Why I'm Not Writing for London Confidential Anymore

I shan't be writing for London Confidential anymore.

This is why:

9:30 AM (1 hour ago)

Hi X, X,

Finally, I have been paid, a full 10 days after it should have been. This late payment of over £600 to my account was quite unacceptable; I was almost unable to pay my rent. When you set us a deadline of getting our invoices over to you by the 25th (or the 19th, in some cases) of each month, to then be supposedly paid on the 7th, that gives you two whole weeks to pay them. I can't understand why my payment was so late. Especially when you confirmed to me, previous to the 7th, that all the invoices had been received. I worked in Accounts Payable for a company of over 500 people; it really is not that difficult. I know this.

I went two months without payment which was rightfully due to me; firstly, through incompetence on your side by not informing me of your address change - a rather crucial piece of information, since you insist on the antiquated way of posting by mail the invoices (are we back in the 90s?). I find it completely absurd that when I got my invoices to the correct address (after my invoices were returned to me as I'd had them registered - thank god) two days late, I was denied payment for another month because it was merely two days late. And your company had the audacity to withhold payment from me two weeks?

Given that I wrote restaurant reviews for your website without payment for my time or writing, I would have thought you would reimburse me in a timely fashion for the cost of the meals. You were getting the reviews effectively written for you for free. Do you have over £600 that you can bandy about, to sit around waiting for? I certainly don't and now I've been charged interest on my credit card because your company couldn't keep up their side of the bargain. I was, effectively, paying to write for you and that's not right.

I really think you should review the way you are paying people contributing to your website, but I won't be anymore.

I wish you the best in your endeavor.

Best,
Lizzie"

I received a response:

"Dear Mrs Mabbot,

I have been sent your email by X. It's not often I receive comments like this in this day and age, when freelancers are losing their opportunity to have their writing published and possibly paid for as print media is sliding down a black hole.

Frankly, not even gifted freelance writers would send Confidential notes like these , let alone an un-gifted amateur.

Confidential is a self-funding organisation which relies upon business paying its bills on time. It is a labour of love for me and has taken seven years to grow from my own personal food blog to where it is today, arguably the largest of its kind in the world in both terms of readership, income and articles. We continue to win awards, the latest being Magazine of the year in the North West.

Everyone who works and writes with knows that they are not working for NewsCorp; sometimes bills are delayed, and the past six weeks have been difficult but everyone has pulled together.

Reading your note you clearly are not a Confidential type. Reading your articles it becomes even clearer. You should not be writing alongside my team, it does you no favours.

So, allow me to give you some feedback for your tight, fairly well written petit-bourgeois note. Stick it up your fat, suburban arse.

Mark Garner

Publisher

The Confidentials."



EDIT: Thank you all for your comments. Just to clarify;

- The money I was chasing was expenses, not salary. I was not getting paid for the writing, that was the agreement.

- my invoices said payment due by return.

- yes, my email was snarky, but I had been chasing them for two weeks, to be told on falsely at different points that they had been paid, when they had not.

- perhaps I was unprofessional, but I did not make an attack on Mr Garner's personal appearance.

- I have not got a fat arse.


(Please feel free to leave a comment, but please also refrain from making personal remarks about Mr Garner. I won't publish them. Thanks!)