ATK not paying photographers?

grrr i knew this thread would blow up. ATK pays all of its photographers

Yeah, me too! I can ... oh, who am I kiddin.. I have become a sig/postcount whore.... Shoot me!

well may other small guys afraid to stand up becuase HE WAS good in paying and they hope still to kepp Him as a customer. so many would not say anything.

thatd surprise me

I will ICQ the other shooters who are telling me they have not been paid. I know of three so far. Peace was not one of them.

Gunner we have always dealt with Kim when we shot custom for ATK. I don't know who you are. We have not shot for ATK for years. And yes we were paid.

I am sure this has been brought to Kim's attention many times and this is a last resort to try and get the money owed. You should be explaining why he needs to bring it here.

I have heard from 2 shooters who both said the same. ATK is not paying them and they will pay soon. The third was from another sponsor who has custom shooters and one of them is moaning about not being paid. Good to see others are being paid though.

To the rest. Let's assume this was an affiliate owed money for no reason, would everyone be so fast to flame the person who is not being paid?

Paul I understand what you are saying but you also have to weigh Kim and ATK's reputation. There are few adult companies out there that have the same reputation ATK has. Kim N. is a total straight shooter and has always chosen to sacrifice short term profitability to get long term stability. His ethics in this business are also very well known, whereas people here do not know the original poster from some Joe on the street.

ATK is not running away from a 14k bill, you can bet the house on that.

How lame of you!

not directed at ATK personally, but i wouldn't bet my house on ANYONE in this business. I could tell you stories about well known, top notch, stand up, honest people in this business who didn't care about words and promises they gave. who bargain about $50 shooting fee and then the next day send you pics of their new car that cost $100K

money in the account is all that counts in this biz, especially for us shooters when we have to pay the models and all other expenses upfront from our pockets. you know perfectly well that those 14K are not just profit but at least 50% have been expenses that were paid already by the shooter.

This man speaks the truth

Oh dude beware!!!.... if you dont post 200 times a day here you are a fucking nobody.
Sux ass to think that some retards on this board always bring up the post count when someone complains about getting ripped off.
2 pages and still this dude didnt get paid, so your a fucking criminal!

That is the best quote on this thread, pay the dude and stfu asswhipes!

It shouldn't matter if you don't know me from Joe on the street. It is a matter of principle. But just to let you know, I am Russ T. and I've been a shooter for more than five years - for ATK and have also shot for nubiles, teendreams, twistys, karups, etc.

However, as a courtesy to Kim (as we are currently in discussions) I will not post anything further until the situation is resolved - or not. I just wanted to tell you who I am seeing as you all seem to think I'm some wacko who has just come on to the boards to poke a stick into a hornets' nest.

btw - just for the records - there are also great clients that pay faster than lightning and are a HUGE pleasure to work with. and if they buy a new car i am more than happy that they are doing well. because we also profit from their wellbeing.

yer killin me with that one

ATK runs a solid business.

More effort towards communication and less whining is what will solve this.

Gunner is offering to help, it would be wise to talk with him.

Maybe you missed the part where he says he couldn't get his phone calls answered and couldn't get issues resolved via email either. What other types of communication would you suggest?

maybe the lesson learned here for everyone is have an operations contract that states payment due 30 days after invoice in submitted or there is a late fee.

pretty crazy thread

Yeah all these people are attacking the poor guy and he said this was his last resort he tried writing and calling. Now they are talking so it seems the magic of gfy works again.

just pay the guy sheesh.

No fucking doubt, the bro club at work right there.

Btw I know Russ (Lens Looker). He's a good guy.
I also know Kim he's a great guy.

Hopefully this gets resolved and everyone walks away happy ;)

If anyone thinks it will help the situation I volunteer to beat StuartD up. Just let me know.

Sorry Stuart - I lol'd

This is the biggest bro fucking reply in a long time.

What do you suggest he does? He tried the owner number of ways and got shafted around 14k is a lot of money to most people.

What else was he to do fly a banner on an airplane above his house?

And he's not anon, I'm sure as shit he'd say his name and info if someone promised him his 14k.

GoD you are an IDIOT... Take the time to read all the Posts DIPSHIT

I have bought a ton of content from Russ and have never had any issues or drama. He is one of the few I don't have to hunt down missing ids, releases, color correct his work. When it comes its professional and its done right. I wish I could say the same for other producers, in fact Russ's work is displayed as an example on my shooting specifications.

I hope this gets resolved, ATK has a very good reputation and I am sure they will work it out with Russ.

Problem solved? Or not yet?

Hint to shooters. Bill every month, do not let a tab run so high while assuming you are working with "Great" guys with supurb reputation. Money talks, bullshit walks.
You can't pay bills with bullshit.

It's not hard to do work the books to get paid monthly. Besides your business will run smoother if you run everything correctly monthly, and obviously you may not take such a loss on running tabs that are not paid by clients.

IMHO this situation should have been resolved within the first 10 minutes of exhistance. SO the fact here is now starting to show some shit play to light.

Back to the top.

Thread closed based on thread starters post here. Russ if you want this thread reopened please let me know.

Also thread closed to protect AlienQ from himself!

