What do you do when you don't get paid?

[trentonjoe]

I was hoping someone could help me. What do you do when someone publishes your work but does not pay you as promised?

I have waited patiently for 6 months. I have been told one thing after another but recieved no payment.

It is not a huge amount of money but it bothers me. Is there any recourse I can take?

[HellHound]

First thing to do is contact the upper management of the company in question.

For small e-publishers, this is probably the same person who is the front man, layout artist and so on, but for some of the larger companies and for all the print publishers, there is almost always someone further up the ladder to deal with until you are dealing with the owner or CEO.

If that still gets you nowhere, make sure you have copies of all the promises of payment on hand.

For a small sum, threaten to go public.

Then if that doesn't get results. Go public.

For a large sum, go to a collection agency or a lawyer.

[rpghost]

I'd have to agree... with a small publisher and a small some the only thing you really can do is threaten to go public (post in these forums and post to the freelancer mailing list) and hopefully prevent others from being screwed and maybe steer a few customers away from buying the product.

Regrefully, this happens more then anyone wants to admit. I'm not sure why, but some people don't bother to even say anything thinking they'll get a bad rep in the industry and not get hired.. but if you don't say anything then evil will rule.

James

[Drawmack]

Don't forget the better business beaureau.

[cleavthorn]

First off, I try to talk to people I know and ask around if they know anything about a publisher before I draw them pretty pictures. You can still get burned, but it is a little less likely.

As for your current dilema, I would give them one more chance to pay and then go public/ sick flesh-eating lawyers at them.

I know I wouldn't work for a publisher I've heard wasn't paying...

: )

[rpgHQ]

Also if your dealings with this compnay/person was done over the internet, and more importantly if their product with your material in it is offered over the internet, you can go to this federal goverment site and file a complaint.

http://www1.ifccfbi.gov


Why hire a lawyer when you can let the government do the work for you? Especially if your corrospondence and promises of payment/wage was of the majority done over the internet/email. The government is cracking down more and more on Internet Fraud, make those feds earn their budget and salaries.

Also without you recieving payment the rights and title(copyright) of the material they used still belongs to you. So you can get them on two federal charges at a minimum there.

Also, as long as either you or the company is located in the USA - doesnt have to be both of you - that government link above is still a viable option. Also as long as one of you is located in the USA and depending on which country the other party is in the copyright infringment angle is viable too.


If your both in the USA you can also try getting them under Labor Laws. I would start with your state labor board(unemployement office, workforce department, whatever they call it in your state.) And they can point you to the correct resources/persons. If your both in different states then you can look at federal labor laws helping out. Your state labor office can help point oyu in the right place with this too. BBB in this case probably wont get you anywhere except maybe point you to the proper resources. Your liable to get more help and information from your local SBA office.

Actually the SBA is more apt to be able to coordinate things for you. Even to the point of giving you a free lawyer to handle it. The SBA actually gets funding to help pay for or subsidize folks in this type of stuff. Though you may have to use a prybar to beat it out of them.

[Dispari]

I'm one of those who seems to got burned by having done work for a well know little enterprise.
By nature I'm quite patient (I waited more than 8 month - give or take) and collected a nice amount of e-mailing with complaint/excuses/promises/silences/complains but finally failed to see my money.
To be correct I've received my first payment (royalties for a very successful product) but the subsequent ones (to be received every 2 months) simply vanished...

In the meantime (before the stressful situation got apparent) for the same peoples I got another job for another well-known product...
Same fate.

I don't got "public" before because I don't like to be "so blunt" and at first I thought that an ocean of distance can make things a little difficult... But Today I sent the last e-mail asking for explanations and this message on the forum... (they surely read this forum as they often put messages or comments) but if the situation does not change (i.e. I receive my money fast) I've no problems putting names on-line if it can help other free-lances like me.

In the last few years I've worked with different publishers and *always* received respectful behavior (both professional and monetary), even form micro-publishers!

Regards!

[Morrus]

To pre-empt dispari, it seems that he is having trouble getting paid by EN Publishing (I don't know if that's who he is talking about, but I'd guess it is).

I'm not sure what's going on there, dispari. I do know that I have sent at least 3 cheques now to the address you specified, so something odd is happening. I don't mind sending another, but at this point it seems to be a waste of time, as they plainly aren't getting there.

I am trying to figure it out - just got your latest email today. I'll reply to you tomorrow once I've had a think about the situation.

[Dispari]

To be correct I'm not referring to "EN Publishing".

I've always got a great collaboration with the staff at EN Publishing (starting with Denise Robinson, which is a very kind person who always show professional behavior along a transparent way to conduct business).

My complaints are directed to other peoples.
I'll be more precise if the need will arise.

D.

[alsih2o]

i am having this problem too, as soon as i announced i did not want to work with a publisher who is a poster here i got no more communication and never saw a dollar.


talk about your fair weather friends....