Pages in topic:   < [1 2]
Agency refusing to pay....
Thread poster: AnnGallagher
Rebecca Davis
Rebecca Davis  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:37
French to English
+ ...
For what it's worth Mar 21, 2017

You have been more than reasonable in your dealings with the agency, so keep the money.
The agency is your client, not their end-client, and the agency is contractually bound by to pay you for any other work you have done. They will do, as they most likely don't want to lose you.
Unfortunately, "revisions" by non-native speakers occur quite frequently. I used to be quite bothered by them, but now usually just look at the first two or so pages of comments/revisions, point out the howl
... See more
You have been more than reasonable in your dealings with the agency, so keep the money.
The agency is your client, not their end-client, and the agency is contractually bound by to pay you for any other work you have done. They will do, as they most likely don't want to lose you.
Unfortunately, "revisions" by non-native speakers occur quite frequently. I used to be quite bothered by them, but now usually just look at the first two or so pages of comments/revisions, point out the howling grammatical, syntax, or terminology errors, and leave it at that. It has always worked for me, and it will work for you. Agencies may moan, but eventually they get it...
I usually find that adopting a very firm stance in these cases, and spending as little time as possible on them, is the best solution. If the end-client wants to publish an inferior translation in their document or on on their website, then that it absolutely up to them... There is no point in getting involved in arguments about Spanglish or Frenglish, or any-English, as you can't win them, and it uses up valuable time that you could spend elsewhere.
Stick to your guns, and don't waste any more time on this. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.
Collapse


 
AnnGallagher
AnnGallagher
United Kingdom
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
They are not getting paid (supposedly), so neither am I.... Mar 22, 2017

is the crux of their argument for non-payment (or actually refund, as I have already been paid), as well as making me liable for the (supposed) loss of the customer. Whether that is or is not the actual case, they handled it so very badly right from the start, and I think they realise that now.

They have now started to really nit-pick, as I feel they really want to cover their backs: I had decided yesterday in my reply to the agency to offer a goodwill discount, given our long-sta
... See more
is the crux of their argument for non-payment (or actually refund, as I have already been paid), as well as making me liable for the (supposed) loss of the customer. Whether that is or is not the actual case, they handled it so very badly right from the start, and I think they realise that now.

They have now started to really nit-pick, as I feel they really want to cover their backs: I had decided yesterday in my reply to the agency to offer a goodwill discount, given our long-standing relationship, to be deducted in installments from future invoices. I did however make imy lack of obligation to do so very clear to them, especially as my work was accepted by the agency and published by the end client for several weeks, as well as all the other litany of errors on their part. However, they have now sent a report compiled by the agency itself, pointing out 8 errors, from a text of 12,000 words, most of which were of a punctuation nature (lack of space between a dash and the word, lack of full-stop) as well as an American as oppposed to an English spelling of one word. Among these 7 errors was a statement "while this is not wrong, I would say it like this").

As the original file was sent to me in sdlx format and I had to send it back without being able to save it in Word, along with the fact that it was full of tags, I had stated from the very get-go that some words may be stuck together or have double spaces, despite having done a thorough check with the file, due to the tags. In any case, this is all more than sufficiently covered by the discount I have offered the company.

I am now waiting back for a reply, I really thought they were better than this to be honest, they seemed really professional but have just handled the whole situation so badly and it has been honestly quite stressful for me to be dealing with this for the last 2 months.

Thanks so much once again for all your help!

Ann
Collapse


 
Lianne van de Ven
Lianne van de Ven  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:37
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Remember Mar 22, 2017

...that even though you have now made an offer on how to settle, you can retract that and come up with a new proposal or throw the towel in the ring. They are giving you an inappropriately hard time, and given those tags.... THEY definitely should have had a QA review. It may be hard (or not worth it) to put this behind you and trust them again, unless you can really pinpoint the mistakes and come to an agreement.

 
Andrea Halbritter
Andrea Halbritter  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 13:37
French to German
+ ...
Drop them and keep the money Mar 22, 2017

I would not refund the money.

If they do not get paid, it's clearly their problem and not yours.

Drop them and look for other customers even if you make 30 % of your income with them. It'll be exactly the same or something similar with them next time. Their behavior is not professional nor respectful. I would not like to work with customers like that.

[Modifié le 2017-03-22 14:37 GMT]


 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 12:37
Japanese to English
You shouldn't have Mar 22, 2017

AnnGallagher wrote:
I had decided yesterday in my reply to the agency to offer a goodwill discount, given our long-standing relationship, to be deducted in installments from future invoices.

This was a mistake. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. You're completely in the right and you owe them nothing at all. Stand your ground before they walk all over you.


