DACS problem?

[John Mitchell]

I received n e-mail form DACS today saying that they don't have enough evidence to support my latest claim. This doesn't make sense since I sent them the same Alamy spreadsheets that I have in previous years, and my claim has always been accepted. Is anyone else having this problem?

 

P.S. I'm referring to the larger claim, not the supplemental one.

 

[John Mitchell]

16 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

From time to time they do a more thorough check. It might be that. I had one a couple of years back. Had to provide sales sheets going back years and include sales from other agencies to demonstrate to them that I was where I had stated in the threshold categories. I assume I'll be left alone now because am in Max groups.

 

Thanks for the reply. Every year, I send them my Alamy spreadsheets dating back to 2008 and there has never been a problem. This is the first time. I've e-mailed DACS about it. Shall see what they say.

[spacecadet]

I get no stress from it. It takes 20 minutes or less to put together the info you collect over the year from your tearsheets, I don't often get £65 for 20 minutes' work, and £65 is twice £32.50, less whatever Alamy take off for "expenses".

[vpics]

DACS  contacted me, too, as I had moved up a band but had failed to list a more recent "proof".

Gave them what they needed and it was all sorted within two hours.

[John Mitchell]

7 minutes ago, GS-Images said:

It's one reason I don't do my own DACS claims. I'm honestly not too sure what I'm doing with it, despite looking into it more than once! I guess I'm just a bit thick when it comes to such things. So I let Alamy claim for me. I don't lose that much as I don't get much from it anyway, and I'll happily give up a bit of cash for less potential stress.

 

I hope you manage to get the claim through ok in the end John.

 

Geoff.

 

Shall report back. As mentioned, no probs at all in previous years.

 

1 minute ago, vpics said:

DACS  contacted me, too, as I had moved up a band but had failed to list a more recent "proof".

Gave them what they needed and it was all sorted within two hours.

 

What did they need? All the message they sent me said was "further evidence required" -- i.e. no specifics given.

[vpics]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Shall report back. As mentioned, no probs at all in previous years.

 

 

What did they need? All the message they sent me said was "further evidence required" -- i.e. no specifics given.

They just needed to know the ISSN number of a publication and when it was used.

[John Mitchell]

29 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

You could download the entire Alamy spreadsheet and then delete all the irrelevant stuff. For example, order by country and get rid of everything that is not UK, then within the UK sales filter out the ones that are not relevant such as newspaper ones.

 

That's exactly what I do every year, and my claims have always been accepted. Doesn't make sense that the same "evidence" is suddenly no longer adequate. Waiting to hear back from DACS...

[tarsierspectral]

8 hours ago, GS-Images said:

It's one reason I don't do my own DACS claims. I'm honestly not too sure what I'm doing with it, despite looking into it more than once! I guess I'm just a bit thick when it comes to such things. So I let Alamy claim for me. I don't lose that much as I don't get much from it anyway, and I'll happily give up a bit of cash for less potential stress.

 

I hope you manage to get the claim through ok in the end John.

 

Geoff.

It's seriously like 3 clicks and maybe 2 minutes of typing.  Not sure what could be confusing.  I'm usually confused with forms etc. but this could not be easier.  I happily take ~$300 each year for 3 clicks.  Can I help you?

[regen]

If you have gone up a band on any category then they may want proof e.g. an actual example with title ISBN/ISSN from this last year. With the advent of the new system introduced (imposed) by the CLA and competing collection agencies like Picsel they make have to introduce more checks simply to satisfy the paymaster (CLA) Altenatively if your claim is only based upon Alamy sales they may want to check that your interpretation of the Alamy spread sheet is correct. Go back to them and ask for more details.

 

Regen 

[Bryan]

Last year I inadvertently made claims through both DACs and Alamy. (I didn't realise that Alamy was claiming on my behalf). I used the spreadsheet method referred to above. My Alamy DACs income exceeded that from my my own claim, so this year I am letting Alamy take the strain. (Before anyone gets hot under the collar, I informed DACs of the situation and refunded the fee.)

