| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | what to do with a non - paying agency Thread poster: Mohammad ALnajjar
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| i won't delete my BB entry | Aug 7, 2018 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
Glad you got a result, Mohammad!
Whatever happens now, I hope you won't delete your BB entry or change it to a 5. It would be useful to update the comment to a "paid in the end" one, but they still don't deserve any better than a 2 rating. I'm mentioning that because I know a lot of freelancers are persuaded by agency clients to change their BB entry to a total lie in return for payment. That does a tremendous disservice to the rest of us.
thank you and other freelancers for your help, no i will keep my BB entry and won't change it but i will just update it(i have get paid) as you mentioned.
[Edited at 2018-08-07 11:01 GMT]
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I hope you are paid today. Note that the payment may be made today, but that it may take a couple of days for it to be credited to your account.
Do not alter the rating. The agency has taken months to pay you. That is certainly worth a bad BB rating. As Sheila points out, if the payment is made today and you finally receive it within the next few days, do not change the BB rating, but add a comment to say that you were finally paid X months late and following threats of legal actio... See more I hope you are paid today. Note that the payment may be made today, but that it may take a couple of days for it to be credited to your account.
Do not alter the rating. The agency has taken months to pay you. That is certainly worth a bad BB rating. As Sheila points out, if the payment is made today and you finally receive it within the next few days, do not change the BB rating, but add a comment to say that you were finally paid X months late and following threats of legal action.
I don't like the sound of this agency at all. They are saying that they can ay you now as they have received monies they were expecting. A number of agencies use this as an excuse, regularly, whether or not they have financial problems. Your agreement is with the agency. The agency is your client. The agency has to respect the agreement to pay you on time. If their client pays late, that's their problem, not yours. However, if an agency is in difficulty financially, they will wait for money to come in for a job until they pay the translator. It is more often an indication of financial difficulty than bad practice and in either case, once you are paid, leave. Do not work with them again. ▲ Collapse
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne wrote:
I hope you are paid today. Note that the payment may be made today, but that it may take a couple of days for it to be credited to your account.
Do not alter the rating. The agency has taken months to pay you. That is certainly worth a bad BB rating. As Sheila points out, if the payment is made today and you finally receive it within the next few days, do not change the BB rating, but add a comment to say that you were finally paid X months late and following threats of legal action.
I don't like the sound of this agency at all. They are saying that they can ay you now as they have received monies they were expecting. A number of agencies use this as an excuse, regularly, whether or not they have financial problems. Your agreement is with the agency. The agency is your client. The agency has to respect the agreement to pay you on time. If their client pays late, that's their problem, not yours.
However, if an agency is in difficulty financially, they will wait for money to come in for a job until they pay the translator. It is more often an indication of financial difficulty than bad practice and in either case, once you are paid, leave. Do not work with them again.
have not we been submitting our projects on the strict deadline even though we as individuals are more exposed to emergency obstructions??
surely i will leave and not work again,they have kept my concerned for weeks.
[Edited at 2018-08-07 15:11 GMT]
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Dear Mohammad,
Could you please tell what the name of this agency in Washington?
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:36
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| This usually works | Apr 14, 2020 |
Mohammad ALnajjar wrote:
....debt collection agency in parallel with making a blue board entry ....
I usually find that the mere threat of going to a debt collector, plus a negative BB entry, does persuade recalcitrant agencies that it is in their own interests to pay up.
I usually like to provide non-payers with a detailed description of exactly what happens when I put a debt collector on the case: an escalating sequence of events that culminates with large men entering the premises and taking away computers, furniture, etc.
As it happens, there is one particular agency in Rome that owes me money and isn't responding to emails (and The Virus is no excuse, because other Italian clients have been paying me regularly) so I'm looking hard at that agency right now...hmmm
| | | | Yolande Hivart
Austria
Local time: 06:36
Member (2016)
German to French
| Debt collectors are overrated | Apr 14, 2020 |
I had quite mixed experiences with debt collection.
Most of the time it works with threats of proceedings (and blacklisting for ratings). But for debts under a few hundred euros some of the clients find non existing reasons not to pay and take a stance like "If you want to prove me wrong, go on sue me". This is the point where debt collectors pull off. They are ready to work for you for a fee if they can claim with a few letters and phone calls but if it comes to full litigation, they warn... See more I had quite mixed experiences with debt collection.
