A thief!!!

[Russian Andrew]

First of all - hi to all community!
I'm a Russian freelancer voice talent and live in Ukraine. And work in this business quite a lot of time (11 years) but for abroad customers only three years.
The point of this post is to inform you (as you are colleagues of mine) 'bout very unpleasant experience of mine and bring “the truth to the surface”.
There is such a company as:
www.*******.com
I was doing a big (5 pages long, some king of presentation in Russian language) voiceover job for a person by the name: *************
All recorded files where provided in due time to the ftp of *******.
After what ***** thanked me and promised to send the fee (350$) shortly.
The job was done more then 6 month ago. No money was send to me!
During all this time ***** doesn’t answer to my letters nor the phone calls.
I know as well a person who made translation into Russian for this project - as far as I know she didn't received funds ether!
Here is the E-mail adress of *****
I believe that some day ***** will regret for such a deed of his.
At the present I feel my duty complete - all community is aware of such a thief!
Hope this will be useful to you!
All the best from Ukraine!

Please PM Andrew if you would like the name of the unscrupulous client. Name was removed to protect this forum from any liability.

[JoeActor]

Hello Andrew,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. It's happened to a few on these forums.
Many get half or all payment up front, especially on larger projects.

On small ones, I go with trust... unfortunate that it's not always rewarded.

If you have a chance, please visit the Welcome area and post an introduction.

Hope to hear more from you on the forums,
Joe J Thomas
Joe J. Thomas Acting Portfolio

[Russian Andrew]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']JoeActor[/font]
Thanx a lot!
I was really *** by this accident even not because of money (thou 350$ is a good fee is Russia) but more because of the fact that freelancers from abroad have no rights and cannot defend themselves.
As for 50% prepayment it's a good idea and of cause I always try to insist on it but:
1. Many times the quick turnaround in required.
2. The citizens of Russia and Ukraine cannot use Paypal system with it's instant payments.
3. And the last - Voice over business (specialy internacional) always seemed to me kind of business where shouldn’t be place for such people of such sort.

If you have a chance, please visit the Welcome area and post an introduction.

- By all means!
ps Sorry for my bad English.

[Bob Bergen]

Your bad English is just fine!!!! ;-) It's very nice and very interesting to hear from a fellow VO performer from so far away!

I will tell you that there are NO guarantees in this business! One's best bet to get paid properly is to only do union work. I know this doesn't apply to you, but I wanted to make this point for others on this board. Both SAG and AFTRA have very strict rules about being paid in a timely manner. And they are great at going after unfair producers. If producers are slow on pay then penalties are added to the fees that are due to you. Plus, every job goes towards benefits and pension. Trust me when I tell you at 65 those who did mostly nonunion work will really miss that worked in retirement in their pension.

Again, welcome to this chat! Hope the next gig goes better for ya!

[Julie Williams]

Your English is fine--we understand you! Thank you for letting us know about this client...so we can watch out for him!

I am so sorry this happened to you. Many of us have horror stories to tell. One way I protect myself is by accepting VISA and Mastercard (and paypal) I accept credit cards through what my bank calls a Merchant Account. I don't know what they'd call it in Russia, obviously, but I just enter the credit card numbers by phone and within a day the money is in my account.

The credit card companies have dispute resolution services, to there are protections for you no matter what country you live in.

Good luck, and welcome to our voiceover community!

[voicy1stef]

Thanks for the warning. Wish I could say thank you in Russian!

Anyway, welcome to the group and hope your future voiceover transactions will be good ones!

[billelder]

Andrew,

Nice demos on your Voice123 site. Did this job come through Voice123? I did a "whois" on the domain and it is the ******in Boston. You can see information on any domain name by going to Network Solutions and typing the domain name. Thank you for taking the time to post. I hope this is the only time you have had this bad experience.

On a personal note, I made two very close Russian friends in the mid 1990's when the Olympic gymnastics team was training here. Incredible people with fantastic humor.

[Russian Andrew]

2 Bob Bergen

Your bad English is just fine!!!!

- thanx nice 2 know it!
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']

Trust me when I tell you at 65 those who did mostly nonunion work will really miss that worked in retirement in their pension.

- Very sadly in Russia and Ukraine we have almost no union organizations.
2 Julie Williams

I don't know what they'd call it in Russia, obviously, but I just enter the credit card numbers by phone and within a day the money is in my account.

- yeah, we have some similar to paypal services in Ukraine - and here I have almost no problems with such cheaters.

The credit card companies have dispute resolution services, to there are protections for you no matter what country you live in.

- sound interesting - thou I never heard it before. Thanks I'll try to ask for consultation in some bank of ours!
2 voicy1stef
It's very charming of you, thanx!
2 billelder

Nice demos on your Voice123 site.

- Thanx they have already to be so after years of everyday practice (thou there is a lot of else to learn!)

Did this job come through Voice123?

- No, sadly I'm on a free account (I'm searching for the cheapest way to pay for premium account for 123.com) and it's impossible for possible clients of mine to find me trough the search bar

I did a "whois" on the domain and it is the Boston Language Institute in Boston.

- Yeah, I know it well, because I spoke with translator who translated the text into Russian. She telephoned Muneeb many times...but...
ANd as far as I always knew Boston is named "Cultural Center"!!! ANd Linguistical Institute!!! It never crossed my mind that there could be such... It's realy shame 'cause I told all my friends at home what is a real "cultural center"

On a personal note, I made two very close Russian friends in the mid 1990's when the Olympic gymnastics team was training here. Incredible people with fantastic humor.

- Yeah we have a lot of good ppl (thou I think they are everywhere - it depends on the persons point of view on ppl). As As for our sense of humor - we have so any problems here that it's best ideal to laugh insted of crying :)

[Julie Williams]

Hi ANdrew,
Now that you know the organziation... there is more you can do...

Contact the organization by phone and ask for the person's supervisor. If you can't get anywhere with them...

Contact the Attorney General's office of that state and file a grievance. They then contact the company and investigate it.

I'm sure you feel helpless with this entire situation. Was it a lot of money (worth the fight?)

Do ask your bank about how you can accept credit cards. I think I pay around 5% to be able to accept VISA and Mastercard. It's worth it.

Julie

[duffydj]

Hi all

Just like Russian Andrew I'm waiting for the money from this thing "Bli translations". Their debt to me is more than 1000 USD, and so far they have paid me only 300!
No they don't answer to my emails.
I think it is important to spread the word. this guys don't deserve nothing.
Maybe someday when I fly to US i'll pay him a visit. that Muneeb guy and the other one called Farzana!

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