Latest news with #paymentissues
BBC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Actors say casting agency owes them thousands of pounds
Actors across England say a casting agency has not paid them for completed jobs, with some being left thousands of pounds out of pocket. Their experiences have highlighted wider concerns about a "hierarchy of power" within the industry. Wedding singer Sharon Stanton was delighted when her two children decided to follow her into the entertainment industry, with her youngest getting his first paid job earlier this year."He did a self-tape back in March, sent it back to the agent who said casting really liked him and offered him the job," she said."It was amazing news, and we were really happy as it was his first commercial. He did the job, had a really good experience and we left."But when I came to get payment, I think that was about two weeks later, that's when I started finding things out."Despite chasing it up with the agency - Lucy Harrison Casting - multiple times, they still have not been paid for the job after five Stanton, from Bristol, who has been in the industry herself for more than 15 years, learned through social media that they were not the only ones."The more I read and the more I researched, it just came apparent that this has happened to many people nationwide with this casting agency, some owed thousands of pounds," she said."It is just really frustrating and it's made me think, who is there to help the children?"Lucy Harrison Casting describes itself as "representing unique and diverse talent" and is understood to have had hundreds of models and actors on its its website, the agency claims to have worked with brands such as Boots, Coca-Cola and Cancer Research UK. Natalie Neri, from London, has been chasing Lucy Harrison Casting for payment for a job she did in worked with three others on that job and said none of them had received their money."I'm out of pocket by more than £1,000 – £128 of that I have personally paid towards my travel and hotel, which was promised to be reimbursed to me," said Ms Neri."I know the casting agency did collect the money already, as I've been in touch with the production since. "The [production company] have paid for myself and the other models, so we're all owed £1,000 each, and I'm very angry because Lucy Harrison Casting have stolen my hard-earned money."The BBC has spoken to actors in different parts of England who are owed money, with some payments dating back to Harrison Casting is the trading name used by two companies. Happy House Productions, based in East Sussex, went into voluntary liquidation at the end of June, while Happy House Media Limited continues to director for both companies is the same person. 'Thoroughly investigated' Emails sent to clients of Lucy Harrison Casting, seen by the BBC, state that despite the liquidation of Happy House Productions, the agency would "continue to operate".The website is still live and appears to now be run by Happy House Media Limited. Some actors have reported the agency to the government's Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate.A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: "We take all relevant complaints about agencies seriously and ensure they are thoroughly investigated to protect consumers and businesses across the country."Lucy Harrison Casting said "both Happy House Media Ltd and Happy House Productions Ltd have always traded as Lucy Harrison Casting, working with the same talent across both sectors of the business" and their activities were "fully compliant with UK law". Actress Alexa Morden – who has appeared in Skins, Fresh Meat and The Great Train Robbery – hosts a podcast called The 98%, which explores what the profession is really like. She has been looking into concerns with Lucy Harrison Casting for months."I just started gathering people's information of their experiences," she said. "I took it upon myself to make an Instagram post because I'd seen enough evidence at this point of withheld pay. The production companies confirming the agent received money months ago. And then, again, it snowballed."Ms Morden believes the problems are part of a wider issue in the said: "The hierarchy of power or perceived power leaves actors feeling like they can't rock the boat. "They can't push back on anything, they can't advocate for themselves because of this age-old idea of 'if you don't put up with it, there's a hundred other people in a line who will'." Lack of regulation Equity - the entertainment industry's main trade union - has now warned its members against working with the agency. Some of those left unpaid say they reported concerns to the union and Spotlight, which helps connect performers and agents, as far back as last year. In response, both Equity and Spotlight said they had been made aware of issues with payments earlier this year and had contacted the Employment Agencies Harrison Casting did not say whether the actors owed money would be paid for the jobs they had done, but it did say those contracts had been "undertaken through Happy House Productions Ltd" and "fall within the liquidation process".For Ms Stanton, this is not just about the money."These people are taking advantage of children and parents," she said. "And there's no one regulating this, there is no one regulating this industry and I think that's the bigger picture here." If you want to contact us regarding this story, email westinvestigations@ Follow BBC West on Facebook, X, and Instagram. Send your story ideas via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.
