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TL;DR: A major client reached out in Nov, then ghosted twice before hiring me for a “secret” 2-week trial in Feb. This brand won’t hire directly, so they use a specific agency for all full-time roles - but the client went behind their back to run my trial through a different firm (likely to bypass their fees or my high rate). She then stalled and stretched those 40 hours of work over 4 weeks while she waited to fire my predecessor. After she approved a $125k salary, the agency refused and lowballed me at $115k. Now I’m Day 2 into my signed contract: they delayed to ship my laptop and are trying to move my payroll start date back yet again while I’m literally packing boxes to move cities for this job. Am I being gaslit? I followed up to confirm that we’re still sticking to the April 21st start date for payroll. Am I being aggressive?

Full details:

This started back in November. A high-level client contact at a major global brand reaches out to me directly. We talk, she ghosts. She resurfaces in January, we talk, she ghosts again. Finally, in February, she reappears and hires me for a 2 week trial at $70/hr, telling me the role will open March 10th. She says the trial is to let me “get a taste for the culture,” and I agree.

She does this through a different agency. Why I mention agency: This brand does many full time hires through an agency. BUT the agency I’m about to join full time has no idea I’m already working on their client account as a freelancer behind the scenes. The client acknowledges I’m Senior level and pays the rate without hesitation.

Then things got weird. I’m brought on for that “40 hour trial” at $70/hr, but the client stretches those 40 hours over 4 weeks because she is stalling to fire the person I’m replacing. I’m essentially in waiting while she clears a desk. Awkward. March 10th eventually pushes into April. I finally had to start reclaiming my time and setting boundaries to get her to get things moving.

When it’s time to go permanent, the client contact explicitly agrees to a $125k salary, even though the role was actually allotted for $105k. She was essentially trying to hire a senior for a junior level role, but I pleaded my case and she agreed. Then, the actual agency (who didn’t even recruit me) tells me they “won’t budge” past $115k. They are literally pocketing the $10k difference the client already approved. And they still have no idea the client had me working at $70/hr. The client actually asked me not to mention that trial to the agency (I didn’t ask questions then… now I know why).

To be ready for the role and closer to the NY office, I committed to a move to a new apartment in May. I’ve been dying to move and the job market is tough, so I caved and didn’t keep pushing. I tried negotiating in person and over email, but they wouldn’t budge.

We finally landed on Monday, April 20th as my start date, which is in my signed contract. But last Friday, the agency asks me to move my start to Tuesday, April 21st because my manager had a family emergency. I agree to be a team player.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was Day 1. No laptop. The agency failed to ship it. They asked if I could start working using a personal laptop. I declined, and the client actually backed me on that. I spent the day on my personal device just wrestling with a broken onboarding link they sent last week (which I’ve been telling them was broken since last week).

Now it’s Wednesday (Day 2). Still no hardware. I’m noticing the agency getting “fuzzier” about my pay start date again. I’ve been ghosted twice, lowballed by $10k on a client approved budget, and I’m currently packing boxes to move cities for this job.

I followed up to confirm that we’re still sticking to the April 21st start date for payroll. Am I being aggressive?