The End of the Road...

For me, at least, but not for those other cheated affiliates.

I realized, after this post, that VT still owed me money. Not from current sales, but because their system could keep track of the payment tiers. In all, they owed me $490 for the back payments, plus $60 in current sales.

After not hearing a word back from them on the matter, which seems to be SOP for ViaTalk, I informed them that once again, I was left with no recourse but to file suit in small claims court. Realizing that they needed to silence me, I received my payment via PayPal, and the following message from Brendan Brader, CEO of ViaTalk:

Hi,

Paypal is going out today. In the future we would prefer if you found another company to promote, as we are processing any and all pending sales you have and discontinuing your affiliate account after this payment.

-Brendan

They can do as they wish, but let's look back over my relationship with their affiliate program:

1. After earning over $3500 in sales, they don't pay for months. A BBB complaint had to be filed before any payment was received.
2. After another $400+ in sales, still no payment. Another BBB complaint, which I realized was useless as they lost their accreditation, was filed. Small claims paperwork was prepared, but never filed, as VT made payment hours before I was intending to file at the courthouse.
3. It is realized that they have been shorting affiliates money, and I'm now owed another $490. I skip the BBB, and prepare new small claims paperwork. VT pays and shuts me down.

It's their affiliate program, they can do what they want, but this is rotten press for them. Those three items up there are VT's three strikes. They're out. I've long since removed links for them from all my sites and blogs.

Goodbye, VT affiliate program. Let's hope the folks that are owed double or triple what I was owed don't follow my footsteps and file claims against you. By shutting down your affiliates, you're shutting down a source of income. You'll learn eventually, but it'll probably be too late.

Not Over Yet

So it appears that ViaTalk still hasn't paid all their affiliates, just those of us that made some noise on the DSLR forums.

This user will be filing a suit if payment hasn't been received by 3 April. Other have said the same.

Why does VT persist in such unethical, unprofessional behavior? Do they lack the funds to pay the affiliates? Do they hope most affiliates won't remember that they're due to be paid? Is their Accounts Payable department just a joke? Is Brandi Solomon using the affiliate money to buy new shoes? It's anybody's guess.


What is certain is that VT is cheating a lot of people and pissing them off in the process. If you want to share your story, PM me at DSLReports, my username is dmolavi.