| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Media Issues > Topic: ARRGGG!!!! They STILL Won't Pay Me |
Topic: ARRGGG!!!! They STILL Won't Pay Me
| Author | Message |
| fake.it.til.you.make.it | Posted – 7/17/2006 9:35:33 PM | show profile I am owed a few hundred dollars for an article. I've written two other stories for this magazine before. Both times, they paid me about a month late. They pay 30 days after publication and waited 6 months to publish this article after asking me to write it to begin with). My experience with this magazine has been maddening to say the least and I will never, ever under any circumstance write for them again. I have been calling and emailing them for over a month now about my over due payment. It's been a few *months*, mind you. Each time they say they'll take care of it that day. A week will pass by. Nothing. I contact them again, they promise they'll take care of it and the cycle continues. I am afraid that I'll never get paid now. If I use a lawyer, I feel like I'm going to lose the money that I earned (only a few hundred bucks), so I don't know if it's worth it, but I sure as hell am not going to let it go. What do you do in this situation? I'm not good at bullying, but I am enraged.... I just need to know the best way to go about this, aside from telling them I'm never writing for them again, will tell other writers not to write for them, and that they don't know how to run a magazine. ------ http://writerwannabehack.blogspot.com |
| ubitiq | Posted – 7/17/2006 11:37:26 PM | show profile Report them to writersweekly.com that'll take care of it... |
| belinda | Posted – 7/18/2006 10:00:30 AM | show profile When you say "they," it should mean you've been talking to accounts payable. |
| fake.it.til.you.make.it | Posted – 7/18/2006 1:14:41 PM | show profile Yeah, the assigning editor left the company, so I called to speak with their "accounting department." It turns out that because they are such a small company, they really have no accounting department, and I've been in touch with their Publisher, who cuts the checks. Every time I speak to him he says he'll take care of it that day, but I just keep getting lame excuses as to why the check never gets to me. Today, I was advised to send them a letter threatening to file a judgment in small claims court. Anyone have experience with this as a freelancer? This is really so lame that they can't make one measely freelancer payment. ------ http://writerwannabehack.blogspot.com |
| elleemby | Posted – 7/18/2006 2:04:53 PM | show profile Are you in the same area that you could actually go to their offices? I have one freelance client who I swear would never pay me if I didn't actually pick it up from him every issue. You'd think it'd be easy to drop in the mail, but apparently not. It's not that he doesn't want to pay me, but he's either just that busy or absent-minded or lazy or doesn't really want to part with the money until he absolutely has to. Anyway, when I get there, it's a reminder that he needs to write the check, and he does, right there in front of me. In fact, even at my company where I work full time, they sometimes take forever, but if I go down to accounts payable and say I really need it now, they'll write it out right then and there. It usually involves a good deal of waiting around in their office, but to me, it's worth the wait. So maybe try doing that ... either try to arrange a time with him or just show up. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/18/2006 2:41:55 PM | show profile I would write a letter saying I am going to take them to small claims court and report them to the credit bureau and the better business bureau, and then would do so. --Yeah, the assigning editor left the company, so I called to speak with their "accounting department." It turns out that because they are such a small company, they really have no accounting department, and I've been in touch with their Publisher, who cuts the checks. Every time I speak to him he says he'll take care of it that day, but I just keep getting lame excuses as to why the check never gets to me. Today, I was advised to send them a letter threatening to file a judgment in small claims court. Anyone have experience with this as a freelancer? This is really so lame that they can't make one measely freelancer payment. >> |
| pstraylor1 | Posted – 7/18/2006 6:52:04 PM | show profile Getting paid Having gone down this path once, I would not advise going to small claims court unless you have a significant amount of money owed. $500 or less, not worth it. It is a huge hassle, plus there is a fee (which I can't recall tha amnt) for filing your case. For a few hundred dollars, it may not be worth your time and effort and stress level at this point to keep up the harassment game. But spread the word as much you can about their unethical practices, so other writers can avoid the trap! |
