[Satellite News 07-11-08] In the early 1980s, Fred Sampliner, president of his family-owned and operated collection agency, Sampliner Worldwide Collections, saw the satellite industry as a wide-open market.
    “It was one of the most advanced industries in the world,” said Sampliner. “From a financial end, these companies were still learning the parameters of how to deal with receivables and delinquent accounts. It was an educational experience for both our clients and our own company.”
    As the industry grew, Sampliner saw his company develop into a boutique agency tailored to the emerging high-tech world of communications. These industries now accounts for 30 percent of Sampliner’s profits and takes up a majority of the company’s time and attention, and for good reason.
“Generally, the number of collection cases has gone down, but the size of these case, in terms of dollar value, has increased exponentially,” said Sampliner. “In the satellite and VSAT industry, specifically, the values are increasing and we’re getting more and more cases. It’s not uncommon for us to get a claim over $500,000 every three to four weeks. A small case could range around $25,000 and go well into the millions. I’ve had claims as high as $30 million.”
    Sampliner noted that the size of these claims presents a challenge to his company. There is also very little motivation for those in debt to pay large breach of contract damages because there are so many other competitors with similar footprints. “They [the debtors] just as easily move over to another competitor,” said Sampliner who noted that clients bring in a collection agency before a contract is terminated to avoid a lengthy termination process. “It’s like an insurance policy. If you want to see money right away, you have to be prepared.”
    If simply collecting a debt was not difficult enough, it is even more problematic when collecting from companies in emerging markets and third world countries. “60 percent if not more of what we collect is from overseas,” said Sampiner. “The sizes of these cases are much, much larger. There’s a lot of activity in Africa. We don’t just collect against companies there, we collect against governments and quasi-agencies.”
In many parts of the world, where satellite communications are ideal and growing — like Africa and the Middle East — litigation is not an easy option to go with. “These are places where the legal systems are not fully developed and you have economic infrastructures that are not user-friendly to go in and satisfy a judgment. That is, if you get one,” said Sampliner. “Very often, if my clients are suing these countries, they’re identified as the foreigner. They’re not the local company and that makes it even more challenging to prevail. Even if they do win, then they have the challenges of trying to collect.”
    So how do collection agencies like Sampliner achieve the impossible in these hostile, and sometimes, dangerous situations? Sampliner says the process is very delicate and diplomatic. “The key to collecting against a government is to weave your way through the bureaucracies to find the right decisionmaker, and if you hit a dead end, bring in the embassy through trade complaints,” said Sampliner. “Every country has its own culture and unique protocol, and you have to adapt to the culture of these government bureaucracies.”
    The good side of the situations, according to Sampliner, is that governments have deep pockets. His clients may find little value in paper judgments against small, emerging companies, but governments with the resources to pay often are worth the time, energy and services of Sampliner. “This is a difficult business and I admit, I learned that the hard way,” he said. “I had a client in Europe and I called an ambassador who was helping us out in the Middle East by his last name. Big protocol mistake. But these are the things you have to know.”