In February 2008 METROMODE Magazine, owned by Bill Cameron / Cameron Ink, Inc., hired me as a freelance writer. I was assigned several articles in April and May that were to come out in the June issue, paying $100, $100, and $75. I was also told I would be getting a kill fee of $50 for an article that didn't work out.

In June, shortly after the issue was published, I was assigned another article that was to pay $100. I was told that Bill Cameron, the owner of METROMODE Magazine, paid about 20 days after publication, which meant that I should have received a check for $325 around July 7-9.

After a few weeks had passed and payment had still not come, I started asking questions. The editor confided that he had not been paid either, and told me to contact Bill Cameron, who was in charge of getting the checks out. Citing a PO box mix-up that had delayed receipt of advertising revenue, Mr. Cameron said he wasn't able to pay yet but would pay me as soon as he could.

This was when payment was about three weeks late, and the excuses continued for the next month or so. Mr. Cameron did mention the possibility of a payment plan, but evaded any efforts to pin him down to even an initial payment, so the end result was still the same: I wasn't getting paid for the work I'd done, and I didn't have any idea of when I would be, either!

Two other writers, the editor, and I started collaborating, and when payment was two months late we emailed Mr. Cameron with a two-week time frame in which he needed to pay us, or we would begin filing complaints against him. At first Mr. Cameron threatened to not pay us at all if we reported him. Then he offered a payment plan, to which we responded with certain terms that would have to be met if we were to agree to a payment plan:

1. The first payment to each of us needed to be made by the deadline,
2. He needed to give us a payment schedule with firm dates and payment amounts, and
3. If he was more than two weeks late on any payment, to any one of us, we would report him as originally planned.

Initially Mr. Cameron agreed to this, but once we accepted the arrangement he quickly began backpedaling. Suddenly he couldn't possibly make the first payment by the deadline, and he flatly refused to give us any dates or amounts of future payments.

To date, Bill Cameron / METROMODE Magazine / Cameron Ink owes me a total of $425. In addition, he owes the editor $1,000 and the two other writers $600 and $200, respectively. The grand total of what he owes us comes to $2,225.

I believe that Mr. Cameron has been making up or exaggerating excuses in order to buy time and sympathy, and I suspect that if we hadn't reported him, he would have kept it up indefinitely. In fact, I am still skeptical as to whether I will ever get paid!

Katharine
Englewood, Colorado
U.S.A.