CBS News
04-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
IRS electronic payment system delays mean some taxpayers are getting bills for taxes already paid
Some taxpayers who paid their taxes by the April 15 deadlines are getting notices telling them they still owe money, all because of delays with the IRS electronic payment system. Some of the people impacted have also said they've found it impossible to get through to the IRS for help. South Dakota couple Laura and Dustin Floyd paid $18,000 on the 2025 tax deadline, so when they got another bill this week for the same amount, even though the money had been taken out of their account in April, they were confused. "It was near on a panic attack," Laura Floyd said. "It was terrifying. I'm still shaky just thinking about it." The Floyd reached out to CBS News Chicago after seeing a report Tuesday about the IRS notices. "I discovered your story. You were the only ones talking about it," Dustin Floyd said. An IRS agent told a CBS News Chicago producer, who is also impacted by the mistake, that their electronic payment system is experiencing delays in processing money sent in by April 15. They said they should be caught up by June 29 and assured us that penalties and interest would be erased. But why isn't this information being shared directly online? "There really hasn't been any transparency on the issue, no," Dustin Floyd said. The Floyds said it's now impossible to get through over the phone; they said they were on hole for two hours Tuesday only to hear their calls get disconnected. "I called again this morning. Went through the menu options again and the answer this time was 'We're sorry, due to extremely high call volume on the topic you've requested we cannot take your call at this time. Goodbye,'" Laura Floyd said. A Treasury Inspector General for Tax Inspection report published in May reveals that more than 11,000 IRS workers were fired or accepted deferred resignation through March, comprising about 11% of the staff. About 7,000 of those workers were probationary, some of whom may be back on the job by now. CBS News Chicago reached out for clarification and to ask what's going on with the electronic payment system. After two days of emails and phone calls, the IRS said they are working on answers but probably won't have anything Wednesday.
The Sun
16-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Apple Pay ‘DOWN' as users get ‘account services unavailable' notice when using app and struggle to pay for products
APPLE Pay has been hit with an outage, leaving potentially millions of users locked out of using the payment service. Consumers are being hit with error notices when using the app, left unable to pay for products. 1 Consumers across the US and UK are being plagued with payment issues as the Apple Pay service is temporarily down. On Friday morning, thousands of users have experienced problems when using the convenient payment option, with more and more reporting the service disruption. Issues with Apple Pay in the US first began to surface at roughly 10 am PT on Friday, according to DownDetector, a website that tracks outages in real-time. The number of American Apple customers unable to use the service rapidly ticked up to around 660 within 15 minutes or so. By 11:08 am PT, the outage seemingly peaked with nearly 3,000 Apple Pay users reporting problems. The number of reported complications has since started to tick downwards, dropping to roughly 2,600 active complaints by 11:24 am PT. The majority of US consumers experienced troubles transferring funds via Apple Pay as well as making purchases, according to DownDetector. Roughly 9% of users in America faced problems when using the Apple Pay app. Apple Pay users in the UK have similarly been confronted with issues when attempting to use the payment service. Reports of outages likewise began surfacing on Friday morning, at roughly 9:30 am PT. The outage is less of an issue in the UK than in America thus far, with only around 600 users experiencing Apple Pay complications as of 11:15 am PT. In the UK, however, far more consumers are facing trouble with making payments. According to DownDetector, 92% of UK customers have reported hurdles when making payments while 8% have had issues with the Apple Pay app. Reports of issues with the payment service similarly began to decline around 11:24 am PT in the UK, dropping to roughly 540. The Apple Pay outage was seemingly a global issue, with users around the world experiencing trouble with the tap-to-pay option. .
The Sun
06-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
M&S and Co-op cyber attack update as shoppers hit with empty shelves, payment issues and meal deals chaos
Emily Mee James Flanders Sam Walker Published: Invalid Date, SHOPPERS are still having issues at both M&S and Co-op this week, a they're hit with empty shelves, payment issues and meal deals chaos. Both supermarket giants have been hit by cyber attacks that have left them scrambling to keep stores running. 4 4 4 4 Co-op shoppers have reported they're unable to make card payments in some stores, with the tills having to switch to cash-only, and others are seeing empty shelves at the supermarket. In M&S, some stores have had to suspend their meal deal offers due to a lack of availability of items. One customer wrote on social media: "Cash only at the Co-Op today. That's three in Manchester I've seen with similar signs. One directly opposite the HQ." Another said: "Our local co-op card machine has gone down and nobody can buy anything." A third added: "Just been into The Co Op in Old St and lots of signs saying our system has gone down so Cash Only." A different shopper said they had tried to use a Co-op cash point and received a message saying "pin compromised - unauthorised". The Sun understands the vast majority of Co-op stores are still taking card payments, but around 10% of its 2,300 stores (roughly 230 locations) are unable to use contactless. Shoppers have also said they're seeing empty shelves at Co-op branches. "The Co-op at Ackworth has many empty shelves, especially for fresh products," one customer said. Customers also reported a lack of availability in Pear Tree and Hurst. Shoppers are racing to buy 'nostalgic' homeware