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You gotta be kidding me...RIGHT?!?!

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polycounter lvl 17
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Jesse Moody polycounter lvl 17
So ok... Some of you guys have read some of this on facebook but I wanted to share this with the community JUST IN CASE some of you decide to go the same route I went.

I was offered a position as a contract 3d artist with Microsoft on the Kinect team working through Aquent as a contractor.

I was sent all the appropriate paper work, contract, info, etc. Signed, sealed and delivered. Returned said contract and paperwork to them.

Purchase plane ticket (since it's contract there is no relocation) BUT I thought this was a good chance at something special. So I spent the money for a ticket. Shipped my pc and stuff out via UPS ($265.00) and headed out.

Few nights before I left I was given a call from Aquent with news about my start date. It was pushed to the 3rd to make things easier on me and to let me relax a day after I got there. Awesome. THEN!!! They go on to tell me that the rate that was originally agreed upon and in the contract was less. $9.00 an hour less. That is an insane amount less. I was told that they would meet in the middle. Still a reasonable deal with what it was and I pushed it a little higher. Fine I was happy with that at least.

I fly out and contact Aquent the day after I get into town to figure out what the plan is. Oh well find out i'm not starting until the 7th, ouch... Then I get a call it's not till the 14th. Then I get another call that tells me they are waiting for the position to be approved and opened on Microsofts end and then they will put my name on it and send the paperwork back to Microsoft and then they have to approve it in the finance department.

HOLD UP!!! What? So I signed a contract for a job that technically didn't exist when it was offered to me, when I flew out there and when I arrived? Oh Awesome... This is getting better and better by the minute.

Get another call that afternoon. Oh still waiting. Call us back tomorrow (3rd) and everything will be taken care of.

I sleep on it and call the next day. Hey whats going on. Oh hey Jesse. Nothing new yet. Still waiting on them to open it up. BUT they are pushing it along at an accelerated pace so don't worry. Oh don't worry? I just flew out here on my own dime to a job that doesn't exist and might not exist? Oh yeah not worried at all.

Call them later that day. Ok well we still don't have a start date. It may be after the 14th but we aren't sure. OMG WTF!!! Who is running this place?

I express my concerns about the contract and start date and let them know I am extremely upset at this point. I hang up and read a book to blow off steam. I decide I'll give them till the next day to figure it out.

Called em in the morning. Nope no news. We are waiting on things to come back from Microsoft. Can you let me know when I would start if this gets the thumbs up today? Nope sorry Jesse no promises. We will call ya back in 30 minutes or so. Let us track this down.

I wait 2 hours and then buy a return plane ticket home, call UPS to have my packages diverted back home (at this point it is a $50 extra charge to do this, they have to go all the way to Seattle before they are returned to Maine and I won't get them back until the 14th at the earliest)

I then call Aquent to see what is going on. Like I thought nothing so I tell my agent (MOLLY) that I have decided to go back home and cut my losses before I hit a point of no return and have no where to go.

I get asked why I decided this and let them know about them breaking the original contract not once but twice on a few occasions and the position for which I was offered not really existing when I was offered it and arrived on site in a hurry like they requested.

She said that she would find out what is going on and get in touch. I never heard back.

I flew out this morning from Seattle back to Maine and now my computer will not be here for more than a week and I have no way to do contract work unless I use my wifes crappy laptop.

FUCKING AWESOME!!!!!


So yeah I know it is a long read and all but please share this with people so they know to beware. I have heard others have had great experiences but to treat someone like this is just bullshit. Industry veteran, noobie, whatever. You don't ever fucking do this to people.

Update 8:00pm March 07

I got two calls today from Aquent, 1 from my original recruiter and the following from a manager. Both went really well. It said a lot about them as a company and gave me a bit more insight into things and they wanted to touch base with me to see how situations like this could be avoided in the future and for others. It shows a lot on their part that they are willing to own up to the shortcomings and try to help alieviate anything that this caused.

It was a major breakdown in communication and I think they know this and are trying to fix things. I am not one to easily forgive and forget based upon my past with companies and how they treat people but I honestly feel that they feel bad about this situation and what happened and are trying to correct it and with the experiences others have had with them I feel that this may be just my bad luck. Does it suck any less? Of course not but I think it is a step in the right direction and will improve relationships.


Update April 26th

I should have updated this a while back but I didn't have my computer back. More on that later. So Aquent and I had a few calls back and forth and they were seriously awesome in trying everything they could to make this a decent situation. They seemed to really understand my frustrations and why I was upset with how things turned out and it seems like it was a good lesson learned for both parties.

I'm not sure what I can go into for details but they did right by me and I definitely have no ill feelings towards them after this experience. I think I was just unlucky (have had a run of that as of late) in this experience but would give them another shot if I was in the Seattle area.

