| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Media Issues > Topic: Payment Issues |
Topic: Payment Issues
| Author | Message |
| Lola la la la Lola | Posted – 7/17/2008 8:58:46 PM | show profile It's so cheesy how a magazine geared towards wealthy people can't even pay its own bills. |
| Cr8tive | Posted – 7/17/2008 9:03:35 PM | show profile Have you written a demand letter yet, giving them a deadline for payment or else you'll sue them in small claims court? I like to get a deposit up front and payment before the work is delivered. If not, then my contract is air-tight that they must sign before work begins. I'm sure you have saved all your email correspondence with them. I would also contact her superiors, the publisher or owner of the company. Be serious about taking them to court. Set that payment deadline and don't budge from it. Good luck! Sorry that happened to you. |
| travelwander | Posted – 7/17/2008 9:36:28 PM | show profile | email poster good advice... Thanks for the feedback, Cre8tive...I will go ahead and send that letter. |
| snappiness | Posted – 7/17/2008 10:04:27 PM | show profile "I like to get a deposit up front and payment before the work is delivered. " This is for magazines? Pardon my complete incredulity, but in 20+ years of magazine journalism I've never seen or heard of either of these happening. |
| ConfidentDesigner | Posted – 7/18/2008 12:41:02 AM | show profile Wow! This sounds exactly what I'm currently going through. What is it in this industry? Too many deadbeat wannabe publisher out there apparently. From now on my policy will be to be paid via PayPal and not release final documents to the clients until the check has cleared post proofing stage. I'm a designer though so it would be easier for me to do that than a writer. Still, there's got to be SOME way to protect ourselves from this unscupulous crap from these so-called publishers!!! |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/18/2008 2:24:24 AM | show profile I usually get advances for corporate work, but never for magazines. And no magazines is going to pay the whole fee before the work is delivered. --"I like to get a deposit up front and payment before the work is delivered. " This is for magazines? Pardon my complete incredulity, but in 20+ years of magazine journalism I've never seen or heard of either of these happening.-- |
| ConfidentDesigner | Posted – 7/18/2008 9:25:41 AM | show profile dribble- I ALWAYS get AT LEAST a deposit before I start working with any new client. Been doing this for years! Still doesn't stop deadbeats from not paying the whole bill. Best advice is to get them to pay the balance before releasing the work. The honest ones won't balk. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 7/18/2008 9:51:17 AM | show profile CD, Dribble - you're talking about two different kinds of work: writing and design work. Design projects typically get an upfront payment; editorial work usually has to wait to get paid. On shoddy publications (and there are many) the wait can be 90 days from publication, and only after a lot of nagging. travelwander: the best course is do the demand letter, then move onto other projects. If the contract sum due is a large one, you might consider using a lawyer to sue or threaten a lien. |
| snappiness | Posted – 7/18/2008 10:30:11 AM | show profile Oh. The original poster said s/he had written two stories for the publication and somehow we wandered off into design. Well, that explains it. Totally different billing and payment concepts. |
| brainfry | Posted – 7/18/2008 12:35:49 PM | show profile Agreed! Avoid them like the plague. They have done this repeatedly to too many writers on this board. The two people at the magazine (if you can call it that -- more like a long advertorial) are extremely unprofessional and they have no idea what they're doing. I got paid for some of my work there, but for the low, low fees and stress, it wasn't even worth it. |
| WriteRight | Posted – 7/25/2008 1:30:10 AM | show profile I, too, have been given the cold shoulder by the Affluent Page. I did two two stories and an advertorial for them. They paid me for one story and the advertorial, after submitting the invoice twice. I agreed to do a second story on extremely short notice - back in January. It's now the end of July and after repeated requests for payment - both with the eic and publisher - I've seen nothing. I haven't heard a peep from the publisher and the eic has continuously directed me to him. I recently saw other complaints on this board that were posted earlier this year. If I would've saw those back then, I never would've done another story for this rag. |