from M&S - it's like being 'transported back in time' & looks 'designer' A Co-op spokesperson said: "All our stores are open and trading however, due to the sustained malicious attempts by hackers to access our systems, we have taken proactive steps to keep our systems safe, which is temporarily impacting our colleagues' ability to perform their roles and how many deliveries we can make to our stores. "This means that some of our stores might not have all of their usual products available and we would like to say sorry to our members and customers if this is the case in their local store. We are working around the clock to reduce disruption and resume deliveries. "We would like to thank our colleagues, members, customers, and suppliers for their understanding during this time." Staff at the Co-op in Westminster Park, Chester, said its teams were working "day and night" to try to fix the problems. They wrote on Facebook: "Our availability…. Our gaps in the store have quintupled! We know the store is looking like Covid times but the recovery process is starting to begin. "The most common question we're getting is 'do you have this in the back'…. The reality is the chiller is empty, the freezer is empty & we have a case of Carlsberg & a case of water in the back. That's it!" The store said it is expecting deliveries today but is having to scan every single item in by hand. Customers showed their support on the post, writing: "You're doing amazing and thanks for updating us x." Another said: "Many thanks for keeping us updated. Hope things are back to normal soon." M&S meal deal issues Meanwhile, M&S has been forced to temporarily suspend its meal deal offers in some of its smaller stores in transport hubs. The supermarket usually offers meal deals in its stores inside train stations and petrol stations. But signs posted in stores, including at Victoria Station and London Bridge, said: "Due to availability issues, we are temporarily unable to fulfil this meal deal. Please bear with us while we work through this." The Sun understands the reason for the suspension is because some parts of the meal deal aren't available, such as crisps or drinks, rather than an issue with tills. M&S said: "Customers can still buy meal deals in our rail station stores but there are pockets of availability for some items. "We are working hard to continue getting our products into stores." Which chains have been affected by cyber attacks? M&S was the first to be hit more than two weeks ago when its contactless payments went down and there was disruption to click and collect orders. Things got even worse for the supermarket when it was then forced to suspend all online orders through its app and website. It said at the time this was part of its "proactive management" of the cyber attack and that it was "truly sorry" for the disruption. Shoppers then started experiencing empty shelves and shortages of popular items including bananas, fish and the iconic Colin the Caterpillar cakes. Insiders at M&S have told Sky News they have no idea whether hackers are still inside the M&S system and it could take months for things to get back to normal. Last week it was reported Co-op had also faced a hacking attempt and was forced to shut down part of its IT system. It told staff at the time it had "taken proactive steps to keep our systems safe". However it was later reported that a "significant number" of the supermarket's 6.2million customers and past members had their data stolen. This included personal details such as names, contact information and dates of birth. The retailer said members' passwords, credit card details and transaction information were not leaked. It said "malicious" hacking attempts were still ongoing and it is dealing with a "highly complex" situation. After Co-op, Harrods became the third retailer to report a hacking attempt. Shoppers were warned the company had "restricted internet access" after the attempted breach which left some customers struggling to pay. All of its sites and website appear to be working as usual now. Criminal gang thought to be behind attack The National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre are investigating the situation. Insiders have said an infamous criminal gang known as "Scattered Spider" is to blame for the M&S attack. Scattered Spider is one of the most prolific cyber gangs of the past 18 months. It specialises in ransomware, a type of attack designed to steal information or access in exchange for a sum of money. Timeline of cyber attack Saturday, April 19: Initial reports emerge on social media of problems with contactless payments and click-and-collect services at M&S stores across the UK. Customers experience difficulties collecting online purchases and returning items due to system issues. Monday, April 21: Problems with contactless payments and click-and-collect persist. M&S officially acknowledges the "cyber incident" in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. CEO Stuart Machin apologises for the disruption and confirms "minor, temporary changes" to store operations. M&S notifies the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and engages external cybersecurity experts. Tuesday, April 22: Disruptions continue. M&S takes further systems offline as part of "proactive management". Wednesday, April 23: Despite earlier claims of customer-facing systems returning to normal, M&S continues to adjust operations to maintain security. Contactless payments are initially restored, but other services, including click-and-collect, remain affected. Thursday, April 24: Contactless payments and click-and-collect services are still unavailable. Reports surface suggesting the attackers possibly gained access to data in February. Friday, April 25: M&S suspends all online and app orders in the UK and Ireland for clothing and food, although customers can still browse products. This decision leads to a 5% drop in M&S's share price. Monday, April 28: M&S is still unable to process online orders. Around 200 agency workers at the main distribution centre are told to stay home. Tuesday, April 29: Information suggests that the hacker group Scattered Spider is likely behind the attack. Shoppers spot empty shelves in selected stores.