Now the other issue I had was my PC... I shipped it along with my cintiq and other personal belongings via UPS to Seattle from Maine and it took me a month just to get it back and right after I got it back my family and I moved into a new house so I wasn't able to set it up and check everything out.

So low and behold I finally get a new place to set up my workstation and everything looks good except for a few dings and dents here and there on my computers case. I boot up and it wasn't posting. Nothing! Just power to the fans and parts but no beeps or anything. Instantly I think motherboard or cpu. So I take it all apart and take a look. I wiggle the cpu fan a bit (one of those huge zalman fans) and it wiggles right out of its spot. Apparently during shipping it was dropped hard enough to break the metal retaining clip on the fan and when that happened it pulled the cpu out of the socket enough to destroy a majority of the pins on the cpu and chew the motherboard up at the same time. So YAY!!! Now I had to file a claim with UPS (thank god I insured this thing for what it would cost to replace current level parts) and order new parts.

Got the new parts and pc wouldn't boot, blue screened and kept freezing and rebooting. Turns out trying to save a bit of money the mother board I got wasn't compatible with my old memory so back to Newegg I went and ordered a new motherboard and upgraded to DDR3 from DDR2 and was able to take advantage of their deal of the day and grabbed me 16gigs of ram instead of the 8gigs I had previously.

RMAd the old board I just bought and returned it and these new parts were installed and booted right up. Fixed any driver issues I had and I am back to work!

So despite all this craziness there were a lot of lessons learned and a shit ton of frustration on my part but I got a computer upgrade out of it and am back to work.

So I guess I kind of won in the end.


So that is my update for now. I'll continue to update as this process gets worked out.

I hope that people can learn from this both in our community and the recruiting community.

Replies

  • Vrav
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    Vrav polycounter lvl 11
    Wow, ouch. That is a very painful story to hear.
  • MattLichy
    Again man... I'm sooo sorry this shit had to happen. Fucking sucks dude. I work with Aquent, and have for 2 years or more now,and haven't seen/heard anything like this happen before.

    Another buddy of mine had to wait around to get cleared as well, so it's somewhat similar, but it wasn't nearly as fucked up as what they did to you.

    I hope you get all your shit shipped back fine, and can get back to things soon enough. Stay strong dude.
  • billredd
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    billredd polycounter lvl 13
    Call a lawyer! Expalin the story, show copies of contracts etc... I think you have a good case for damage recovery here.
  • Joshua Stubbles
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    Joshua Stubbles polycounter lvl 19
    I'm soo soo sorry man. I've referred half a dozen people to Aquent in the past and I myself have been working for them since 2008 with no issues like this. For whatever reason all of the worst possible scenarios came together at the same time and dropped on your head. I really can't believe this.

    I'll be writing Molly a mail tomorrow expressing my opinions on this matter. It caused an unbelievable amount of stress and financial strain on you and makes me look like a douchewaffle for referring you. Going forward I'm not sure I can refer people there any longer. I know the problem isn't 100% in Aquent's lap (MS in particular can be very flaky with contract jobs, which I know personally), but the fact that you had a SIGNED contract that they could change at will (WTF is the point of the contract then?) makes it total bullshit that it wasn't completely set in stone as it should have been.

    I can't apologize enough man. Suuuuuper pissed about this right now.
  • salman_fas
    That is pretty lame. Hope things work out for ya.
  • ScoobyDoofus
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    ScoobyDoofus polycounter lvl 19
    Yikes! Thats no good man. Fingers crossed for you Mr. Moody. I'm sure this bump in the road will lead you onto something far better than that gig!
  • Jon Rush
    That's Bullshit, Jesse. I've never heard of anything like that before. That's one company I won't be referring talent to....
  • Loren Broach
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    Loren Broach polycounter lvl 10
    Serious Bummer Jesse :(

    Hope you find something even better soon.
  • Rico
    Damn Jesse...I'm sorry that you had to go through all this shit. Hopefully things will turn out for the better for you man.
  • pestibug
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    pestibug polycounter lvl 18
    Jesus christ, what a wash out, so sorry to hear this man. Any way to get your costs/missed pay + damages back? ( you had a signed contract after all). Oh well man, still crossing my fingers for you!
  • Skamberin
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    Skamberin polycounter lvl 13
    What.. how the hell is this even remotely possible when you have a contract? Shit man.. I really hope things work out :(
  • 00Zero
    damn. that shits straight out of a movie or something. sorry to hear man. hopefully theyll own up to it and pay you for your expenses.
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    This is the type of thing that make me not want to do contract work.
  • MikeF
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    MikeF polycounter lvl 19
    I've been fucked around in a very similar way before, jesse....
    details are pointless but lets just say that near every sentence mirrored what i went through. By the time it was all wrapped up i was out about $1500 and the only thing that kept going through my head was "union". I know it's a highly sensitive topic but unjust nonsense in this industry is getting out of hand.

    bah... wont get into it, dont wanna derail this topic.
    my condolences man, i know what its like
  • D4V1DC
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    D4V1DC polycounter lvl 18
    Wow that sure sucks, I would do what billredd said and look into that & get some kind of compensation for your trouble.

