Vanished Alamy PayPal Payment (will be found)

[Martin Carlsson]

Reaching out for help here if anyone has every found themselves in similar situation and hopefully managed to get it sorted and could perhaps give me some guidance?

 

Been with Alamy since 2004, been paid many times, the last few years with PayPal and never ever had a problem. So this is my case/problem;

 

Was paid by Alamy on 2nd of July which is reflected in my "Balance of account". Usually that means that within a week or so I receive it in my PayPal account. Well time passed and nothing was received. I contacted member services and Alamy asked me to double-check my PayPal details and re-enter them just to be sure, which I did. They also said that if something had gone wrong the money would be returned to them within a month i.e. no later than beginning of August.

 

Time passed and it  became time for the August payment. Obviously I was worried that something would be wrong with that payment as well, but it came through fine. At this moment my July payment is about 6 weeks plus overdue. When I reach out to member services (which I've done several times) the responses I keep getting from Alamy is that "it has been sent" and "nothing has been returned" and that there is basically nothing more that they can do. I've checked, double checked, triple checked my PayPal account - no July payment received from Alamy and nothing wrong with the account itself, been paid before and after by Alamy, as well as from a range of other places.

 

I feel unsupported and confused in this matter. Obviously I want my earnings, every $ counts, as well as it makes me worried about future payments. I'm also puzzled that Alamy isn't more concerned that a payment that according to them they have sent didn't make it to it's intended recipient - basically it has just vanished, of course they haven't lost anything, I'm the one out of pocket, but still I would like to think that it would be of importance/joint interest that money paid out to contributors actually reaches them?

 

Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do? I'm stumped at this moment in time.

[Starsphinx]

1 hour ago, Martin Carlsson said:

Reaching out for help here if anyone has every found themselves in similar situation and hopefully managed to get it sorted and could perhaps give me some guidance?

 

Been with Alamy since 2004, been paid many times, the last few years with PayPal and never ever had a problem. So this is my case/problem;

 

Was paid by Alamy on 2nd of July which is reflected in my "Balance of account". Usually that means that within a week or so I receive it in my PayPal account. Well time passed and nothing was received. I contacted member services and Alamy asked me to double-check my PayPal details and re-enter them just to be sure, which I did. They also said that if something had gone wrong the money would be returned to them within a month i.e. no later than beginning of August.

 

Time passed and it  became time for the August payment. Obviously I was worried that something would be wrong with that payment as well, but it came through fine. At this moment my July payment is about 6 weeks plus overdue. When I reach out to member services (which I've done several times) the responses I keep getting from Alamy is that "it has been sent" and "nothing has been returned" and that there is basically nothing more that they can do. I've checked, double checked, triple checked my PayPal account - no July payment received from Alamy and nothing wrong with the account itself, been paid before and after by Alamy, as well as from a range of other places.

 

I feel unsupported and confused in this matter. Obviously I want my earnings, every $ counts, as well as it makes me worried about future payments. I'm also puzzled that Alamy isn't more concerned that a payment that according to them they have sent didn't make it to it's intended recipient - basically it has just vanished, of course they haven't lost anything, I'm the one out of pocket, but still I would like to think that it would be of importance/joint interest that money paid out to contributors actually reaches them?

 

Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do? I'm stumped at this moment in time.

My first instinct would be to contact Paypal as well and  make sure both had all the information you have given us - Paypal should also be concerned that a payment shown as having gone through them has not.

[Martin Carlsson]

19 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

My first instinct would be to contact Paypal as well and  make sure both had all the information you have given us - Paypal should also be concerned that a payment shown as having gone through them has not.

 

Have done that with the very limited info that I've been given so far i.e. I'm missing a payment to my e-mail of $X that should have been made around 2nd of July by Alamy Images Ltd. that uses the e-mail address alamypayments@alamy.com Only received canned responses, with loads of irrelevant info and a "if we don't hear from you we presume that this answered your issue", I answer and get another version of similar canned response with mostly the same unhelpful info.

[Starsphinx]

Have you asked Alamy for the transaction ID?  Presumably, it is shown as having gone through on their end so they will have a unique identifier number - ask them for this number and give it to paypal to trace.  I recommend cc-ing both parties in on every email so they can see exactly what is going on and being done.
 

[Martin Carlsson]

18 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

Have you asked Alamy for the transaction ID?  Presumably, it is shown as having gone through on their end so they will have a unique identifier number - ask them for this number and give it to paypal to trace.  I recommend cc-ing both parties in on every email so they can see exactly what is going on and being done.
 

I've asked for it and any additional info that could be of help - not yet received. Really really weird situation - one would think there were more checks and balances in place - I mean most likely PayPal has a payment that is just lingering somewhere.

[Niels Quist]

36 minutes ago, Martin Carlsson said:

I've asked for it and any additional info that could be of help - not yet received. Really really weird situation - one would think there were more checks and balances in place - I mean most likely PayPal has a payment that is just lingering somewhere.

 

Haven't unfortunately any new ideas to solve your present problem. But Alamy should understand that PayPal cannot do any tracing without the transaction ID.

