I've had a few instances working with companies that, had I known of their deceptive methods or outright scam tactics dealing with both freelancers and clients, I would have steered clear. I was just contacted yesterday by a company and, when I showed interest in working with them, they pushed to have me shoot for them right away. I found some of their specifications about shooting and payment a little questionable (mostly, a list of footage that is and isn't acceptable, and specifying that they take between 30-45 days to pay for a shoot, at which point of course they already have all the content and the shooter in empty-handed). Being in this situation too many times, working for questionable companies, I decided to do a little research. I quickly found many customers who were upset with the company, as well as the company using their association, which was purely on a business level, with various local mayor's officers as permitting them to tell new customers that they "work for the mayor" directly to get new contracts. I also found a videographer that, confirming my thought, said they would pile on work for the first 30-45 days, without any mention of issue or complaint, and then pay considerably less than agreed for each video, claiming that the work submitted wasn't acceptable, or various required shots specified were not shot or shot properly.
We're a big community, and I feel like there must be a number of experiences or dodged bullets around here. I can understand that if people don't want to create a "naughty list," because it may drag people's names through the mud who do not deserve it, or for the more paranoid, directly link them to complaints that a client or future clients might find. However, I personally can name a few companies that I would advise anyone on this board to steer clear from, or atleast, if I didn't wish to drag any names through the mud, would suggest they research before working for. Would anyone else be interested in contributing?
We're a big community, and I feel like there must be a number of experiences or dodged bullets around here. I can understand that if people don't want to create a "naughty list," because it may drag people's names through the mud who do not deserve it, or for the more paranoid, directly link them to complaints that a client or future clients might find. However, I personally can name a few companies that I would advise anyone on this board to steer clear from, or atleast, if I didn't wish to drag any names through the mud, would suggest they research before working for. Would anyone else be interested in contributing?
