Companies you just cant work for

[aidso]

First of so I dont get shot here.

 

THIS IS JUST AN IDEA AND DO NOT POST ANY DETAILS OF COMPANIES HERE

 

After having many many problems with several companies with in this industry either not paying, paying later or just mucking about when it comes to paying, booking and general organizing of things. I had an idea. A list of companies and problems you have had with these people. It would be there to protect the honest hard working people in the industry and try and make these companies change their ways.

 

As said this is just an idea. I would like to hear peoples thoughts on this.

 

Aidan

[smalljoshua]

It could leave You and/or The Blue Room liable in the case of a company who feels their reputation has been damaged by a post on here.

 

Just a thought.

 

Josh

[paulears]

It would be possible, but only if the person publishing the 'facts' could provide the BR with hard copy details as evidence. It's fine to publish facts, but really iffy to publish material without them. Some of these big companies have heavy weight legal people, we haven't. I for one don't have time to kind of be judge and jury and take the responsibility for oking or not this kind of stuff.

 

In this age of companies living on the edge, with the readership of the BR, it would only take one person to cancel a contract because of what they read on here for the company to top oveer the edge, and if our post was a contributory factor it could get nasty. As a result, few forums have the courage or resources to risk it.

 

Much as it's tempting, we're not here to cause trouble for anyone.

 

If somebody owes you money (I've got one at the moment) then the best you can do is try to solve it privately. If I cheered myself up by making it public, I might never get any more work from them, and I can't take those sort of risks.

[peternewman]

Its worth noting that trade unions like BECTU publish "Ask First" lists in their magazine. I'm not entirely sure how this gets them round the libel issues, but I guess because they've not made any claims in print. Anyway I'd suggest joining and checking out their lists for that sort of information. I guess they are also willing to accept submissions, although will presumably want sufficient evidence to justify adding a company.

[simschr]

The key point here is sorting fact from opinion, which could prove the most difficult part, and is a deciding factor in the success of project like this. And further who would want to be responsible for such a list to be published?

 

Chris

[Ynot]

Another MAJOR danger here is that someone wishing to publish the name of a company that they had problems with may be doing so out of spite, and not necessarily with any decent level of even-handedness.

And the individual making the complaint may in fact be the actual cause of the problem.

 

Scenario - inexperienced wannabe teen 'company' owner books kit from medium sized supplier.

The hirer, due to their inherent lack of real-world experience orders incorrectly, or insufficiently.

Hirer gets precisely what they've ordered but doesn't realise until too late.

Calls the supplier who by that time is unable to do anything to resolve the hirer's problem, so hirer's gig goes base over apex.

Hirer, in frustration, calls the supplier inefficient and a poor company in public when in fact all they did was supply precisely what was asked for.

 

So I for one would be against out and out name and shame.

[karl]

Even the most reputable companies will sometimes encounter problems on certain jobs/orders. Could just be bad luck combined with an intolerant punter or, as YNOT points out, a customer who causes the issue in the first place.

 

Just publishing that company's name as one to avoid would be very unfair. As has been said you would have to see evidence and then give the company an opportunity to put their side of the case first. All of which is a lot of work for somebody and still wouldn't guarantee not finding yourself facing libel proceedings.

[librarian28]

Well, I could name one producer who, six months on, has not only stiffed the suppliers but hasn't even coughed up the royalties to Great Ormond Street. I'd name him without compunction in a private e-mail, but does the Blue Room have to check stuff or simply take a posting down as soon as there's a complaint?

[David Lee]

Bectu can publish the ask first list because it is a) claims they are dealing with on behalf of a member, and b) it doesn't state that you should not work for the named company, but to phone BECTU head office for details of the case (or the details that can be issued).

 

I had to phone them once when a company I work a bit for appeared there. I was given a good overview of what was happening that helped satisfy me that I could still work for that company with no financial risk.

[MarkBarl]

I think it all depends on how you write stuff. If you make blanket statement like "X company are rubbish payers, avoid at all costs" then that could be considered libel. However if you make a factual statement like. "X Company employed me for X days. I submitted my invoice gave them X days to pay and they took X days to pay" you are making a factual statement. That of course doesn't get over the problem of a poster lying. Can the BR be held liable for what is written on an essentially public forum?

 

It might be more positive to instead have a list of really good companies to work for, who pay on time and don't expect blood.

[paulears]

BECTU also give you the name of the contact who has been appointed to look after the individual case. A union are in a stronger position in that they are offering their members a service. We've had some amazing things repeated on the BR over the years and plenty do not survive scrutiny - after all, even with full details as a profile - we are not capable of verifying each person is exactly what they say they are, so why should any dodgy dealing posts be more accurate?

[Chris Beesley]

This brings be back to a quote I heard once that kinda stuck "There are three side to every story, their story, your story and the truth somewhere in the middle". My fear with a topic like this is while it could be useful to some, I often feel effort's could be better directed towards resolving situations.

 

£0.02

[ceecrb1]

I have been known to demand at least some cash up front from some less reliable clients...

 

However my mum has knocked the nail on the head I think....

If she does not want to work for a company for the payment issues.... tells them she cant make it but helpfully passes them the phone number of her competitors......

 

Might as well use "it"

[emsgeorge]

Actually, some of the stuff on here by the posters themselves shoots themselves in both feet.

 

I've asked a 'company' recently if they were interested in tendering for an event - and without even sending them a proper brief, they came up with a quotation. They didn't even read the original email properly - as we send out tender packs to all prospective suppliers, which has all the info needed, but only if the supplier is interested in doing a quote.

 

The quotation was 'interesting' to say the least. One of my collegues did an experian check on them - nothing came up. It was only doing extensive googling we realised that the dear old blue room had the answer - as a 'teen managing director' was indeed involved in said company. (in fact, IS said company)

 

So, dont write off the power of the blue room quite yet. Even though the blue room doesn't directly say 'dont use so and so', it seems to weed out some of the more interesting characters by itself.

 

Im still waiting for the said 'company' to email me a copy of its public / employers liability insurance ................... (and company number etc)

[Guest lightnix]

It might be more positive to instead have a list of really good companies to work for, who pay on time and don't expect blood.

True, but the last thing I'd do (if I was still a freelancer) would be to publish a list of all my best clients in a public web forum ;)

 

We all know that there are certain companies out there, who serially abuse their crews; not just in terms of late payment, but bad organisation and deliberate witholding of information about difficult gigs... But even when their identities are widely known, it doesn't seem to stop people queuing up to work for them :)

 

The other side of the coin, is that there are some equally cr4p freelancers out there; who might post a completely unjustified complaint, due to their own ignorance or just out of sour grapes B-) It all just makes work for the Mods in the end.

 

There's already plenty of advice in here, about how to avoid getting stitched by cr4p clients in the first place, e.g. practice proper credit control; decide after the first three gigs, whether you want to work for them again. Read it, heed it and act on it... or stop moaning ;)