 

Have you considered the direct bank transfer option for future transactions?  I have always used this for Alamy. My Danish bank charges DKR 10 per incoming  transaction. You may have the service for free, I know some have, never quite understood exactly when the fee comes into force. But PayPal gets paid in the rate of exchange. I have never calculated precisely when it is more profitable, but when I was a translator the rule was all under $100 per PayPal, more than that the bank transfer. This limit was more or less established among colleagues.

[Martin Carlsson]

14 minutes ago, Niels Quist said:

 

Haven't unfortunately any new ideas to solve your present problem. But Alamy should understand that PayPal cannot do any tracing without the transaction ID.

 

Have you considered the direct bank transfer option for future transactions?  I have always used this for Alamy. My Danish bank charges DKR 10 per incoming  transaction. You may have the service for free, I know some have, never quite understood exactly when the fee comes into force. But PayPal gets paid in the rate of exchange. I have never calculated precisely when it is more profitable, but when I was a translator the rule was all under $100 per PayPal, more than that the bank transfer. This limit was more or less established among colleagues.

 

Used to do the bank transfers, but changed to PP a few years ago - think it was because of a fee, but could be wrong - when PP works it is just so easy. Anyway PP has worked flawlessly bar this one payment. August payment was no problem. Fingers crossed it gets sorted and I'm not left out of pocket.

[TobyH]

Hi Martin,

 

You asked on my thread if my issue was resolved.

 

The answer is yes but was probably of my making although it does have some use here.

 

My payment basically ended up going to an E-mail address that was no longer my paypal address. Paypal were unable to link it to an account so after a long time (quite a few weeks) they eventually return it to Alamy, who get in touch to say there has been an issue with payment. This happened at least twice with 2 months gaps between payments.

 

If you haven't changed any paypal information and the info is the same, and you've not changed your payment options on alamy then that is really weird.

 

As has been said before the only way to know for sure what happened to the payment as far as Paypal are concerned is to get hold of a transaction ID, something Alamy don't like to give out for security reasons. The issue is without it they (Paypal) are working almost blind when you contact them.

 

I would double check the information held on Alamy to ensure that it still shows as being correct. I personally thought that my email I log in with would be used as my primary payment address but that's not the case, you have to go and amend it and it's not immeditaely obvious how to do it (for me anyway).

 

Good luck - it was really frustrating. Mainly made so because I couldn't just talk to someone one to one at Alamy.

[John Mitchell]

A disturbing story. This is something that Alamy should be pursuing on your behalf IMO.

[Martin Carlsson]

13 minutes ago, TobyH said:

Hi Martin,

 

You asked on my thread if my issue was resolved.

 

The answer is yes but was probably of my making although it does have some use here.

 

My payment basically ended up going to an E-mail address that was no longer my paypal address. Paypal were unable to link it to an account so after a long time (quite a few weeks) they eventually return it to Alamy, who get in touch to say there has been an issue with payment. This happened at least twice with 2 months gaps between payments.

 

If you haven't changed any paypal information and the info is the same, and you've not changed your payment options on alamy then that is really weird.

 

As has been said before the only way to know for sure what happened to the payment as far as Paypal are concerned is to get hold of a transaction ID, something Alamy don't like to give out for security reasons. The issue is without it they (Paypal) are working almost blind when you contact them.

 

I would double check the information held on Alamy to ensure that it still shows as being correct. I personally thought that my email I log in with would be used as my primary payment address but that's not the case, you have to go and amend it and it's not immeditaely obvious how to do it (for me anyway).

 

Good luck - it was really frustrating. Mainly made so because I couldn't just talk to someone one to one at Alamy.

 

Thank you for your response - gives one hope.

 

Alamy has confirmed that they have sent it to my correct and current e-mail. I did have another one a while back, but nope they say that they have issued it to the correct one. Yes, need to get hold of a transaction number/reference number so that PayPal can trace where the H it has ended up.

 

I agree on the lacking of a one-to-one option when it is a bit more serious issue. It isn't a massive amount, but it is mine and sorting it out would also take away the uncertainty feeling one has about future payments if you know what I mean. As I said earlier, I've had an Alamy payment going through just fine after the one that went missing so there isn't at least a permanent issue by the looks of it.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Martin Carlsson]

To Alamy's credit, I did just receive an e-mail from James Allsworth saying all the right things, calming me greatly and enabling me to continue to retain my longstanding excellent feelings about our working relationship (me and my sweetheart Alamy, don't tell the wife). Thank you James A and thank you Alamy.

 

Also got a few instructions as how to proceed. I'll update this thread when I have more to add, in the hope that it can give someone comfort whenever they find themselves in a similar situation - perhaps a concise "this is what you should do" list or something.

 

Thanks to all that chimed in and have a great weekend!

[InTokyo]

Martin did you have an update on this? I have a similar/same issue.

 

[Martin Carlsson]

Hi,

 

Yes, eventually James A stepped in and made it "his" case and it was sorted quickly. Start by reaching out to member services and see what they have to say. Good luck and don't worry, it will get sorted - Alamy was right about that, when it happened to me.

 

 

[cbimages]

InTokyo, I answered on your other thread.