I have reopened this thread at the request of Russ. Any accusations that are not proven will call for immediate banning. Keep your discussion constructive and on the point. But also keep the above in mind.

man what a mess

i know of this guy Russ, i remember him emailing me years ago - he's not here to start drama - he's an independent contractor who hasn't been paid what he's owed for his work. and he has every right to bring his issue right here at this time.

omg if affiliates hadn't been paid for sales this board would be on fire for days no matter who the program owner was but since we have a content shooter nobody here knows - nobody gives a shit.

i know ATK and Kim have built up well deserved goodwill in this industry BUT that doesn't help this guy - he's built goodwill up too with the companies he's worked with for years. it doesn't mean shit to him that some of you have been paid - makes it all the worse for him. maybe the reason he hasn't been paid is that he has been so low-key and low maintenance.

It seems to me that one of the best uses of GFY is to get things out in the open. In this instance at least Russ had an almost immediate response and got people talking. Hopefully it will lead to a resolution that both parties are happy with and Russ can post that on here.

Just beat his ass

That sucks. Is it solved or not. Do they owe him for real money ? if yes ......PAY the man.

pay the man for his work

fucking fantastic post, seriously

I was waiting for 5 month for ATK to pay me. He owed me 14K and finally after waiting 5 month I could manage to receive 9K. He still owes me 5K since 5 month already. Does not reply or reply ones a 2 weeks with replies that does not make sense.

Also he owes another photographer who used to work for me 11K. So that is not single guy he owes.

Well he used to be a class act and i even learned from him the communication and i even have been to Kims house.

I spoke to GUNNER yesterday since he said speak to me first. Nothing happens.
So i decided post. I did not want to post before being aftraid to loose Kim as a customer.

Was hoping he would pay

who I shot for 8 years....Well i have no idea why it turned this wat for ATK. was great in replying and paying.

OH damn....

I posted before with out mentioning his name here is my post from before
http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showthread.php?t=829414

After that he tried to return content from like 3-5 years ago.
another post

http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showthread.php?t=832779


So i keep fighting with them for already 8 month...and he still owes me 5k

Not a small money when you have 2 kids and a family. we warned them that we are billing 1% a day for late fee.

Well I hope they will pay since they used to be a class act.

I'm with MaDalton on this one. They might have a great reputation, but just from reading this thread I can see they owe 4-5 photographers money for months. You can say what you want, but that's a fuckup.

It's funny to see all the bro's jump on here and protect ATK when they obviously made a mistake, which is okay as long as you admit it and fix it. This isn't high school guys, don't stick up for your homies because it makes you look like an idiot

Amen to that.

Very well put! And the idiots mentioning this guys post count....give me a break! I lost trust in atk long ago when they fired someone, took over his icq and had a idiot try to pretent to be the same guy on icq instead of being honest about it!

The easiest thing to do here for me would be to not post. My knee-jerk reaction was that readers put me in one of two categories, either the 'bro club' writing it off or the other bandwagon of people who are quick to judge. So, whether I'm understood or not is irrelevant anyway, I'm happy to share my thoughts which I feel are reasonable and balanced.

From ten thousand feet as someone who is a vendor to ATK and spent a great deal of time with Kim, with photographers that shoot for ATK, with affiliate programs that do business with ATK, with his CTO Matt, programmer Stuart, with a former employee (now competitor) and also a lot of very genuine time with Gunner... I suggest that cooler heads will prevail, absolutely.

ATK is held in high regard by so many not just because they were early in the industry, but because by all accounts that I have seen myself and be recanted second-hand they are quick to lead by example and are very principled in how they conduct business. They've earned the respect of everyone I've ever come across and personally with me in the discussions and business that we have done together.

Kim is insanely bright and genuine, very much the 'nutty professor' type. If I was asked to make an honest guess as to how there could be issues with a few out of hundreds of vendors, it would be that perhaps it's just one of those things that owners make mistakes on when they continue to insist that they do the work personally. Out of best intentions, when your business is your baby, it's often difficult to relinquish responsibilities that have always felt important in allowing you to keep a pulse on your business and stay involved. Vendor relationships are typically something that owners manage themselves and I know myself that right now I'm struggling with letting go of doing that work myself because my time is best served by exercising my talents elsewhere... and because I'm not the best at it.

I know that Kim is busy with more than one business and my post is not meant to excuse late payment. I am simply suggesting that as they do very obviously have a long standing history of growth, innovation, honest business practices - that this could simply be an instance of the 'scientist' who has been clumsy with some of the administrative details that he should have long since relinquished.

My advice to those who aren't already in communication is to simply email Gunner with your concerns and *full* contact information. I have no doubt that Gunner will organize and communicate well with you to set expectations properly for all parties and alleviate concerns. Perhaps as a result of this a refined process of standardizing invoicing, establishing finite terms or positive things will result. Growing pains can sneak up on anyone, despite best efforts, whether they are process or financial. The judge of the situation is what happens after an assessment has been done and all information gathered.

I propose ATK will respond accordingly, vendor obligations will be met and all parties will have learned something - and most continue to do business. It's hard to find good customers these days, in all verticals in our market.

Best,

Brad

Good luck on getting your money guys

We have not approved any bros in this thread. We sitting on couple hundred applications to the club, but we have a freeze cuz the economies. doh!!!!!!

wow, unbelievable what kind of dipshits and fuckin nimrods some of you tools are

I personally know an ATK photographer who is owed more than $40k. It's a sad sign in this business when even the great Kingdom can't pay the bills. It's going downhill fast, I tell ya!