My view of agents is also different from most other contractors that I have met. I think they work very hard to satisfy a client's requirement in competition with all of the other agents that are out there and the amount of work that is done to get just one contractor in front of one client for interview is a difficult and time consuming task. If their candidate gets picked from the other interviewees then it was all worth it but the chances are not in their favour so most of the time it is all to no avail. All this work costs money and they must recoup it when they are successful. Without agents, we contractors would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to find work. Funding your work would also be another task that the average contractor would not like to get involved with. Most contractors would not accept a contract if they thought that they wouldn't get paid for their first weeks work until their invoice had been sat in an accounts office for one, two or even three months. All agencies that I have worked for have always paid promptly, sometimes within just a few days of receipt of my invoice.