Most of the time it works with threats of proceedings (and blacklisting for ratings). But for debts under a few hundred euros some of the clients find non existing reasons not to pay and take a stance like "If you want to prove me wrong, go on sue me". This is the point where debt collectors pull off. They are ready to work for you for a fee if they can claim with a few letters and phone calls but if it comes to full litigation, they warn you that the cost of litigation is higher than the debt. I too had a case of a national client who moved to the USA between the time of invoicing and the time of claiming. The debt collector simply told me that since he refused then they do not have mutual agreements to go over the pond for my case I'd should give up or take it into my own hands.
Thus better checking it first than worrying afterwards. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:36
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Yolande Hivart wrote:
.....if it comes to full litigation, they warn you that the cost of litigation is higher than the debt..
That has never stopped me. Games of brinkmanship are all part of the plan. Anyway at a certain point I'm more interested in obtaining justice than I am in obtaining payment of what might be a relatively small amount of money. It's the principle that matters.
| | | | Tea Komšić 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 06:36
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Bear in mind | Apr 14, 2020 |
Bear in mind that they paid you only after these "threats" (sorry to call it this way, it is in a positive way, because everything you did is 'legit', and I would have done in the same way). That agency (and similar ones) cannot be trusted. They paid you this time and the question is, will they pay you or any other freelancer the next time.
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Tom in London wrote: Yolande Hivart wrote:
.....if it comes to full litigation, they warn you that the cost of litigation is higher than the debt.. That has never stopped me. Games of brinkmanship are all part of the plan. Anyway at a certain point I'm more interested in obtaining justice than I am in obtaining payment of what might be a relatively small amount of money. It's the principle that matters.
There you go again, with the brilliant words, Tom, thank you for that.
I do agree wholeheartedly that if all of us would take the time and teach the non-paying twerps a valuable lesson in honesty, fairness, professionalism, and morals we would soon make the freelancing world a better place for everyone.
I don't know if you still remember but my first post here was about an agency that has subjected me to some outrageous business practices and tried to stiff me for half of what we agreed on, to begin with. I threatened the full wrath of God crusade against them and the project coordinator apologised on behalf of the project manager, admitted to her mistake and corrected the PO the PM tried to slip past me in a link I wasn't even made aware of.
This agency, apparently (constantly changes their payment methods and currently), pays 45 days from the end of the month, so the invoice is due tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day, and they were supposed to, in their own words, pay anywhere from the 1st of till the 15th of April. Last night they've been banned from posting jobs on proz.com. I don't think they're going to pay. They owe me 1500 euros, it's not a whole lot of money but it's my money. I've earned it fair and square and it's really depressing that I will now have to wrestle with these cretins in the mud they do business in, just like you said, as a matter of principle.
All I wanted this year was to get married, in London, and eventually, after a long honeymoon we planned, work for my husband. So he can literally be the boss of me, haha, and because it makes the most sense. Here I am in rural Bosnia with two ill parents who, I am told, will not survive if they contract the virus that will only properly be dealt with after 70 per cent of the population will have caught it, trying to break into the freelance translating world at the tender age of 41.
I've tested for two different jobs, for an American and a Chinese outsourcer, and "failed". The first time I assumed the American vendor was simply a very unprofessional person playing games to lower my rates, but the problem in my language pair is much sadder and more ridiculous than that. The Chinese agency "corrected" my top-notch translation with an xbench machine translation done by an algorithm taught to translate by a monkey. I wish I was exaggerating. The tenses were incorrect. They've sent me this "for my reference".
I am having a very bad morning. Tom, thank you for the brilliant words and these last two replies of yours. I very much enjoy all your tominlondony utterances. Oh, dear, oh dear, I know, I know, horrible sounding, but "freelance" is a verb, and an adjective, after it was first a noun that started off as two words (an adjective and a noun), this has been happening since Chaucer.
The only truly positive thing about this exercise in futility is proz.com with this lovely forum and all the quirky and wonderful people on here. You are more helpful to a newbie freelance than you can possibly imagine, all of you. Thank you.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:36
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| thanks but.... | Apr 14, 2020 |
Thank you Korana - but is there some particular reason why you want to get married in London?
| | | | | My fiancé's based in London | Apr 14, 2020 |
Tom in London wrote:
Thank you Korana - but is there some particular reason why you want to get married in London?
We weren't planning a London wedding but an elopement wedding and then travelling the world...Well, so much for travelling the world. I know people are dying and I sound horrible, Tom, but that's because I am. Ah, never mind my moaning, Tom, I just am not a nice person, apparently. Wait, what is wrong with a London wedding?
[Edited at 2020-04-14 19:40 GMT]
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