July 2010, I finished an interactive project for a spanish multinational (I won’t name it now because I want to give it a chance to pay me before it gets the first ribbon of the history of the “Not Paid Ribbon”). The whole project had a 7 figures budget and I am supposed to get a couple of thousands € for my part. The client hired an ad agency, which hired a big production company, which hired a smaller one, which hired me. I just thought that if everybody is paying everybody at 90 days I won’t get my money before 1 year. But apparently that’s not the reason. “Crisis” is the excuse for everything. Along the chain somebody didn’t pay and of course everybody says that its own client didn’t pay yet. Since I am at the bottom end of the chain, I am the one that has the biggest risk not to be paid but since the multinational is at the top, it’s the one which has the most chance to get a bad publicity if a lot of providers start to complain. Apparently it is not yet involved in social media and doesn’t seem to care about what could be said about it. Just checked that their Twitter is still available. Should I take it? Whole story if I ever have to give it the “Not Paid Ribbon”.
Comments
This situation is so frustrating! I’m really tired of all of the companies that are using the recession or “crisis” (call it what you want) as an excuse to screw over the faceless little man in order to save a few euros. In these situations it’s easy for the freelancers to get lost in the chain.
The “Not Paid Ribbon” is a good idea, however I don’t know how effective it will be. Like you commented, it’s possible the big company did pay. Should they be responsible for their contractors and subcontractors? I also question if the amount of bad publicity we could possibly give would really make a difference. The only thing that I’ve found to work is to be a pest. Call every other day and raise hell. It takes a lot of time and energy, but after a while they start to wear down. I think that tenacity at times is our only weapon.
In the end, there should be a way for us to be protected better. I’ve heard of some requiring a 50% payment up front. Unfortunately that never flies… at least in Spain. Here even the signed contract is scoffed at… We’re supposed to feel lucky to get hired and even more so if we get paid. If we all started to demand a little security up front, maybe things will change.