 

I suspect that I was not alone here, it would be useful to hear from others who did the same.

[tarsierspectral]

40 minutes ago, GS-Images said:

 

Well I haven't actually done it before. I'm not daft so obviously I could do it if I tried. I read all the threads on the subject though and they usually give me enough concerns to stop me giving it a go. It's more about the potential stress of things not going well, which has obviously happened to some this year. "Why would you get stressed about such a thing", many will ask. Well to anyone who doesn't suffer with stress or anxiety, it's something that cannot be explained. It's just how some people are. Like I said though, if I was a bigger earner I would probably claim myself as I'd be losing a lot more by letting Alamy do it. I do expect a lot more from my next DACS payment as my sales quadrupled last year compared to the year before, so I'll see what the next payment comes in at and make a decision.

 

Geoff.

You should really just try it, it's seriously, ridiculously easy.  Don't read threads where people didn't even try and complain.  And once you do it the first time, your info stays in the system so you do't have to do much the next time (like your payment info etc.) Perhaps you didn't earn much through DACS but why wouldn't you want to take double of what you get through DACS/Alamy?

[Joseph Clemson]

1 hour ago, GS-Images said:

 

Well I haven't actually done it before. I'm not daft so obviously I could do it if I tried. I read all the threads on the subject though and they usually give me enough concerns to stop me giving it a go. It's more about the potential stress of things not going well, which has obviously happened to some this year. "Why would you get stressed about such a thing", many will ask. Well to anyone who doesn't suffer with stress or anxiety, it's something that cannot be explained. It's just how some people are. Like I said though, if I was a bigger earner I would probably claim myself as I'd be losing a lot more by letting Alamy do it. I do expect a lot more from my next DACS payment as my sales quadrupled last year compared to the year before, so I'll see what the next payment comes in at and make a decision.

 

Geoff.

 

I too suffer stress and anxiety so I know where you are coming from and I make every effort to avoid situations where stress may result - it's part of the reason I am much more conservative than others here when it comes to releases and marking images as editorial only.

 

I have done my own DACS claim for three years now. I've not found it stressful to date, though if I too received an email asking for more evidence that might change. However, I am hopeful that will not be the case as I have been as full and careful as I can in my submission. I find the task not too stressful as it is an administrative job done at my own pace. The basis is the Alamy sales report imported into a spreadsheet, out of which I delete items which cannot qualify for DACS. Then it is simply a case of counting the number of qualifying sales and filling in the DACS online form. This year has been a little more time consuming as they want ISBN numbers where possible to support the application for an additional proportion of the DACS payout. This requires much searching of this forum and the internet generally and, in truth, I was able to identify very few such specific uses. I now sit and wait to see what outcome arises.

 

I'm wondering if the requests for more evidence that people are receiving are linked to the system change which has been pushed on to DACS and is not really of their making. It may be that simply chucking an unedited Alamy sales spreadsheet at DACS and letting them pick the bones out of it may no longer cut the mustard. It will be interesting to see how others report their experiences as things develop.

[Betty LaRue]

I asked Alamy to do it this year and never saw a penny on my income sheet.  And yes, I followed up in case they didn't get the email, which was in response to THEIR email!!

So not sure I'll ever allow Alamy to claim for me again as I seemed to fall through the cracks and get nothing.

 

Betty

[John Mitchell]

6 hours ago, Joseph Clemson said:

I'm wondering if the requests for more evidence that people are receiving are linked to the system change which has been pushed on to DACS and is not really of their making. It may be that simply chucking an unedited Alamy sales spreadsheet at DACS and letting them pick the bones out of it may no longer cut the mustard. It will be interesting to see how others report their experiences as things develop.

 

This could be the case, but I always edit my Alamy sales spreadsheets carefully, removing all the irrelevant sales. I don't think that DACS has to do much bone-picking with mine. Anyway, still waiting to hear back from DACS about my fate this year.

