Translators unite! Thread poster: Hans-Henning Judek
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Dear Ulrike,
I agree to everything written in above answers to your problem. Fortunately I have very long standing relationships with my customers and little problems, but in the past, I had a couple of rough experiences.
Usually late payment means that the agency is in trouble. When they go belly-up, you loose everything. So be careful with accepting work from them. I was several times very fortunate and can remember one case, where the agency owed my $... See more Dear Ulrike,
I agree to everything written in above answers to your problem. Fortunately I have very long standing relationships with my customers and little problems, but in the past, I had a couple of rough experiences.
Usually late payment means that the agency is in trouble. When they go belly-up, you loose everything. So be careful with accepting work from them. I was several times very fortunate and can remember one case, where the agency owed my $12,000. They did not pay in time and did not call me to excuse the delay. So I immediately went to their office, talked to the manager, who spoke about a \"momentary cash-flow problem\". I made a payment plan with him and got the promise that they keep up with the installments. They did and except of $400, I did not loose anything when they went bankcrupt a couple of months later. Very lucky! A French translator friend, who did the same translation, lost substantially.
What I feel most important is, building up a personal relationship with the people in charge. Don\'t deal only with e-mail - phone them, talk to them, and if you have the chance, visit the offices personally. It is a lot easier to just call and say \"Hey Fred, what is happening...\"
My customers call me, if they have a cash flow problem, which happens from time to time, because they get their money from the customers after 90 to 180 (!) days, while they pay their translators after 1 to 3 months later (account closing at the end of the month). This can lead to cash flow problems. If they are open with you, there is no reason to worry, if they just stay mute, just don\'t pay - a red alarm should go off...
Build a trustful relationship - that usually prevents a lot of disappointments.
Then we have the \"now and then\" guys, where you never know...a difficult problem anyway.
Now to my Subject line:
Organizations like PROZ could become something like a translator union in relation to the agencies, or at least a forum, where you can publish your problems. If we would have a agency list with a BBS, where translator can vent their anger, agencies would become a lot more careful.
Agencies should be informed about complaints and should have the opportunity to give a counter statement. Then such a system would not create legal problems.
In any case, complaining in such a manner is not very helpful for client relations, so this would probably be a last resort. Still, publishing bad payment patterns is a good weapon.
Ulrike, you are one of the KUDOZ heavyweights in PROZ, maybe you can take the initiative and move something in this direction.
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| | | | Werner George Patels, M.A., C.Tran.(ATIO) (X)
Local time: 09:50
German to English
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Not a bad idea - it was also raised recently on the TCR mailing list.
The only problem I see in setting up a special PROZ forum for warning colleagues of bad agencies is the liability issue arising for Henry. Those messages would be out there for everyone to see, and one or the other agency might take legal action against PROZ, claiming that those messages constitute libel. Running a forum or a list like that is like walking on egg shells (Laura, who is operating her TCR lis... See more Not a bad idea - it was also raised recently on the TCR mailing list.
The only problem I see in setting up a special PROZ forum for warning colleagues of bad agencies is the liability issue arising for Henry. Those messages would be out there for everyone to see, and one or the other agency might take legal action against PROZ, claiming that those messages constitute libel. Running a forum or a list like that is like walking on egg shells (Laura, who is operating her TCR list, would certainly agree with me).
The real problem with agencies is that anyone can just set up an agency without any red tape or regulations to follow (especially now with the Internet). So, you might work for agency ABC for a number of weeks only to find out later (when you open up your mailbox, hoping to find a cheque in there) that ABC no longer exists (\"404 - Page Not Found\").
So, instead of trying to treat the symptoms, we should look for ways to fight the actual cause of that particular \"disease\". ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pressed the wrong button | Oct 4, 2001 |
Sorry, this was supposed to answer Ulrike Lieder\'s questions. Please see the discussion there.
| | | | | Indeed, Proz.com has great potential | Oct 5, 2001 |
It was one of the topics discussed at the first Proz.com convention in Italy. I was not there (after September 11, I decided to cancel my trip) but there was a roundtable on this.
Proz.com has great potential in this regard. We are growing stronger and Henry is constantly improving the site. Clearly, in times of globalization, there is a need to organize on a different basis than national jurisdiction. The national translators associations have been bypassed by agencies and priva... See more It was one of the topics discussed at the first Proz.com convention in Italy. I was not there (after September 11, I decided to cancel my trip) but there was a roundtable on this.
Proz.com has great potential in this regard. We are growing stronger and Henry is constantly improving the site. Clearly, in times of globalization, there is a need to organize on a different basis than national jurisdiction. The national translators associations have been bypassed by agencies and private clients looking for translators wherever they can find a better price.
Let\'s keep discussing this issue. There are no ready-made solutions.
All the best
Paola Ludovici MacQuarrie
moderator EN>IT ▲ Collapse
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Roomy Naqvy 
India
Local time: 19:20
English to Hindi
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| ProZ has potential | Oct 6, 2001 |
Quote:
On 2001-10-05 04:50, ludovici wrote:
It was one of the topics discussed at the first Proz.com convention in Italy. I was not there (after September 11, I decided to cancel my trip) but there was a roundtable on this.
Proz.com has great potential in this regard. We are growing stronger and Henry is constantly improving the site. Clearly, in times of globalization, there is a need to organize on a different basi
... See more Quote:
On 2001-10-05 04:50, ludovici wrote:
It was one of the topics discussed at the first Proz.com convention in Italy. I was not there (after September 11, I decided to cancel my trip) but there was a roundtable on this.
Proz.com has great potential in this regard. We are growing stronger and Henry is constantly improving the site. Clearly, in times of globalization, there is a need to organize on a different basis than national jurisdiction. The national translators associations have been bypassed by agencies and private clients looking for translators wherever they can find a better price.
Let\'s keep discussing this issue. There are no ready-made solutions.
All the best
Paola Ludovici MacQuarrie
moderator EN>IT
Paola\'s right. I was at the First ProZ Convention and we had a good discussion on freelancer teams and also panel and off-panel discussions on rates and dealings with agencies. One of the speakers, who hailed from ATA, had relevant insights on these issues. In off-panel/informal talks, I stressed the need to put one\'s best foot forward and not to just undercut rates.
Roomy F Naqvy
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| | | | irm
Local time: 14:50
English to French
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| Unite !.. yes, but the method | Oct 31, 2001 |
About Unite!
Take a look at:
www.in3activa.net (option REF and XIS)
and also at the translation public licence
(the link appears at botton line)
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