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Topic: should i request proper payment from this outlet?
| Author | Message |
| DCAflyer | Posted – 10/3/2008 1:07:45 PM | show profile | email poster a news station's metromix site hired me for a month to do a series of reviews. the editor i was working with hasn't contacted me for a story since then and i've tried pitching to her for a while. she said she was open to pitches and i pitched her for a while and i overloaded her with so many pitches that she told me not to pitch anymore. i think my bridge might be burned there and she doesn't see me as a freelancer anymore, but one other thing. i'm low on cash and she didn't pay me the right amount. it's a differnece of somewhere between $15 and $50. i disputed this and she came back with some counterpoints to explain the $50 she was short, and when i conceded that maybe it was only $45 i was owed, and sent her an email countering her points, she didn't respond. as i mentioned she has always seemed visibly overloaded in her position. I am still holding on to the hope of getting more articles out of her and that's why i decided not to take this up, expressing in the email that a mere $45 was not as important as the promise of future assignments. Since I haven't gotten any, should I ask the payroll division to foward me the correct amount? |
| Reese | Posted – 10/3/2008 1:17:22 PM | show profile I'd let the $45 go. The editor doesn't owe you more stories. |
| ConfidentDesigner | Posted – 10/3/2008 5:45:09 PM | show profile yeah, let the $45 go and find another revenue stream. Sounds like you've pestered her beyond repair at this point. |
| DCAflyer | Posted – 10/3/2008 8:20:27 PM | show profile wait... Yes, granted the editor doesn't owe me more stories and it appears that she isn't going to give me any more stories so the other side of the argument is would any more bridges be burned if I dispute the $45 with the payroll department? |
| Marie | Posted – 10/4/2008 4:18:52 PM | show profile Stop with this burning bridges nonsense. If she owes you $45, she owes you $45, and I would pursue her for it. Contact accounting if you need to. Your pursuing money that is rightfully owed you might be why she's not giving you anymore assignments, or it also might be that her budget is used up for this fiscal year, in which case she wouldn't likely be able to give you anymore work until December. But if she owes you money, she owes you money. I would pursue the money (don't turn your life upside-down over it, but you may as well keep reinvoicing) and look for other markets. But stop pitching her. Send your numerous pitches to competitors. |
| Marie | Posted – 10/4/2008 4:22:46 PM | show profile That should be "any more" not "anymore." I think this fear of burning bridges and offending has gotten out of hand and is responsible for the terrible conditions, especially regarding payment and freelancers, in this industry. I think it's clear, for whatever reason, and it could be purely budgetary, that this person is not going to give you any more work. So as I said above, pursue other markets. You've got the ideas. Pitch them elsewhere. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 10/4/2008 5:09:52 PM | show profile It sounds like the primary issue is you and the editor don't see eye-to-eye on what you are owed. |
| flight risk | Posted – 10/4/2008 6:56:23 PM | show profile I know somebody that did some work for Metromix and had some issues with payment as well. It sounds like a similar situation with dozens of little stories and reviews needed in an unreasonably short amount of time. The dispute was confusion over what specifically was assigned and kill fees. I believe they agreed on some amount in the middle, and she left it at that. So not only do they underpay their freelancers, they give them the runaround. |