[Joseph Clemson]

7 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

This could be the case, but I always edit my Alamy sales spreadsheets carefully, removing all the irrelevant sales. I don't think that DACS has to do much bone-picking with mine. Anyway, still waiting to hear back from DACS about my fate this year.

 

Hmm. It would have helped you and us all if they made clear from the start what kind of additional evidence they were looking for. No doubt you will keep us in touch.

[spacecadet]

2 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I asked Alamy to do it this year and never saw a penny on my income sheet.  And yes, I followed up in case they didn't get the email, which was in response to THEIR email!!

So not sure I'll ever allow Alamy to claim for me again as I seemed to fall through the cracks and get nothing.

 

Betty

Are you sure you have any qualifying licences?

[NYCat]

3 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I asked Alamy to do it this year and never saw a penny on my income sheet.  And yes, I followed up in case they didn't get the email, which was in response to THEIR email!!

So not sure I'll ever allow Alamy to claim for me again as I seemed to fall through the cracks and get nothing.

 

Betty

 

Since we are both USA I thought we'd probably get ours at the same time. Mine came on Dec. 19, 2016. Nothing for you? Had you claimed on your own in the past and got something?

 

Paulette

[vpics]

1 hour ago, NYCat said:

 

Since we are both USA I thought we'd probably get ours at the same time. Mine came on Dec. 19, 2016. Nothing for you? Had you claimed on your own in the past and got something?

 

Paulette

You are aware that the 2017 deadline has already been and gone?

[NYCat]

I have been having Alamy do it. I thought it might be helpful to Betty to know that Alamy put the payment in my account in December last year. Presumably it will be the same this year. Thanks for your concern.

 

Paulette

[Betty LaRue]

7 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

Since we are both USA I thought we'd probably get ours at the same time. Mine came on Dec. 19, 2016. Nothing for you? Had you claimed on your own in the past and got something?

 

Paulette

Yes, I had claimed on my own years past and been paid. The year before I didn't get it done before deadline, due to special circumstances at home. So this year, I responded to the email Alamy sent me and agreed for them to claim. I never got a response back, so I followed up. Nada.

[NYCat]

9 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Yes, I had claimed on my own years past and been paid. The year before I didn't get it done before deadline, due to special circumstances at home. So this year, I responded to the email Alamy sent me and agreed for them to claim. I never got a response back, so I followed up. Nada.

 

I think I am now confused about what is this year and what is last year??? I was paid by Alamy in December of 2016 so am expecting to be paid in December again this year for 2017 which I think is this year though, of course the DACS claim would be for 2016 -- which is last year.  I hope that is helpful but I'm too confused to know.

 

Paulette

[Betty LaRue]

Yes it is confusing. Um, isn't the deadline like in September to claim? So September of 2016 I think we claim for 2015?  And this year at that time we'll claim for 2016? 

Its confusing to me, too.

[NYCat]

Thanks for clarifying but I was making a very feeble joke about having taken Betty's post as meaning last year when she said this year. I haven't yet received anything from Alamy this year for DACS. 

 

Paulette

[losdemas]

47 minutes ago, NYCat said:

Thanks for clarifying but I was making a very feeble joke about having taken Betty's post as meaning last year when she said this year. I haven't yet received anything from Alamy this year for DACS. 

 

Paulette

 

No, cos this year, despite the change in final submission dates - 1st May 2017, as geogphotos says - the payouts (from DACS) still won't happen till December 2017.

[Foreign Export]

On 8/2/2017 at 02:50, John Mitchell said:

I received n e-mail form DACS today saying that they don't have enough evidence to support my latest claim. This doesn't make sense since I sent them the same Alamy spreadsheets that I have in previous years, and my claim has always been accepted. Is anyone else having this problem?

 

P.S. I'm referring to the larger claim, not the supplemental one.

 

 

I had the exact same problem earlier this year - DACS advised my spreadsheet didn't give enough information but it was the same format that i always send them. I wrote back several times and heard nothing - i was replying to a lady called Harriett. When she didn't reply i used the DACS complaint email i=on their website and the CEO contacted me. A day later my claim was accepted.

 

Motto- escalate the issue