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. :thumbsup

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 :1orglaugh

Amen to that.

Very well put! :thumbsup 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! :2 cents:

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 :thumbsup

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!

100 shooters shorted

I wish I shot for ATK like sooo many others. But yeah, these people need to get paid, its a sad sign indeed.

...if content equals inventory...its never a good sign when a company gets behind on paying for its inventory...

Gunner does not reply and Kim does not reply....It is frastrating to run after them. I were not born to stress about trying to collect what i own.

Other then that it is great suggetions that you made. Looks like they dont care

Yea lets hope this issue can be sorted out for these photographers. It seems odd to say, but I hope this is just a management problem where too many things were on the plate at one time, rather than a income problem due to not enough sales.

One can be fixed but the other is a bad sign for everyone in this industry, not just ATK.

i always get my wires on time from ATK, always have.

I don't see what the problem is here, the guy did the work, pay him. Jeez, even fucking Palin could work that one out

Like others I would not bet my house on anyone in this business either. There are many companies who are trying to put a brave face on and in reality are running down. You and I know of a few magazines that right up until the end were telling everyone everything was fine. Then they stopped buying and some even stopped paying. Just before the doors closed.

Today some of the biggest are having big problems.

small claims court

Shit, this is not looking good. I personally can't believe it. There must be something more to the reason why they're running late.

this is not a good sign damn :pimp

Are you shooting content for them?

Let's for a minute stop and think. These times are hard, sales are down and some big companies with big over heads could be having problems. We all know this is possible.

So if it comes down to paying the rent, hosting, staff, affiliates or content shooters, who is likely to get the short straw first? If it had been affiliates it would of been here a few weeks after a check did not arrive and go on for weeks.

I don't know if ATK are in trouble, but I do know they are not paying 2 people in this thread and waiting for others to come forward. Maybe they are already in touch with Kim. We all need to be watching to see what happens.

If you were shooting for them, I'm sure that you were sick to your stomach having to look at REAL vagina.....Either way, who gives a fuck who paid YOU?....He wants HIS money.

I would tack on some points to what is owed.

Not paying someone in a reasonable time frame is a sign of disrespect.

What a shitty situation. I keep checking this thread expecting to see that the guy got paid. Instead I'm seeing more people say they aren't getting paid. What gives ATK?!?

Bump for everyone to get paid.

Bump for a swift resolution.

Day 2 the drama continues

blacky, i don't shoot content.. neither do you for that matter so why are you up in arms about another shooter? you take Polaroids of 2$ crackwhores so ugly that you're embarrassed to have your face associated with it.. lol did you know KFC has delivery out here? you'd shit yourself!

See SIG.