    Thanks for sharing this experience though It is sad to have ever had happen, this is indeed something to think about.

    Good luck on your future endeavors.

    I agree with MikeF with the big U word, seems no one is safe and shit has to change.
  • ae.
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    ae. polycounter lvl 12
    Hey Jesse,

    I was so excited that you landed this gig, but man what happened is completely fucked up! how can a company treat someone like that? its just blows my mind of how arrogant some contract agencies are.

    I know its been a rough couple months and this happening is just a slight bump in the road, I hope everything works out and you land a gig that deserves you!

    I hope anyone reading this thread proceeds with caution when offered a contract from that shady agency.

    cheers man im always on msn if you want to talk :)
  • Rens
    damn jesse :(
    How about we crush some work and get some ey.
  • Nate Broach
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    Nate Broach polycounter lvl 17
    Jesse man, this is the terrible. Really sorry this happened. Thanks for sharing and for the eye opener.
  • haikai
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    haikai polycounter lvl 8
    That sounds really terrible.

    I've never gone through an agency before so forgive my ignorance when I ask: Do you have a higher chance of getting contracts through them than if you applied on your own? Other than them having job leads that you might not have found yourself, I wonder if it's better to apply directly when possible (since I seem to see so many Microsoft/343 ads lately).

    Anyway, sorry to hear about your situation. It sounded like you had a good thing going, and it's sad that it turned out this way.
  • conte
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    conte polycounter lvl 18
    sooo fucked up
  • Striff
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    Striff polycounter lvl 18
    That's terrible man, I am sorry. No one deserves to be treat like shit. Hope it works out for you.
  • odium
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    odium polycounter lvl 18
    I hope you claim that money back from them sir :|

    What a run around... In short, shouldn't THEY be in quite a hot spot seeing as you signed a contract and they went against it?

    Bad news, regardless :(
  • Ben Apuna
    Wow, that just horrible! :(

    Thanks for sharing that experience with us though. I never would have thought such things possible. Now I'll definitely be more wary of accepting on-site contract work if I ever find myself offered any.
  • alexk
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    alexk polycounter lvl 12
    WOW! That really sucks dude! Sorry to hear that.. I hope you're doing okay. Coincidently, theres been recruiters calling around Vancouver for Microsoft during January and February. I got called too, but they were from Insight Global. Even though I accepted, they never got back to me with my questions and to update me on acquiring a working visa
  • disanski
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    disanski polycounter lvl 14
    Damn. I can not believe this. How is it even possible.. You should really contact a lawyer and get back to this.
  • EMC3D
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    EMC3D polycounter lvl 7
    Hope you get back on your feet soon Jesse, and definetly use the contract details and paperwork with a lawyer to get your expenses or whatever back.

    *Brofist*
  • Stromberg90
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    Stromberg90 polycounter lvl 11
    Hope everything gets sorted out, it's just shocking on how unprofessional some can be.
  • TheWinterLord
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    TheWinterLord polycounter lvl 17
    wow what an eye opener, damn that sucks. what the hell...
  • Michael Knubben
    I'm glad you're posting this publically. Too many of these kind of severe agent fuckups never get shared in full because people are afraid to burn bridges or even seem dangerous to companies ('everything we do wrong will come out'). I know I've been guilty of it myself.

    Hope things work out for you!
  • Geezus
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    Geezus mod
    C-R-A-Z-Y CRAZY! Utterly disrespectful and unprofessional.
    Hugs and kisses, Jesse. :(
  • Zpanzer
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    Zpanzer polycounter lvl 8
    Damn Jesse, that does suck major league ass :< I hope you can get everything sorted out.
  • JustinPunio
    I agree with many of the replies here in that you should consult a lawyer to see your options. I'm not an expert, but I'm certain if the shoe was on Microsoft's foot and 'they' had paid for the flight and UPS costs they would be talking to their lawyers. So there should be strong grounds to mount a successful claim.

    Thanks for posting this though, it's certainly something lots of us new to this industry should be aware of...
  • Arkadius
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    Arkadius polycounter lvl 13
    Thats pretty fucked up, I hope you get back on your feet man, I can't imagine how pissed you must be. Thanks for posting, helps the community beware of such companies.
  • Ruz
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    Ruz polycount lvl 666
    Horrible to hear stories like this.I would definitely push for some kind of compensation, but I would be tempted to contact either microsoft or the agency about getting your money back first, rather than going straight down the legal route.

