Choosing an agency

[erica]

I'm a newbie to this, at least in the UK. I'm trying to decide which to use an agency in London.
I guess I fall into mature gfe catagory. There seem to be so many. I talked to a WG in London and after she pays the agency  50 and driver 20  she is left with ?50! Is that possible???
I also understand the agengies dont do any serious checks, as I'm used to working in US where it's illegal and everyone does rigorous security checks, id, driver's licence. work verification.
I feel nervous about starting here, as I cant tell anyone this side of the pond.I know agencies take a big cut but would get more exposoure, in the beginning as new girl.
I just do not know which ar good popular London agencies.
ANY advice at all very appreciated.
Erica

[xw5]

It's possible, but it's not good. You should be able to find agencies taking a quarter to a third of the money.

Yep, no agency is going to do US style checks here. 'Are they at that address' and 'have they done anything naughty in the past' are things you can expect. Part of the problem is that the agencies tend to see each other as competition, and don't want to share info about their client bases with anyone else unless something serious happens.

[erica]

Thanks for that. It's so daughting the amount of agencies covering London.
If you have any suggestions of the good/busy ones please let me know.
Have a Happy New Year.

[EmilyJones]

Hi Erica, welcome to SAAFE. Have you been in London long?

The best way to find busy agencies is to look up Punternet and Punterlink (use Google) and search those sites for their field reports, which are themselves easily searchable so you can see the most recent reports for escorts from agencies (excluding all the indies) in whichever city you are interested in. You will then have a list in front of you of the agencies that are popular with punters and, by checking the reports' contents, a vague idea of what the girls working for them are like (i.e. if all the reports complain of the girl being surly or rude, you might be looking at an agency that takes a high cut and pressures the girls to work more, or other negative possibilities such as bait'n'switch/scam operations). You obviously have to read between the lines for most of this, unless the punter is very unhappy in which case they do spell it out.

For a more direct approach, you'll probably have to go ahead and contact an agency you're interested in and do a bit of sly grilling during the interview - as you've said you have plenty of experience with the industry, you'll probably be able to see through the usual blab the agency owner tells new girls, about how awesome their agency is and how many millions of pounds you'll make etc etc. Or even just keeping an eye on the agency's website for a while can show the number of new girls they recruit and how many 'old' girls get removed from the site (this is often due to punter complaints about rip-offs/fakes), plus how many of the girls' pictures look fake (Tineye can help - Google again!) or how generic the profiles are can perhaps show a lack of interest in promoting and advertising the (honest) girls who have been on the books a while.

I'd be interested to know if US agencies are different - here in London, most of them make their money by continuously hiring newer, younger girls to interest their clients and because of this, it's not unusual for girls to frequently reinvent themselves and join a new agency, to keep their New Girl status. These are amongst the many reasons that I went indie after doing agency work - as an indie, it pays to build up your business and promote yourself with honesty, which is refreshing.

Hope something here can be of help to you, and good luck with your next steps. Let us know if you have any more questions!

[erica]

 Thanks for the advise,especially Emily.
In answer to how agencies in US work they usually take about 40% but do all the screening etc. They are very possesive about thier girls and will not let them be independant and if they change agencies because of getting little work they have been known to do thier best to ruin them, ie set them up with the police.Over there the girls are so worried about arrest that the whole security is on another level, at least for the smart ones!
Girls do reinvent themselves but usually because of arrest,as they don't want to lose thier clients.
I need some more advice, I have been going round in circles here. Granted it's been Christmas but not getting too far with agencies, one was very nice Touch of Class,I sent photos, but she has been to busy to look, the other, Judy's- specializing in mature was also run off her feet.
There are just so many and I'm not sure if 38 is mature over here. Now I'm thinking of flats or parlours but I dont think it's my cup of tea, as mine is a true unrushed GFE experience.
Not sure if you can post names of places but really want to start work and I know there are probably some awful places/agencies out there.
SO ANY ADVICE IS GREAT

[amy]

Erica, SAAFE is an independent advice site - we are not here to rate or recommend individual operations and no matter how many times you ask, no-one will be posting lists up on the board. If you haven't followed Emily's advice regarding looking on Punterlink and Punternet then I suggest you do; have a look at the agency websites and contact them individually (although you are right in thinking 38 would be considered mature and this is likely to put off some places, however annoying and unfair it may be).

Is there a reason you don't want to work independently? There is plenty of advice and support here for those getting started and as you have done the work before I can't imagine you would have too many problems, particularly since in the UK you don't have the law to worry about. If the money is very important to you, at least you get to keep it (although with overheads it often doesn't make an enormous amount of difference), and if you are doing security checks yourself, at least you know they are being done properly.

[erica]

 Thanks Amy, and appologies if I stepped over the line,was unintentional.
Thanks for the advice,maybe that's the way to go - with a small independant ad for now a I'm not even sure how busy  some agencies really are. It's a tad overwhelming though.
Thanks

[airporthoneys]

Talk to other girls who are with agencies also have a good chat with them you can tell a lot from talking to someone on the phone

There are about 700 agencies in london now scary eh!!!

[xw5]

There are about 700 agencies in london now scary eh!!!

Probably only to people already running one

Just about everyone thinks they could run an agency, even if most of them do not have a clue about how to do so successfully.

[erica]

  Now there's a vote of confidence!

[erica]

 :-Pardon my ignorance but a Parlour offers massage,,plus extras,being that tthe times offered start from only 20 minutes to an hour, are  Full services offered or just, how do I put it the bare minimum. ...Are there other rooms available, I have read some threads that use the term parlour or flat in the same sentance.
I assumed they were quite different.
Thanks
Erica (again)!

[Anika Mae]

Massage parlours, saunas, brothels and working flats are basically the same with individual variations. Some people have ideas of what makes a place one thing and not another, but there are no fixed definitions so the terms can be used interchangeably. I'd expect "flat" to be used more often for a small place - a one or two girl flat, whereas a parlour would be a bit bigger, but you can't assume anything from the word used to describe a place.

A standard parlour service includes a massage, suck and fuck. Extras are OWO, RO, kissing, and anything more exotic. There may also be options for a cheaper service without sex, such as hand relief. Parlours aren't shy about discussing services so it should be clear if they're offering something that isn't full service.

[erica]

 Thanks that was very helpful and clears up most questions
Erica

[xxlaurenxx]

I'm a newbie to this, at least in the UK. I'm trying to decide which to use an agency in London.
I guess I fall into mature gfe catagory. There seem to be so many. I talked to a WG in London and after she pays the agency  50 and driver 20  she is left with ?50! Is that possible???
I also understand the agengies dont do any serious checks, as I'm used to working in US where it's illegal and everyone does rigorous security checks, id, driver's licence. work verification.
I feel nervous about starting here, as I cant tell anyone this side of the pond.I know agencies take a big cut but would get more exposoure, in the beginning as new girl.
I just do not know which ar good popular London agencies.
ANY advice at all very appreciated.
Erica

hey,
why not try joining a massage palour?thats what i did for the very 1st time a week ago and they take a third of the money so  its good.i was gonna go with an agency aswel but they took 50 percent,and plus i didnt trust going into peoples homes