and gave me the rate we had originally agreed on.
Pestering
Called me several times after I told them to stop, and I had also told them to take my resume off of their database. I stopped getting calls from them only after I changed phone numbers. Staff acted like used-car salespeople.
Marketing was done in so unacceptable style that some of my references asked me not to use their names again. I met other contractors with the same experience.
Contract Shenanigans
Submitted a different contract than the one signed by me and therefore a lower rate showed up on my pay check. After checking and verifying the difference, they corrected it after 3 weeks of calling and demanding the change.
Required that [I] sign a "contract before the contract" before being submitted to anyone. This contract ...would have required paying a lawyer twice. One of the provisions was that, if the client makes an offer, the consultant must "finalize all contractual matters with ACS" within one business day of the INTERVIEW (not the offer).
Before the interview, told me that I had to accept the contract if the client offered it to me. When I balked, they seemed visibly upset.
Real contract has Penalty clause ($1500) for cancelling + restrictive non-compete. Very vague about this at the interview.
Pressure to Go W-2
They claimed to deal with contractors or Incorporated people, but when I went to interview with them, they "suggested" that it wasn't "profitable for you to go as an IC or Corp unless you were making at least $45-50 per hour," and instead I should become one of their employees. I brushed them off, and they called again recently saying they had a position at Chevron, and they I only had to send them a non-compete agreement before they submitted me. I did so, and they COMPLETELY avoided talking to me or returning any of my msg's.
Extremely aggresive Legal department. Every Contract renewal is a fight ! - with more demands surfacing every time. Wanted 2 yrs Corporate Tax returns and all kindsa information - on a renewal...
Initially said I must incorporate to be independent. Then, after I went into them for an interview, said I could not be independent even if I were incorporated. They were advertising their positions on the DICE Bulletin Board as INDOK rather than W2ONLY. At the interview (before revealing their requirement for W-2 work) they pumped me for my company's confidential client list.
They had gotten me a job, which, to my understanding, was to be 1099. At the last minute, they said it was W-2 only, and that if I were to do 1099/corp-to-corp, I'd have to have had a "relationship" with them for over 6 months before they considered it. After telling them to fly a kite, due to "ethical" reasons, they "deactivated" me from further work with [their firm]. The recruiter I worked with was EXTREMELY pressuring, and very hard to deal with.
Looking for Cobalt programmers . . .
They also had test questions in CICS and COBOL that they gave consultants over the phone, and some of their "right" answers were out of date by about 10 years!
The recruiter...felt I didn't have enough experience in WinNT (I have 2.5 years NT experience), because their client requested the contractor have at least 5 years experience in windows NT...the program didn't exist back then.
High Pressure Tactics
Were trying to make me promise that I will take the offer if the client decides to take me. Idiotic bargaining by increasing the rate by $1 or $2 while I was asking for about $10 more. Absolutely arrogant.
Pay? You mean you expected to get paid?
I know several people working for them who earn $30/hr-$37/hr and are billed out at $90/hr.
Stiffed me for the last week of the assignment then refused to return phone calls and/or letters
After signing a contract with which specifically stated I was a hourly employee, they placed me at a client that only paid consultants on a "professional day". This meant I was they expected to work up to 10 hours for the same daily fee as 8. Regardless of my contract, the agency would not pay me the additional hours.
Contract states that they pay in 30 days, but I was lucky to get 45-60.
After getting a raise from them, it took over 2 months and repeated phone calls to actually see it on my paycheck.
Out of Control
Sent my resume to a client where I was on a contract without informing me.
Faxed resumes to my boss for my contract position to replace me by getting the company's name from my resume.
Kept trying to pump me for names of my co-workers, even after I said "no". Sent my resume to many firms without consulting me first.
