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Translation - art & business » Business issues »
Contract with Agency: asking your advice!
Thread poster: annaba
annaba
annaba
Local time: 01:52
English to Italian
+ ...
Feb 11, 2005

Dear collegues, a good agency I already work with (they are professional, nice, pay punctually... the agency of my dreams I would say!) has asked me to subscribe a contract. There is one ssíngle point I am not very sure of: they say ask that I will not actively approach by myself customers with whom the agency already works for 6 months from the date of the last work carried out for this customer through the agency. Did anyone already subscribe a clause like this or would you subscribe it with... See more
Dear collegues, a good agency I already work with (they are professional, nice, pay punctually... the agency of my dreams I would say!) has asked me to subscribe a contract. There is one ssíngle point I am not very sure of: they say ask that I will not actively approach by myself customers with whom the agency already works for 6 months from the date of the last work carried out for this customer through the agency. Did anyone already subscribe a clause like this or would you subscribe it without any problems? Thank you a lot for your precious opinion! ▲ Collapse
 
Trudy Peters
Trudy Peters  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 19:52
German to English
+ ...
I would sign it Feb 11, 2005

Annaba, I wouldn't have a problem signing such a contract. It is a typical "non-compete" clause, and I thing the agency is rather generous to apply this clause for only six months, rather than the usual 1-2 years.

Trudy
 
Alejandra Villarroel
Alejandra Villarroel  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 19:52
English to Spanish
+ ...
I don't about Ireland Feb 11, 2005

But it would be a normal clause in this side of the world, considering even longer periods of time.
ALEJANDRA
 
Mark Xiang
Mark Xiang
Local time: 07:52
English to Chinese
+ ...
That's a norm. Feb 11, 2005

Usually 1-2 years, rather than 6 months. You are lucky, really!

Mark
 
Alison Schwitzgebel
Alison Schwitzgebel
France
Local time: 01:52
German to English
+ ...
My only concern... Feb 11, 2005

I signed an agreement similar to the one you mention, but I changed the clause so that it read

"any customers of the agency **that are known to me as such**".

Otherwise the agency could have sued me for trying to acquire a company as a direct customer, even though I was not aware that it was one of the agency's customers (for example because it only works with the agency in a language pair that I do not cover).

HTH

Alison
 
Narasimhan Raghavan
Narasimhan Raghavan  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:22
English to Tamil
+ ...
In memoriam
I understand what Alisom means Feb 11, 2005

I told my agency that they should tell me specifically as to who their clients are and then only I can refrain from offering work to them. This however required a sort of compensation to be paid to me for not competing with them. Naturally the agency could not agree. I then told them that the matter should not be touched upon. I never signed any agreement and the agency continued giving me work. My advice will be: do your own work and let the agency do its own. There is no need to allow yourself... See more
I told my agency that they should tell me specifically as to who their clients are and then only I can refrain from offering work to them. This however required a sort of compensation to be paid to me for not competing with them. Naturally the agency could not agree. I then told them that the matter should not be touched upon. I never signed any agreement and the agency continued giving me work. My advice will be: do your own work and let the agency do its own. There is no need to allow yourself to be manipulated by anyone.

As a freelancer I am on the lookout for new clients and at such times I cannot be bothered with such restraining clauses.

Regards,
N.Raghavan ▲ Collapse
 
annaba
annaba
Local time: 01:52
English to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank You :-) Feb 11, 2005

Dear collegues, lots of thanks to *all of you* for giving your opinion. It was particularly important for me to know if such a clause is "normal" (particularly to Alison, thank you for the tip, I'll even do so!).
Well, now I know that I'm going to subscribe - I don't want to risk loosing them...
Thank you again!
Anna
 


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Contract with Agency: asking your advice!


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