recruitment agency demand

[Guest]

a recruitment agency is demanding payment after we took candidate from different agency. 1st agency lied and said candidate was exclusive, sent t&Cs by email and we interviewed candidate through them. i did not sign T&Cs did not agree to them (either verbally or in writing), they were not explained and i did not understand them - naively thought fee was due when candidate appointed through instruction to agency. CV for same candidate sent by 2nd agency before interview, but assumed different as 1st agency had said he was exclusive. eventually ended up employing candidate through 2nd agency.

1st agency is now demanding full fee as i interviewed through them although they lied about his exclusivity and didn't explain their t&cs and i didn't sign or acknowledge them. Am i liable for this?

[ULA]

In regard to agency 1's T&C's when you received a copy I presume you read them through. A clause in regard to this issue is standard in most agency T&C's I have seen over the years. Most people looking for jobs sign up with multiple agencies and any agency needs to safeguard their rights as the "first introducer".

When you were sent the CV of the candidate from agency 1 did they confirm that the person was exclusively with them, do you have this in writing?
I appreciated most CV's come across without name details but was it not clear the CV from both agencies was the same person?
What was your reason for arranging to interview the candidate via agency 2 rather than agency 1?