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Permanently Gone
Industry Role:
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 10,019
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Following that, I posted the following in response to questions in the thread:
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Mark was constantly assuring me by phone that he was thrilled with my work and that payment was just hung up while the company went through some rough times. I heard wild and varying revenue claims, but I didn't yet have a reason to doubt him, despite what I had read about the man. Remember, I had been paid reasonable sums before being hung up for the three months of working without pay. Perhaps my mistake was in not reporting it to the labor bureau at the time. I assume that's still an option ... I hear Canada is serious about that sort of thing.
The whole reason I took such a low paying job (I was only guaranteed $75,000 per year with two $10,000 bonuses) was because my contract included an opportunity to sell my products as "branded" GTS products. GTS was to leverage their sales force to sell my stuff, and I'd share in the profits. Later, when this didn't happen, Mark told me on the phone that his guys were "too dumb to get it" (which was NOT my impression of his team -- I found many of them to be very smart and capable).
Instead of that mission, I was tasked with building a system for Submit Passes and an accounting backend for GTS. Many of the webmasters here probably used my built-from-scratch Submitpasses system, actually --- it was the one with the orange color scheme. It functioned well, but someone of only moderate skill tried to shoehorn in some ill-advised features after I left.
I built these systems, and that's when the payment weirdness started. Devin, who was in charge of operations at the time, can verify any and all of this. He still ICQ's me to this day about how Mark tricked me and took advantage. It disgusts us both.
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Someone asked me why I wouldn't sue him over $38k. I replied:
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If $38,750 is going to make or break you, then you probably need to re-examine your financial position. But really it boils down to the risk/reward. Sue, and maybe you win, maybe you lose -- it still costs you money. You won't get a "clean" $38,750 in any case. Even with treble damages, it's only $116,250. After tax, figure $80,000 or so. $30,000 in attorney fees, you MIGHT clear $50,000 .... and that's a BIG if that you'd be granted the treble damages (although with the libel he's added about head injuries, medication, etc, it isn't that far fetched). So, worst case, you clear $10,000. Best case, you clear $50,000. If that's worth YEARS of litigation, travel, and headaches to you ... then I'm sorry to hear that.
And remember: you might lose, and be OUT even MORE money.
"Worth it" suits begin in the six-figure range. I didn't go after Playboy for $60,000 slam-dunk open-and-shut, so I'm certainly not going after GTS for $38,750. Five-figure suits are hard to even find attorneys willing to pursue them. Write it off as bad debt on your taxes and move on. Speaking of taxes, I estimated my taxes for that year, and included the money GTS was supposed to pay, so I guess I got hurt twice on that money.
Now, if you're saying $38k is sitting on the sidewalk, I'd tell you that anyone would bend over and pick it up .. that's common sense. But people toss around "I'LL SUE YOU" over $200 on GFY; it's just ridiculous sometimes.
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Someone asked why the 4-year wait. I replied:
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He cried poor at the time, and cried it again at every interval since. I've been promised that he'd "catch up" for years now. It was more of an off-handed jab than anything else, but since Mark chose to melt down over it, it turned into something more serious.
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This was posted by an observant someone:
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Lol, with that statement Mark acknowledges that he does indeed owe you. Of course he then resorts to the old gfy stupid logic of, "Well, I was going to pay you, but since you called me out on the boards and embarrassed me, I no longer feel I should have to pay you."
Interesting how there seems to be a long line of people who have done work for Mark or been directly employed by him who leave very disgruntled usually with payout issues. If it was just 1 then I could see it being a misunderstanding, but after a half a dozen it becomes quite clear how Mark operates and what type of person he is.
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