    Personally I would have phoned up microsoft directly after waiting more than a day or so, or marched down to offices company and asked what the hell was going on.
    Don't let it get you down, though. I lost about 4,000 quid when a well known company decided they had changed their mind about a project and it was a struggle to get paid for what I had already done.
  • Jhotun
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    Jhotun polycounter lvl 18
    This is not new to me also. Once i spent almost all my money waiting in a similar case.
    Now i trust my nose a lot more and at the first signal of similar things, i run like mad.
    Anyway, THIS sucks a lot. Someone somewhere is responsible of this, do not let him escape like if nothing happened.
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    um... if you signed a contract with them, aren't they liable to pay you the full working rate for the time agreed upon in that contract? i mean. it's THEIR cock up, not yours. you didn't intentionally not work, you did everything within your power (and knowledge) to uphold the agreement. it's them who broke it.

    just asking, as if that happened here (england) the contracting firm would get their bollox nailed to the wall.
  • xXm0RpH3usXx
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    xXm0RpH3usXx polycounter lvl 13
    shouldnt they have paid you even the days you spent in the new town?
    like, they cant tell you to come on day x and you're there and then they tell you its not getting started till 14 days later or what...
    definatly consult a lawyer man!!

    good you didnt make this experience 4 or 5 month earlier, i would have had nightmares after reading this before i moved :)
  • shotgun
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    shotgun polycounter lvl 19
    I don't understand. you're american, sue their asses.
  • Mark Dygert
    That is fucked up.

    What little contact I've had has been a positive experience. BUT I've only dealt with them before they where bought out, They offered but I ended up landing a full time gig where I'm at now. Occasionally they contact me and ask if I'm happy or if I'm looking for work, I've kind of considered them a back up plan and its shitty to think they would jerk someone around.
  • fearian
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    fearian greentooth
    Balls. I remember hearing you post about this job, it sounded good! Absolutely awful it could all turn around like this. :I

    Somebody get this guy a sweeter gig, stat!
  • maze
    incredible man! I really hope you get some kind of compensation from this as least. Although that wont change the bad taste..
  • Habboi
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    Habboi sublime tool
    Thank you for the story. I was enlightening. Sorry for your loss of time and money. Hope you get a better offer this time.
  • EmAr
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    EmAr polycounter lvl 18
    That's very rude of them to be this stupid. I hope you get the money you spent from them.
  • realm13
    This blows big time. I wish you the best of luck to sue their asses off. Just make sure it's not stated in the contract somewhere with the tiniest font possible that they are not responsible for this type of situation. Man, it's this kind of scenarios that make me sorta regret getting into this biz.
  • PeterK
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    PeterK greentooth
    Hey Jesse,

    Exis will have positions available soon, and you come work with us mate. If you're interested, lets talk about it on IM when you're on.
  • Junkie_XL
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    Junkie_XL polycounter lvl 14
    Nice to finally know the details on this. That is fucked up man. Sorry to hear all the shit you had to go through. Note to self...avoid Aquent.
  • bbob
    Wow, thats horrible.

    They better be covering your expenses..
  • Shaffer
    um... if you signed a contract with them, aren't they liable to pay you the full working rate for the time agreed upon in that contract? i mean. it's THEIR cock up, not yours. you didn't intentionally not work, you did everything within your power (and knowledge) to uphold the agreement. it's them who broke it.

    just asking, as if that happened here (england) the contracting firm would get their bollox nailed to the wall.


    ^This is kind of what I was thinking.

    That's just bad business to treat people like that.
  • notman
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    notman polycounter lvl 18
    Wow, that's pretty fucked up. So it sounds like they signed a contract with you before they had an ok from Microsoft. I'm usually not a fan of the 'sue them' approach that most Americans so freely throw around, but this exactly the type of scenario that lawsuits are for. You should, at minimum, get your damages back, but you can also go for lost (potential) wages.

    Maybe Joshua can share this thread at work, and show the potential damage from all of this. Then again, all the damage may already be done.
  • billredd
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    billredd polycounter lvl 13
    This company seems reputable, I don't think a lawsuit is in order, but talk to a lawyer first just to see what grounds you have for recovery and get the "language" you need to use in a phone call to them, be nice about it, don't burn any bridges, but if they start giving you shit, you can give it right back to them with what you learned from your lawyer. I'm sure they will see the light and recognize the mistakes they made and compensate you for your trouble.

    (can't believe I'm actually recommending using a blood-sucking lawyer, but shit man if not for this, then when?)
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