| WriteRight | Posted – 7/25/2008 1:31:17 AM | show profile I, too, have been given the cold shoulder by the Affluent Page. I did two stories and an advertorial for them. They paid me for one story and the advertorial, after submitting the invoice twice. I agreed to do a second story on extremely short notice - back in January. It's now the end of July and after repeated requests for payment - both with the eic and publisher - I've seen nothing. I haven't heard a peep from the publisher and the eic has continuously directed me to him. I recently saw other complaints on this board that were posted earlier this year. If I would've saw those back then, I never would've done another story for this rag. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 7/25/2008 2:53:46 PM | show profile What a joke! So much for affluence, eh? Love the bad grammar on their pages, too. Take'em to court. Me, personally, I have made a few new rules with respect to my freelancing, and indeed all of my career: 1. No start-ups. 2. No small operations. 3. No family-owned companies. I have had bad experiences with all of them. Does this mean large, well-established companies are any better? Not necessarily. There are bad apples in every business "genre," and big corporations have their own drawbacks. BUT chances are greater that they'll have a respectable accounting system in place to go along with their experience and reach. In the end, I prefer to get work through word-of-mouth, through people I've worked with before in other places who have moved around. But that's just me. I realize that not everyone has that kind of network, and not everyone is that far along in their careers. Good luck to you. Those people sound like unprofessional jerks. |
| Cr8tive | Posted – 9/5/2008 6:14:12 PM | show profile Get the phone numbers and email addresses of the Accounts Payable department as well as the Human Resources department. Also get the supervisor's name of the person you dealt with directly and get that supervisor in the loop too. Email them all and call them both and be stern when you present your situation to them. Before you call, be well-organized in your thoughts and your facts. Write notes for yourself, if you think it would be helpful. And yes....DO set that deadline for payment. Also, when you email these people send an attachment (jpeg or PDF) of your original invoice to them. When you email these people, be sure to CC the original person you worked for so he/she knows you have the whole company breathing down their neck....this is assuming, of course, that you're dealing with a reputable company. If, in fact, you're not, then threaten them outright with a lawsuit in small claims court. |
| agatha | Posted – 9/24/2008 10:24:54 PM | show profile | email poster The Affluent Page/The Affluent Page Luxury Index/Epic One Me I wrote three articles for TAP and was paid--eventually. Three more--no pay since April, just the TAP shuffle. Next--a demand letter and then set a legal person on the publication. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 9/25/2008 5:03:08 PM | show profile | email poster Agree with poster on these rules: 1. No start-ups. 2. No small operations. 3. No family-owned companies. I did some consulting on a small operation, family-owned company to help them critique their product and fix it editorially, but I made them pay up front. For stories, unfortunately, almost all pay on publication or in 30 days. Some pay on acceptance. Check the contract. Before you make a deal, always google a new client. Try googling the company, and the words "complaint" or "fraud" or "late." I ended up settling with a bogus magazine company for less than half of what they owed me for stories contributed, and I'm wiser these days. |
| marisaperiodista | Posted – 9/26/2008 3:57:03 PM | show profile | email poster How long before you take a publication to small claims? I'm relatively new in the freelance world, and until now have never had any issues with receiving payments. I'm extremely frustrated with an up-and-coming alternative magazine for which I've done some substantial work--a 3,000-word story appeared in their July/August issue and an even longer story made the cover for October, which is about to show up on newsstands. After promising to mail me the check in mid-July for the first story, they told me there was a mix-up with the accountant, who needed me to fill out a W-9. I completed the form immediately, and after much polite emailing that has morphed into stern phone calls and voicemail messages, I still don't even have payment for the first piece and am at the end of my rope. I don't want to threaten them with small claims court, but I'm seriously irritated and really need this money. I'm curious as to how long is too long to have waited for a payment, and for those who have taken publications to small claims, after how long did you do so? I appreciate your input...thanks much! |
| Cr8tive | Posted – 9/29/2008 7:30:26 PM | show profile Write them another email and Cc others in the command chain. Give then an absolute, drop-dead deadline date stating that you WANT them to pay you by this date, otherwise you will pursue other legal options to obtain your money. If you hear nothing from them, then file a claim against them with small claims court. Sorry that you're going through this. |
