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Topic: when a publication breaks a payment contract...
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| MTMama | Posted – 5/11/2006 6:12:54 PM | show profile I wrote for a regional quarterly magazine for the first time a couple of months ago. They pay on publication, which is not my preferred, but the assignment was interesting and the editor seemed to have her s*it together. My piece was due on Feb. 16th and I met the deadline, she accepted the piece, and it came out as scheduled the first week of April. In the meantime, she assigned me two new pieces for the summer issue, which I accepted on the same terms. I've turned in those two pieces but have still not been paid for piece #1. I called to check if they had received my invoice--they had--and was told they were having some cash flow problems and they would send it out later in the week. That was two weeks ago. Am I justified in presenting the invoice for the new pieces as requiring payment on receipt of invoice, since they've broken their contract for the earlier piece? Do I need to consider any stronger action? What are my options here? |
| Lotus665 | Posted – 5/11/2006 7:49:29 PM | show profile | email poster Watch out "Cash flow problems" or not, legally they have to pay you per your contract. First, don't accept any more assignments. If they're having problems you might not even be paid for the first one, much less the next two, under any payment schedule. If you have something in writing, you can pursue legal action later, although it's hard to get blood from a stone. PLEASE email me off list, because I think I know who the magazine is, and if it's who I think, you deserve to know the whole ugly story and decide your options after that. |
| Careen | Posted – 5/11/2006 8:28:00 PM | show profile Hmmm...I went down that same road in '02 when I designed and produced an ENTIRE magazine only to be paid just the retainer (which I ALWAYS ask for when dealing with a new client). They still, to this day, owe me close to $3K! I called them, invoiced monthly for awhile until I started charging interest (2% per month after 30 days) and still nothing. I even had an attorney friend write a letter to them which they ignored and instead called me and left harassing voicemails on MY answering machine, if you can believe that. This was also a start up regional...in a western state starting with a "C". I found out later that they also stiffed ALL of their writers and photographers too. Watch out for these types (they're everywhere and keep reinventing themselves to avoid being found out) and no matter how hungry you are, don't accept assignments without a retainer and tell them you MUST have payment in full before relinquishing the final work. Tell them this UPFRONT. If they're serious about paying you, they'll find the money. Otherwise, run in the other direction..FAST! |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 5/11/2006 10:53:49 PM | show profile The fact that they haven't paid you for the earlier pieces doesn't mean you have a legal ride to change the terms of the contract for the new pieces unilaterally. (That's like saying, "Well, the store didn't give me the refund I was legally entitled to so I shoplifted from them.') The magazine doesn't owe you the money for the new pieces until they're published. Basically, it sounds like you are going to have to bug them for your money and perhaps take them to small claims court. Suing someone in small claims court really isn't all that hard. |
| Lotus665 | Posted – 5/12/2006 9:22:05 AM | show profile Dribble is right from a legal standpoint, the terms are what they are. So keep pestering, and don't take any new assignments. And if this is taking place in an Eastern Seaboard state that begins with a P, with additional editions in a state that begins with M or a nonstate that ends in DC, these people are shysters. |
| The phashionista | Posted – 5/12/2006 9:27:15 AM | show profile Now I'm dying to know which publications...out 'em. |
| MTMama | Posted – 5/12/2006 11:06:24 AM | show profile tried to email you, Lotus... Without naming names, I'll just say that this is a regional magazine focusing on a Western state, but not one that starts with a "C". My email to you bounced back. Thanks, everyone, for your input. I'm going to give them until Saturday, which is the last date by which they could pay me according to the conversation I had with their business manager, and then I'll go from there. I appreciate all the information. |
| tippecanoe | Posted – 5/12/2006 4:31:18 PM | show profile naming names Seems "DC Fishbowl" has missed the boat by assuming this thread is about the new local magazines. |
