Recruitment agency advertised rates not actually available

EllenorR

Hi, I wonder if someone would be kind enough to advise if there is any way I can complain about an agency that is advertising rates not available to successful recruits?

I've been temping for the same employer for quite a few years now, and am well paid, but wouldn't mind a change of scene which is partly the reason why I temp.

A couple of months ago I received an advert for a vacancy for a temporary position via a recruitment agency at another company. The pay was advertised as being between £x and £y per hour depending on experience.

Now the position was one I believed suited my experience and certainly looked interesting and so I applied.
A couple of weeks ago, although I had forgotten all about the application, I was very excited to be contacted by the recruitment agency to inform me the employer was really interested in my application and asked me to go to an interview with them.

So I made up an excuse for time off from my current role and went along.

On Tuesday I was even more excited when the recruitment agency contacted me again to congratulate me because I had been offered the job! :j

Unfortunately, looking at the detail in the contract they are asking me to sign, I saw the rate they were offering me was well short of even the advertised range - it was even a lot less than the £x per hour. I contacted the agency and they said they would go back to the employer and check.

They've now come back with an improved offer due to my level of experience but it is still less than £x per hour.

Now I was hoping when I applied for the position that I would be offered closer to £y per hour because of my experience, but would have probably accepted any amount between £x and £y.
However, I would not even have applied if I knew the amount on offer was below the range advertised, let alone wasted everyones time going to an interview.

The recruitment agency say the latest amount offered is the maximum the employer can offer as it now represents top of the grade for the job.

Which begs the question why did the agency originally advertise it at a higher rate?
Their only answer they have is that the top rate now offered is not too far short of the lower amount advertised i.e. £x.

Furthermore, the agency is now getting a bit snotty with me as I won't accept the job offer. They are telling me that they have spent a lot of time, effort and money recruiting me for this position and getting the best possible rate, and that if I don't accept then I should not bother contacting them or the employer again as I will be black-balled for having refused the job offer.

Any advice please?

InsideInsurance

Unless you take the job you are basically never going to know the truth, and even if you do take it there is no guarantee that you'll know.

It can be the job was posted before it was fully signed off because of requirement for speed and HR subsequently scoped it below the level the hiring manager had pitched it at. It could be the business said they'd give a good headline and offer low. It could be the agency inflated the rate to attract people.

Personally, 1 and 3 are the most likely, certainly 1 has happened to me before as both hiring manager and candidate before though when I was a candidate the hiring manager played with the job spec to get HR to agree to the higher grading to be able to offer me the salary I wanted