| miss_rachelh | Posted – 7/18/2006 7:30:24 PM | show profile Your story sounds so familiar that if you weren't based in a different country I'd think you were talking about the same magazine and company: consistently late payments, suddenly an incredibly overdue payment, publishers dish out the checks, constant promises of payment and no delivery. The funny thing is that despite all this, the magazine I had these issues with is a major magazine in a relatively mainstream market. I'd been contributing to for around a year, as one of its primary contributing writers and occasional part-time staffer, had always received my payment a little late and needed to chase it up, but in this instance, my payment of several thousand dollars was MONTHS overdue. Like you, I tried calling and emailing and even appealing to their emotions. After three or four months of promises and no cash, I sent the following letter: "Re: Outstanding monies Please find attached a statement detailing outstanding monies owed to me, totalling $AMOUNT, as indicated by my invoices numbers W, X, Y and Z and by your terms of payment. I have phoned and emailed you about the situation numerous times but despite promises that I would be paid on several occasions, I am yet to receive any of the above amount, despite some invoices being as much as three months overdue. I appreciate that you are having difficulties with creditors of your own, but will need further explanation and at least part payment within 7 days. I have enjoyed my working relationship with MAGAZINE and COMPANY and wouldn?t want this incident to affect it. In the past you have always paid within a reasonable timeframe and I hope we can continue to work together. I look forward to hearing from you." Note that I didn't threaten legal action. I ended up getting paid half my money the next week and the other half a couple of weeks after that. That being said, I am a little nervous about the status of my relationship with the magazine now. We'll have to see on that one, I suppose. That being said, I know a writer who is still owed $1000 by this company a year and a half after it was due - so if I hadn't chased it up, I may have never been paid at all. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/18/2006 8:00:21 PM | show profile I am amazed that you would "wonder about your status of your relationship at the magazine" since I would never write for them again. If you keep writing for them, you're going to be stiffed. It's not a case of if but when. The minimum I would do is not let projects build up -- in other words, i wouldn't take on new projects while still owed for old ones. --I ended up getting paid half my money the next week and the other half a couple of weeks after that. That being said, I am a little nervous about the status of my relationship with the magazine now. We'll have to see on that one, I suppose... |
| miss_rachelh | Posted – 7/18/2006 9:00:56 PM | show profile Good point That's what the friend who helped me with the letter said - why would I want to write for them if they weren't going to pay me? But of course I don't want that - I want to keep writing for them and get paid. On time. I suppose what makes it difficult is that it's one of only a small handful of publications in the Australian market that publishes the type of stories I wrote for them - which I really enjoy writing. Fortunately, most of the others are high paying (and do it with relative celerity too), so I should probably just take the excellent clips they gave me (and the money, of course) and run. |
| cornfrost | Posted – 7/19/2006 12:32:15 PM | show profile | email poster This is what you do: You call the guy three times a day. You call in the morning, in the afternoon and in the early evening. Each time you say, politely and calmly, you want to check on the status of your payment/make sure the check has been inked/ confirm it is on its way, etc. If that doesn't work, you up it to four times a day. Then five times a day. You get the point. Call every hour if you must. Do this until you get absolute confirmation of the check's physical location in the world -- that it is in the mailbox. I've had friends who did this and it is remarkably effective. |
| runner | Posted – 7/19/2006 1:04:37 PM | show profile I think Rachel's letter would be a better starting point. If you give this guy something to be irritated about, he'll start feeling justified in not paying, which is not where you want him to be. He needs to feel that this is something he needs to do because you provided a valuable service. |
| fake.it.til.you.make.it | Posted – 7/19/2006 1:15:33 PM | show profile Cornfrost, that's a great idea. I'm going to try it out. I'm not writing for them anymore, so I don't care if I annoy them. ------ http://writerwannabehack.blogspot.com |
| SFElisaW | Posted – 7/19/2006 4:22:39 PM | show profile What is the magazine? Out them. |
| flipflap | Posted – 7/19/2006 5:55:16 PM | show profile many novel ideas, but some of them sound too time-consuming. It reminds me of the writer who camped out, i.e pitched a tent in the publisher's office. here's another idea: write a letter/email that says if you dont receive payment by a certain day, you'll turn the matter over to NWU, ASJA or Angela Hoy's Writers Weekly? Explain that those orgs list deadbeat publishers on a special section of their web site. The result is usually when you google the publisher's name, often it's the very first hit. That'll be a great advertisment for their business. Angela Hoy has a really great sample letter to this effect on her site, but I can't find it. You've got to consider that deadbeats are unlikely to pay up unless they think something really bad is going to happen if they don't. Like a Con Ed shut-off notice. Getting hauled into small claims court means nothing to these types. They delay and delay the hearing. Plus you still have to collect the judgment! |
