T-zero Xpandizine/ The Writer's E-Zine / thewritersezine.com

[angelahoy]

June 7, 2006

Writopia Inc.
Bob Hembree / R.J. Hembree, Publisher - roberthembree@cox.net -
wvu@cox.net
Judy Hunt, Editor in Chief - fiction@thewritersezine.com
8136 Ridgefield Dr.
Norfolk, VA 23518
P(757) 965-2155

WritersWeekly.com has received a complaint about:
Writopia Inc. / T-zero Xpandizine / The Writer's E-Zine /
thewritersezine.com /

WritersWeekly.com is a publication that publishes information for and
about freelance writers. The publication is the largest-circulation
freelance writing ezine in the world.

As part of that information, WritersWeekly.com publishes a Warnings
section on its website and in its newsletter. This warning section
contains reports about publications that are unprofessional in dealing
with writers, have refused to pay writers money owed to them, who have
not abided by their contracts, or who have unfair contract terms. These
reports are used by WritersWeekly.com's subscribers to decide which
publications they should and should not work with.

Your firm has been submitted to us for inclusion in the
WritersWeekly.com Whispers and Warnings section.

Step one of our investigation of this report is to gather all relevant
correspondence between your publication and the person submitting the
complaint so that we can piece together that person's side of the story.
Step one of our investigation has been completed.

L.R. (name removed for publication but was, of course, provided
to the publisher) alleges you owe her at least $15.00, possibly more, and that
you are ignoring her correspondence. She also alleges you owe
another writer money as well. See complete allegation
under my signature.

-----------------
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
-----------------

The second step in our investigation is to send this communication to
your firm to get its side of the story. If you have evidence disputing
these allegations, or would like to make your own statement about these
allegations for publication in our report, please email
angela@writersweekly.com within two business days.

***All correspondence for our investigations must be in writing and is
subject to publication.***

Our report on your firm is scheduled for inclusion in our publication
next Wednesday.

If there is no response to these allegations, WritersWeekly.com will
still publish this complaint, but our readers will not be able to read
your side of the story.

We appreciate your prompt response in this matter.

Angela Hoy
Publisher
WritersWeekly.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE COMPLAINT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

----- Original Message -----
From: "Angela Hoy"
To: "romance.author"
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 2:35 PM
Subject: Re: Slow payment from website

Hi Angela,

I was wondering if you could give me some advice regarding slow payment
from a writers' website. An article of mine was published there in April
and so far I have not received any payment for it. This site pays a
minimum of $15.00 per article. I think mine would have been considered
the feature article of that month, so possibly I would be entitled to
more.

I wrote to the site about 2 weeks ago and someone on the
editorial said she would look into this for me by checking with their
accounts department. Since then I have heard nothing despite sending 3
e-mails, one of which contained an invoice.

I appreciate your help regarding this matter.

L.R.

~~~~~

Hi Angela,

I've waited around forty eight hours now for T-Zero: The Writers' Ezine
to get back to me and they've failed to do so. Please could you look into
this for me?

I checked the archives at the website back to my publication in April
and contacted another writer who had something published there at the same
time and she hasn't been paid either.

I appreciate your help on this matter.

L.R.

~~~~~

PUBLISHER RESPONDS

Date sent: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:15:30 -0400
From: fiction@thewritersezine.com
Subject: Re: COMPLAINT about T-zero Xpandizine The Writer's E-Zine

Dear Ms. Hoy,
I have forwarded this to Judy Hunt directly. Although I have nothing
to do with the accounts department, please feel free to contact me
directly (twombly@gofree.indigo.ie) if you do not hear from Judy
promptly. I am only an assistant editor in the fiction department but
am anxious to clear this matter up as soon as possible. I would not
like to think that any of our writers are not being treated properly.
Yours,
Rhoda Twombly

~~~~~

WRITER RESPONDS

From: "romance.author"
To: <angela@booklocker.com>
Subject: Re: (Fwd) Re: COMPLAINT about T-zero Xpandizine The Writer's E-Zin
Date sent: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 09:55:46 +0100

Thanks for writing to them, Angela. They sent a Pay Pal e-check for
$20.00 this morning!

L.R.

~~~~~

PUBLISHER RESPONIDS

From: "Robert Hembree" <roberthembree@cox.net>
Subject: Re: COMPLAINT about T-zero Xpandizine The Writer's E-Zine
Date sent: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 13:23:25 -0400

June 08, 2006

Angela, from what I understand, our Managing Editor, who usually handles
this type of correspondence, is having pregnancy complications. The baby
was due May 29th. This may have something to do with the response time taking
over 48 hours. [L.R.], request for a PayPal payment rather than a
check was authorized and sent. Many deserving writers over the last eight
years were published first at T-Zero. I personally fund payments for
writers, and volunteers run the publication.

