Are Some Travel Agencies Running a Scam?

[Kanani_Ikike]

Hello everyone out there in allnurses.com land.

I was just wanting to ask of you all's experience with travel nurse agencies. Have they been good?

The reason i ask this is because a while back, i started putting in with some travel nurse agencies. I am wanting to relocate away from here and I felt that traveling to my place of destination would be a good way to get my foot in the door. So, I started going on some of these travel agency websites. They advertised job assignments in some of the areas I was interested in. Anyways, I went on and registered with some sites for a recruiter to contact me. To sum it all up, they "exaggerate" with some of their advertisements. They will advertise positions in a particular city, but when you talk with them, they say they don't have anything in that city.

So, after coming to the conclusion that I felt that these agencies are not exactly telling the whole truth about everything, I quit dealing with them. Well, lately, I have been receiving tons of spam e-mails from numerous travel agencies. Also, forget telemarketers, these so-called "recruiters" have been blowing up my phone. They call two or three times a day. They use a different name each time, even though it's obvious it's the same person. I have travel agencies calling me that I didn't even sign up with. It's getting hectic.

So, I would like for someone who has extensively dealt with travel agencies to tell me: are most of them running a scam? I mean, I really feel that reputable agencies wouldn't act in such a way. And how do I know a reputable agency from a not so good one?

Please, do tell. I would like to travel, but I don't feel that I can trust most of the agencies I've dealt with. I would appreciate any input you all could give.

Thanks so much. Have a blessed day.:balloons:

[a21chdchic]

So, who actually sets the hourly wage that you get - the agency or the hospital?

a21chdchic

[duggram]

Baglady, thank you for the reply. I have done my research and they do get 60% (or it might be 59.6%). I get $40.00 per hour. Of that only $10 is taxed. $30 is paid as per diem, not taxed. The company collects $98.00+ for every hour I work (reg or OT). They bank $58.00 for every hour that I work up to 40 hours.

For overtime I get $36.00 (which is less than I used to make regular time in my perm job) and the agency makes $62.00 for every hour of overtime that I work.

Do you really think it's difficult to run a company if you're only making $2620 per week per traveler? If one recruiter has 10 travelers that's more than $25,000 per week. $1.3+ million per year. The profits are obscene. This is why there are so many small companies and the hospitals complain about the high cost of travelers.

I always have trouble dealing with this but then I am new. Yes they are using the heck out of me, but my net earnings are almost double from my perm pay.

There is a tech where I work now that is starting her own company. She plans to give the traveler a bigger cut and contract for less to the hospital. She believes that the agencies are just too greedy. I told her I would like to be one of her travelers here in Alaska. Maybe I can learn what I need to do to become an independent and stop supporting the greedy agencies.

[duggram]

a21chdchic,

The agencies set the hourly rate. The hospitals only deal with the agencies in money matters. If a traveler is getting extra money from the hospital the agency is going to want their cut.