SG and MY influencers call out agency for failure to compensate

This week, Singaporean Influencer Chrysan Lee took to TikTok to call out an unnamed creator agency for not paying her and other content creators for work done as well as for ignoring messages and emails sent regarding payment. 

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Lee starts her video by saying that an unnamed 'P', who is the CEO of an agency that she refers to only with its first and last alphabets, 'G' and 'T' "really" needs to pay their creators.

"I didn't want to do this but P, I have tried contacting you multiple times," she said. Lee went on to explain that the agency operates in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia and the Philippines and that to her knowledge, the CEO owes creators and agencies money. 

She explains that she has worked with this agency on various projects since 2021 and that they paid her late. However, the last time they worked together was on 23 September 2022 and she finished the job in October 2022. She noted that two invoices were issued to the agency as there were more deliverables on the project that were initially cut. 

"Weeks passed and no payment, no news," she said. "My client actually emailed me and confirmed with me on 14 March 2023 that they had already paid [the agency] in December 2022," she said. Lee clarified that the agency is responsible for paying the creator. 

She added that she has sent multiple emails to the agency and to the CEO himself and had no response even when she emailed him a final notice in May 20. 

"I got his number and I WhatsApped him, he read my message and he blocked me immediately," she said, adding that he blocked her on almost every other platform as well. Lee went on to say that the agency's finance team did try to help her sort out the payment initially, but eventually ignored her messages as well. She explained that all the employees that she personally worked with and new had also already left the agency. 

Comments on the video saw many other Singaporean influencers and netizens such as TikToker Boblet and content creator Nadiah M.Din identifying the agency as GetCraft and its CEO as Patrick Searle.

When MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out to the content creators, M.Din said that GetCraft owes her money for a Blackmores and Burger King campaign. "The payment took so long that when my managers upfront the money first to me, I got shocked because I totally forgotten about it. That shows you how long the delay was," she said. 

"I executed the project on time and well. But when it comes to payment, they give many excuses," she said, adding that it was tiring and that to date, the agency still owes her managers money. 

M.Din also shared email screenshots between her and the company where Searle said that the company was negotiating with its investors as to when they would be releasing payment to them.

On 12 July 2022, Searle said that investors would be able to complete an infusion of money in August 2022 and that it was negotiating the release of a smaller amount to settle payments to influencers such as M.Din.

Searle wrote:

I'm sorry I can't give you a clearer update, but as soon as we have any available cash, [we] will pay you immediately.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to GetCraft to find out more information.

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