posted by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jemck at 10:57am on 26/06/2007
jemck at 10:57am on 26/06/2007Reading writers’ blogs, aspiring authors see all the ups and downs of this life. Presumably they see enough in the plus column to keep them hoping and writing and that’s great. Certainly I find the ups outweigh the downs. I get to meet fabulously talented and really nice people, to talk to them and learn more about this craft, to read advance copies of excellent books, to meet my own readers and learn from them.
But there are the downs and one of them is finding you’ve been working with crooks and charlatans. It happens, no matter how careful you are. I wrote an article for a magazine, Writers’ Forum, last December, and duly submitted my invoice. I chased for payment in January, to be told since that article covered Dec/Jan, invoices would be paid in February. Mine wasn’t, as I told them when I emailed and rang. I was assured with much consternation that it would be paid next month’s cheque run. No, nothing in March. So at the start of April, I wrote with a copy of the invoice saying if the matter wasn’t resolved by the end of the month, they could expect the paperwork from the Small Claims Court. And lo, a cheque arrived at the end of April.
At the start of May, my bank sent it back since it had bounced. This time they got a very irate email – I couldn’t phone since there was no answer at the numbers I had. So, yes, I was pretty much writing the money off. Only no, I got a tremendously apologetic letter and another cheque. Made out in the wrong name. But with a new phone number on the letterhead, so I rang that and got profuse apologies and assurance that a replacement cheque would be forthcoming. Which it was and I paid it in.
It came back this morning, bounced. And just so’s you know, each bounced cheque is costing me £4 in bank charges. Ringing up, the book keeper referred me to another number, and yes, no surprises, the parent company Writers International, has applied to go into voluntary receivership. Only it’s not as simple as that because there’s a petition in the High Court today by other creditors looking to force it into administration. If they can go voluntarily, there’s a slim chance I might see my money. If they are forced into administration, there’s a snowball’s chance in Hell.
Yes, I spent a few minutes swearing but I’m not going to waste too much time being furious. It’s not a huge amount of money, just under £100, and while I’d like to have it, lack of it won’t put my children out on the street.
What can I do? Well, for a start I can contact the Society of Authors once I find out which way the winding-up of the company is going. So they can let any other members know what’s going on. So anyone else who hasn’t been paid can register as a creditor. I can make damn sure the administrators know the whole history of the company’s persistent failure to pay me, since the process always includes a review of the actions of the directors, looking for good – and bad – faith, and things like unduly preferential treatment of certain creditors, fraudulent trading and the like. If enough members are caught up in this, the Society will go to bat on our collective behalf too.
Because it wouldn’t be the first time a magazine goes bust, taking advantage of helpful bits of company law, only for the people behind it to reappear a few months later with a new title, taking in advertising cash and commissioning work which somehow never gets paid for. The only way to put the brakes on such cynical operations is to make sure the authorities get notified so they can disqualify the key players as directors.
Are the directors of Writers International crooks or charlatans? Or just disorganised and unlucky? We shall find out in due course. But at the moment, they’d have a hard time convincing me they ever did actually intend paying me for that work.
And I can post the whole sorry saga on this blog as a cautionary tale. Feel free to spread the word.
But there are the downs and one of them is finding you’ve been working with crooks and charlatans. It happens, no matter how careful you are. I wrote an article for a magazine, Writers’ Forum, last December, and duly submitted my invoice. I chased for payment in January, to be told since that article covered Dec/Jan, invoices would be paid in February. Mine wasn’t, as I told them when I emailed and rang. I was assured with much consternation that it would be paid next month’s cheque run. No, nothing in March. So at the start of April, I wrote with a copy of the invoice saying if the matter wasn’t resolved by the end of the month, they could expect the paperwork from the Small Claims Court. And lo, a cheque arrived at the end of April.
At the start of May, my bank sent it back since it had bounced. This time they got a very irate email – I couldn’t phone since there was no answer at the numbers I had. So, yes, I was pretty much writing the money off. Only no, I got a tremendously apologetic letter and another cheque. Made out in the wrong name. But with a new phone number on the letterhead, so I rang that and got profuse apologies and assurance that a replacement cheque would be forthcoming. Which it was and I paid it in.
It came back this morning, bounced. And just so’s you know, each bounced cheque is costing me £4 in bank charges. Ringing up, the book keeper referred me to another number, and yes, no surprises, the parent company Writers International, has applied to go into voluntary receivership. Only it’s not as simple as that because there’s a petition in the High Court today by other creditors looking to force it into administration. If they can go voluntarily, there’s a slim chance I might see my money. If they are forced into administration, there’s a snowball’s chance in Hell.
Yes, I spent a few minutes swearing but I’m not going to waste too much time being furious. It’s not a huge amount of money, just under £100, and while I’d like to have it, lack of it won’t put my children out on the street.
What can I do? Well, for a start I can contact the Society of Authors once I find out which way the winding-up of the company is going. So they can let any other members know what’s going on. So anyone else who hasn’t been paid can register as a creditor. I can make damn sure the administrators know the whole history of the company’s persistent failure to pay me, since the process always includes a review of the actions of the directors, looking for good – and bad – faith, and things like unduly preferential treatment of certain creditors, fraudulent trading and the like. If enough members are caught up in this, the Society will go to bat on our collective behalf too.
Because it wouldn’t be the first time a magazine goes bust, taking advantage of helpful bits of company law, only for the people behind it to reappear a few months later with a new title, taking in advertising cash and commissioning work which somehow never gets paid for. The only way to put the brakes on such cynical operations is to make sure the authorities get notified so they can disqualify the key players as directors.
Are the directors of Writers International crooks or charlatans? Or just disorganised and unlucky? We shall find out in due course. But at the moment, they’d have a hard time convincing me they ever did actually intend paying me for that work.
And I can post the whole sorry saga on this blog as a cautionary tale. Feel free to spread the word.