| fake.it.til.you.make.it | Posted – 7/19/2006 10:22:10 PM | show profile I called them again today, trying to remain as calm yet stern as possible without telling them what I really think of them. They swear they haven't received any of my emails with payment info (which somehow, supposedly end up getting blocked by SPAM filters) so I faxed the info to them. I am def going to take the threatening with reporting them to Writer's Weekly route. I'm not a member of the NWU though. Would I still be able to report this publisher to them? ------ http://writerwannabehack.blogspot.com |
| belinda | Posted – 7/19/2006 11:59:13 PM | show profile E-mail? Fax? Why give them an opportunity to "lose" your paperwork again? Sent it by certified mail or by another carrier requiring a delivery signature. That's serious. |
| belinda | Posted – 7/20/2006 12:05:17 AM | show profile Think of yourself as a business with a delinquent account, and start taking the action that any other business with a delinquent account would take. |
| pstraylor1 | Posted – 7/20/2006 1:12:27 PM | show profile One last idea. Whenever possible, get the client to provide you with a contract for the work. This is proof that they are going to pay you at the rate that they have agreed upon, within 30 days standard payment schedule. As well, ask them to include a clause that they will pay you a late fee (for instance, after 45 days, 5% fee, after 60 days, 10% fee, etc). If you have this in writing, then you have recourse. I have an agency client for regular work. My contract states that if the monthly fee is twice late by more than 7 days, they must pay me half the monthly fee as the late fee. They accepted it and I have threatened it (calmly) but never resorted to using it.....it works. Not as easy to do with magazines but if they like your work, they should agree to a writers contract -- you have the right to protect yourself like any other business owner. |
| runner | Posted – 7/20/2006 4:20:50 PM | show profile Copyright None of you should be writing anything without a written agreement! According to copyright law, permission to publish only transfers through a written document. |
| fake.it.til.you.make.it | Posted – 7/20/2006 5:42:46 PM | show profile I do have a contract. I'd never write w/o one. The Publisher, who is the only person who apparently cuts and handles the checks, is always conveniently out of town when I follow up or says that my emails (reminders of how much I'm owed, which issue I wrote for) supposedly don't get through to his email account. Yesterday I ended up faxing him the info instead. I called this morning to confirm he received my fax and he's out of town (!!!!). The other person I've been speaking with was out of the office today too. I think I'm just going to send a certified letter with a copy of a contract and a bitch-out letter. I wouldn't be able to collect any late fees after the contract's already been signed now, can I? ------ http://writerwannabehack.blogspot.com |
| Marie | Posted – 7/20/2006 6:26:40 PM | show profile YOu know the Spam story could be true--I often fail to get important e-mails in my office. So send something FedEx or certified return receipt requested, and then if they don't pay up within the week, send the threatening letter. I hate to give the deadbeat the benefit of the doubt here, but seeing what happens to my own office e-mail (I often don't receive things I need for stories)...maybe give them a few days before threatening. I have everything important sent to my personal e-mail now. With certified mail or anything that requires a signature, they can't claim nonreceipt. |
| laughinggas | Posted – 7/20/2006 10:34:17 PM | show profile I was once deadbeated for over 4000 dollars, and the lawyers I spoke to said that even if we went to small claims and I won, the deadbeat would still never pay me because there is no real system to collect, only liens and such. They've already proven that they don't pay, and that you're not within a good faith agreement. You're deadbeat isn't likely to suddenly go good. Don't waste your time worrying about money you've already lost. Although calling them every 25 minutes does sound like fun. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/21/2006 12:01:52 AM | show profile I think the lawyer gave you terrible advice. Going to small claims court isn't that much work or expense. I sure wouldn't have just walked away from $4K I was owed so easily. Putting a lien against someone gives them powerful incentive to pay up. There are also options like writs of garrishment, till taps, and writ of attachments, where you can ask the court to direct a sherriff to pick up the debtors personal property and sell it to pay the judgment. --I was once deadbeated for over 4000 dollars, and the lawyers I spoke to said that even if we went to small claims and I won, the deadbeat would still never pay me because there is no real system to collect, only liens and such. They've already proven that they don't pay, and that you're not within a good faith agreement. You're deadbeat isn't likely to suddenly go good. >> |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/21/2006 12:03:57 AM | show profile No. You can only get what the contract specifies, and one party cannot unilaterally change the contact without the other's consent. --I wouldn't be able to collect any late fees after the contract's already been signed now, can I? -- |
