MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: BaldricksTrousers on May 13, 2017, 07:24
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The relatively new Qatari agency, Fotoarabia, has still not processed my latest payout four months after I requested it. This is a violation of their own terms, which guarantee quick payment (within four weeks IIRC). They aren't responding to e-mails about it, either.
I had hoped they would be OK as they are part of a bigger organisation, but apparently not.
Anyway, that's a heads-up for the few who may have some files invested there.
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They are not responding to "account termination" emails either...
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I ought to go round and see them, see if their office is still open. It's a bit out of my way at the moment, though.
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Their Facebook page has a post from April, as does their Twitter account, so they are still around in some form. Have you considered becoming a public nuisance in your request for money? Sometimes businesses behave better when their misdeeds are given a public airing. Waiting four months and asking via email with no reply seem to indicate that escalation is reasonable...
An article about the agency when it started (2008?) said that Generation Four Company LLC in Kuwait was behind it. Perhaps you can dig around locally and find the people behind it to try and ask them about getting paid?
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i wonder why people never pick up the phone and just leave it at emails
Call us on (+974) 7702 1210 (9am-6pm AST)
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i wonder why people never pick up the phone and just leave it at emails
Call us on (+974) 7702 1210 (9am-6pm AST)
I prefer e-mails that create a tangible record.
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do you want to get paid or just keep a record of emails? i didnt say don't email, you can do both
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If a business doesnt answer their emails, I wonder if they will even answer their phone. I am not much of a phone person, if a company provides an email address as part of their "contact us", then that's what i use. I also like the paper trail, especially if you have to keep contacting them, or need proof down the road.
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what proof? that you sent an email? still no proof that they received or read them. and if you dont call them you never know if they will pick up or not. honestly dont get why you wouldnt call them. its a small effort with often big results. at least in my experience
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I did try to call the bloke there I used to deal with when they came to me for advice on their launch but there was no reply. I will try to ring them.
As for not receiving my mails, the fact my account says there is a payout request pending from January does suggest that they should be aware of the issue.
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Just rang their contact number and they said "err..... wrong number". Which it wasn't. So I guess that's that.
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what proof? that you sent an email? still no proof that they received or read them. and if you dont call them you never know if they will pick up or not. honestly dont get why you wouldnt call them. its a small effort with often big results. at least in my experience
LOL.
So you call someone, they tell you what you want to hear. Not necessarily the truth. At least if you email and get a response, you have something to show for it. Unlike the he said, she said from a phone call. Or "wrong number", like Baldricks got.
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Well they've just stolen the portfolios of everyone who uploaded to them I guess.
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LOL cathy, you are so funny!!! so you dont call and just sit here moaning on a forum. i dont care what you do or dont, i think it cant hurt to call them. whatever.
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LOL cathy, you are so funny!!! so you dont call and just sit here moaning on a forum. i dont care what you do or dont, i think it cant hurt to call them. whatever.
It can hurt if it's expensive to phone from country A to country B and you get an unhelpful, falsely helpful (empty promises) or lying result. Though I guess then you know where you stand.
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LOL cathy, you are so funny!!! so you dont call and just sit here moaning on a forum. i dont care what you do or dont, i think it cant hurt to call them. whatever.
:D
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LOL cathy, you are so funny!!! so you dont call and just sit here moaning on a forum. i dont care what you do or dont, i think it cant hurt to call them. whatever.
It can hurt if it's expensive to phone from country A to country B and you get an unhelpful, falsely helpful (empty promises) or lying result. Though I guess then you know where you stand.
Using Skype to call a phone number in Qatar costs 39¢/min
Using Internetcalls it costs 11¢/min
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cathy, insightful comment
sue, its a business expense, and if you cant afford a call to ask where your money is, you have bigger problems
and i think baldrick lives in the area so i doubt the cost would be high for him
anway, if the number is not connected, then it kind of starts to tell a story about this agency, avoid like the plague
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cathy, insightful comment
sue, its a business expense, and if you cant afford a call to ask where your money is, you have bigger problems
and i think baldrick lives in the area so i doubt the cost would be high for him
anway, if the number is not connected, then it kind of starts to tell a story about this agency, avoid like the plague
;)
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Well they've just stolen the portfolios of everyone who uploaded to them I guess.
The "delete" file option seems to work pending deletion and I've changed all my titles and descriptions to "none", but I can't remove the existing keywords. (Turns out the bulk edit only does a page of 30 files at a time and deleting gets the files transferred to "hidden" rather than listed as deleted).
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Well they've just stolen the portfolios of everyone who uploaded to them I guess.
The "delete" file option seems to work pending deletion and I've changed all my titles and descriptions to "none", but I can't remove the existing keywords.
I hope the files are actually removed. Sorry this has happened. What are your legal rights as someone with another nationality?
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Well they've just stolen the portfolios of everyone who uploaded to them I guess.
The "delete" file option seems to work pending deletion and I've changed all my titles and descriptions to "none", but I can't remove the existing keywords.
I hope the files are actually removed. Sorry this has happened. What are your legal rights as someone with another nationality?
With something like this the costs of any effort to pursue it legally would be prohibitive. The files aree being "hidden" apparently.
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I've had a better idea, I'm changing each description to: Deleted due to non-payment to photographer of commission. If they look at it they'll get the message, and if they activate the files again customer's will get the message.
in fairness, I think it's just flopped, I don't suspect any intention to steal files and I doubt if they are still selling (when I rang them, I might have been a customer but they said it was a wrong number without checking what I wanted).
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Why all the hoopla about calling on the phone? That's just more pointless hoop-jumping. It's the 21st century, this is a web based business. They either respond to email or they're scamming.