All my best,
Bob Hembree

~~~~~

WRITER REQUESTS WE STILL RUN THIS WARNING

From: "romance.author"
To: <angela@booklocker.com>
Subject: Re: (Fwd) Re: COMPLAINT about T-zero Xpandizine The Writer's E-Zin
Date sent: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 19:08:45 +0100

Yes, please run it. Maybe they're only going to pay people who kick up a
fuss. Makes you wonder if this 'accounts department' they keep mentioning
really exists as they seem to keep fobbing people off with, "I'll check
with our accounts department!"

Thanks, Angela!

L.R.

[angelahoy]

ANOTHER COMPLAINT

To: roberthembree@cox.net, wvu@cox.net, fiction@thewritersezine.com
Subject: ANOTHER COMPLAINT about T-zero Xpandizine The Writer's E-Zine
Date sent: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 19:03:58 -0400

July 14, 2006

Writopia Inc.
Bob Hembree / R.J. Hembree, Publisher - roberthembree@cox.net -
wvu@cox.net
Judy Hunt, Editor in Chief - fiction@thewritersezine.com
8136 Ridgefield Dr.
Norfolk, VA 23518
P(757) 965-2155

WritersWeekly.com has received ANOTHER complaint about:
Writopia Inc. / T-zero Xpandizine / The Writer's E-Zine /
thewritersezine.com /

WritersWeekly.com is a publication that publishes information for and
about freelance writers. The publication is the largest-circulation
freelance writing ezine in the world.

As part of that information, WritersWeekly.com publishes a Warnings
section on its website and in its newsletter. This warning section
contains reports about publications that are unprofessional in dealing
with writers, have refused to pay writers money owed to them, who have
not abided by their contracts, or who have unfair contract terms. These
reports are used by WritersWeekly.com's subscribers to decide which
publications they should and should not work with.

Your firm has been submitted to us for inclusion in the
WritersWeekly.com Whispers and Warnings section.

Step one of our investigation of this report is to gather all relevant
correspondence between your publication and the person submitting the
complaint so that we can piece together that person's side of the story.
Step one of our investigation has been completed.

M.C. (name removed for publication but was, of course, provided to
the publisher) alleges you owe her $20.00 and that you are
ignoring her correspondence.

-----------------
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
-----------------

The second step in our investigation is to send this communication to
your firm to get its side of the story. If you have evidence disputing
these allegations, or would like to make your own statement about these
allegations for publication in our report, please email
angela@writersweekly.com within two business days.

***All correspondence for our investigations must be in writing and is
subject to publication.***

Our report on your firm is scheduled for inclusion in our publication
next Wednesday.

If there is no response to these allegations, WritersWeekly.com will
still publish this complaint, but our readers will not be able to read
your side of the story.

We appreciate your prompt response in this matter.

Angela Hoy
Publisher
WritersWeekly.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE COMPLAINT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subject: Whispers: T-Zero
Date sent: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:57:20 EDT

Hi Angela,

I noticed two weeks ago that T-Zero featured in your Whispers forum.
I'd had work published by them before and had no trouble getting paid. But,
having seen the correspondence in your forum, as I'd had an article published
by them in May of this year, I thought it prudent to send an invoice direct to Mr
Hembree, the publisher. This was on June 21st.

As I received no reply, I wrote to Mr Hembree on July 4th asking when I
might expect my promised $20. Perhaps unwisely, I asked if he was pregnant
like his editor-in-chief!

On July 7th, I wrote an "Is anyone out there?" e-mail, which I
addressed to the non-fiction department, suggesting that if they really couldn't
afford to pay me, they shouldn't keep their guidelines up on their website.
I've still heard nothing, so I'd be really interested in your views.
Best wishes,
M.C.

PUBLISHER RESPONDS

From: "Robert Hembree" <roberthembree@cox.net>
Subject: Re: ANOTHER COMPLAINT about T-zero Xpandizine The Writer's E-Zine
Date sent: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 20:00:46 -0400

Angela, I haven't personally received any emails from [M.C.]. Spam
filters or wrong address maybe? I have a good sense of humor and would have
remembered the colorful email. I'll look into this and make sure she is
paid. Our payments have been irregular, but everyone gets paid.

All my best,
Bob Hembree

WRITERSWEEKLY'S OPINION

One complaint? Might be a fluke. But, two complaints about non-payment? We're not buying it. We suggest all writers avoid this publisher.

[angelahoy]

WRITER RESPONDS:

From: [M.C.]
Subject: T-Zero
Date sent: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 05:39:49 EDT

Hi Angela,

I thought it might amuse you to hear I received an e-mail from T-Zero
today, Thursday.

Perhaps naively I thought they were at last replying to my e-mails.
Instead it was a notification that the latest issue of T-Zero was online. I
discovered the publication is still inviting submissions and offering a minimum
payment of $15.

I unsubscribed!

Best wishes,
M.C.

[angelahoy]

From: MC
Subject: T-Zero pays up!
Date sent: Sun, 30 Jul 2006 06:23:42 EDT

Hi Angela,

Today I received a PayPal check for $20 for the aticle I wrote for T-Zero
magazine.

Many thanks for your efforts. I doubt if I would have received it had it
not been for your intervention.

The one disappointing aspect is that not once did anyone connected with
the publication answer my e-mails.

Thanks again.

Best wishes,
MC