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On the lighter side, I've just come across a Govt sign I photographed in Wakrah, near Doha. It said:
"WARNING Dangerous Swimming Area for: Children and those who cannot swim"
We have a few funny signs here.
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Why all the hoopla about calling on the phone? That's just more pointless hoop-jumping. It's the 21st century, this is a web based business. They either respond to email or they're scamming.
Right?
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or just plain laziness. LOL
;D
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LOL cathy, you are so funny!!! so you dont call and just sit here moaning on a forum. i dont care what you do or dont, i think it cant hurt to call them. whatever.
It can hurt if it's expensive to phone from country A to country B and you get an unhelpful, falsely helpful (empty promises) or lying result. Though I guess then you know where you stand.
Using Skype to call a phone number in Qatar costs 39¢/min
Using Internetcalls it costs 11¢/min
Never having had to call abroad, I'm not up to these technologies, but I'm guessing that the other person also has to be on the Skype or Internetcalls system? So if they choose not to be on these, the technologies wouldn't work.
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Never having had to call abroad, I'm not up to these technologies, but I'm guessing that the other person also has to be on the Skype or Internetcalls system? So if they choose not to be on these, the technologies wouldn't work.
VoIP (https://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/What+is+VOIP) doesn't require the other party to have specific software.
With Skype, for example (https://www.skype.com/en/features/), calls to another Skype user are free. You pay when you call a non-Skype phone number, so there's no requirement for the other party to have any software - just a phone number. What you pay varies by country and phone type (I think they still charge more for calls to cell phones).
And Skype can be great for calls anywhere, not just overseas. If your internet connection stinks though, it's a pain :)
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LOL cathy, you are so funny!!! so you dont call and just sit here moaning on a forum. i dont care what you do or dont, i think it cant hurt to call them. whatever.
It can hurt if it's expensive to phone from country A to country B and you get an unhelpful, falsely helpful (empty promises) or lying result. Though I guess then you know where you stand.
Using Skype to call a phone number in Qatar costs 39¢/min
Using Internetcalls it costs 11¢/min
Never having had to call abroad, I'm not up to these technologies, but I'm guessing that the other person also has to be on the Skype or Internetcalls system? So if they choose not to be on these, the technologies wouldn't work.
I use Skype almost every day to call in different countries (Poland, France, Italy, Mexique) to other Skype users (so with video too) or to phone numbers, without any problem. (Try it, it is free, and if like me you have family and friends all over the world it is a very pleasant way to stay "close" to the people you love)
Personally I have never used Internetcalls, but some friends using it recommend it.
VoIP is not a so new technology, today it is proposed as additional service by most of the ISP, and it is used by a lot of companies all over the world.
Of course you should have a decent connection… no chance with a 56 kbit/s modem :D
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Qatar is known for not paying employees / slaves. Slavery is in the Quran by the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqQLVRZyyw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqQLVRZyyw)
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Qatar is known for not paying employees / slaves. Slavery is in the Quran by the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqQLVRZyyw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqQLVRZyyw)
Qatar… you mean this terrorists' country supported by EU and USA?
Hmm… Not only in Quran by the (other) way
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery)
And what about big US American companies, like Nike, employing children as workers 12 hours a day 7/7 in poor countries for few $$?
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Qatar is known for not paying employees / slaves. Slavery is in the Quran by the way.
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqQLVRZyyw[/url] ([url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqQLVRZyyw[/url])
Qatar… you mean this terrorists' country supported by EU and USA?
Hmm… Not only in Quran by the (other) way
[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery[/url] ([url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery[/url])
And what about big US American companies, like Nike, employing children as workers 12 hours a day 7/7 in poor countries for few $$?
Sadly Slavery was pretty much the norm across all religions till quite recently. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unsystematictheology/2016/09/how-the-bible-was-used-to-justify-slavery-and-white-supremacy/ (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unsystematictheology/2016/09/how-the-bible-was-used-to-justify-slavery-and-white-supremacy/)
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Qatar is known for not paying employees / slaves. Slavery is in the Quran by the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqQLVRZyyw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqQLVRZyyw)
Slavery was abolished in Qatar in the 1960s. Employment conditions and laws have been improving steadily over recent decades. It's not perfect by any means but the media smear job gives a maliciously skewed picture of what it is really like. But, hey, it feeds comfortably into the prejudices of a Western audience.
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It's not perfect by any means
thousands of dead workers, building stadiums and infrastructure for the world cup soccer. no, its not perfect. f*ck sake, its criminal. thats no media hype, if you think so, you might want to pop your bubble
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It's not perfect by any means
thousands of dead workers, building stadiums and infrastructure for the world cup soccer. no, its not perfect. f*ck sake, its criminal. thats no media hype, if you think so, you might want to pop your bubble
That's complete balls. There has been ONE fatality on a World Cup site so far due to an accident. There have been a few deaths which were probably caused by excess heat, with workers dying in their digs. The international labour union - or whatever it is called - was deliberately lying about the death rate - it included anybody who died of any cause whatsoever (including road accidents) during an extremely hot month and then multiplied that out by however many months from some time or other up until the start of the football and produced a meaningless but terrifying figure - which you appear to have swallowed.
I can't really blame you, though, since this tripe has been pushed like crazy through a variety of media outlets.
BTW, a top doctor at the main hospital here (who also regards the deaths claims as nonsense) told me that one of the interesting things for her, coming out from the UK, was the number of poverty-linked diseases she encountered among Asian workers that she had previously only known from textbooks. These could make some of the labourers unexpectedly vulnerable to stress and could account for some of the heart attacks that had been reported.
I trust your own bubble is deflating now.