 
Álvaro Espantaleón Moreno
Álvaro Espantaleón Moreno  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 13:37
Member (2015)
English to Spanish
Very strange Mar 22, 2017

How big is that agency? Their behaviour doesn't make any sense. You can't back up a claim like theirs with punctuation errors. That's insane. At the very least you need a fake report pointing out hundreds of mistakes and including many exclamation marks

Also, that Spanish school seems a one-off client who will probably generate its own English content in the future (if any), so all that about losing a client sounds a
... See more
How big is that agency? Their behaviour doesn't make any sense. You can't back up a claim like theirs with punctuation errors. That's insane. At the very least you need a fake report pointing out hundreds of mistakes and including many exclamation marks

Also, that Spanish school seems a one-off client who will probably generate its own English content in the future (if any), so all that about losing a client sounds a bit like rubbish to me.
Collapse


 
AnnGallagher
AnnGallagher
United Kingdom
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Agreed, errors only specified when they announce they are not paying... Mar 23, 2017

When the manager of the agency first told me of the end client's complaint, I immediatedly rang him, as I was very surprised that my translation would be subject to a complaint, as I had thoroughly checked it as I always would, it was an area I was very familiar with etc. However, I suspected that perhaps it was related to the formating of the text, due to the many tags in the document I had to translate, and that perhaps that was the issue. Saying that, I would have been completely willing ... See more
When the manager of the agency first told me of the end client's complaint, I immediatedly rang him, as I was very surprised that my translation would be subject to a complaint, as I had thoroughly checked it as I always would, it was an area I was very familiar with etc. However, I suspected that perhaps it was related to the formating of the text, due to the many tags in the document I had to translate, and that perhaps that was the issue. Saying that, I would have been completely willing to accept any responsiblity for any errors if any were found and for that reason, I acted immediatedly, wanting to find out exactly what the root of the complaint was and to resolve it as quickly as possible.

However, despite all the tooing and frooing over the last 2.5 months, with the issue seemingly resolved and then resurfacing and then resolved again, no errors were ever specified, despite me asking again and again for specific examples of the problems with my work. I was instead told that they (the end client) was not happy the style of my text.

The end client finally sent samples of their preferred text (about 6 weeks ago), which, apart from being very similar to my sentences, also omitted or added information, given that they had that freedom as it is their website and their school. However, it was no longer a true version of the original translation (it also contained some errors). I once again pointed out that they STILL had not specified any errors or problems with my translation. At that stage, the agency's in-house translator looked at my translation and I heard nothing further from them. (I would have thought that the FIRST thing an agency would do if there was an issue with a translation is have their in-house translator look at it, especially as they had omitted to have the translation reviewed prior to delivering it to the end client in the first place).

It is only now, lo and behold, when the agency is telling me that they do not want to pay for the job, that they (the agency, for the first time) have sent a report that they have carried out in-house, in which they identified a handful of errors, most of which are puntuation-related, and reporting that the text could benefit from a review and saying that they do not like it. If I did not know them as well as I do, I would have thought I had been scammed, to be honest...

However, given that they have actually paid me, could they try to take legal action, even though I have very generously agreed to offer a discount? They would have to respond to my proposal and/or contact me directly first, before they took that line of action, would they not?
Collapse


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Simples Mar 23, 2017

They have no case. Keep the money. Move on. Is what I would do. Why would you want to keep on working with people who behave like this? They'll just be more trouble in the future.

 
Andrea Halbritter
Andrea Halbritter  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 13:37
French to German
+ ...
Don't understand that Mar 23, 2017

I really don't understand why you offered a discount.
If you offer a discount although there is no reason for it you give them the signal they can just do what they want...

In my eyes you can not offer a discount first though and now say "sorry, in the meantime I changed my mind, now I don't anymore".


 
Lianne van de Ven
Lianne van de Ven  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:37
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
+ ...
It depends Mar 23, 2017

Andrea Halbritter wrote:

I really don't understand why you offered a discount.
If you offer a discount although there is no reason for it you give them the signal they can just do what they want...

In my eyes you can not offer a discount first though and now say "sorry, in the meantime I changed my mind, now I don't anymore".


It's one thing that I have learned about negotiating: it allows you to change your mind and you have a full right to do so. You might need to come with a new proposal rather than say "sorry I changed my mind" because that is more constructive, but this is legitimate until an agreement or solution has been reached.

But I have to admit that as I am seeing more details, and especially the minimal amount of factual errors that can be pointed out, it's probably a good idea to take a different course and just explain that no more can be negotiated.


 
Nina Esser
Nina Esser
Germany
Local time: 13:37
English to German
Don't give in Mar 24, 2017

I used to work as PM for a British translation agency and had always been told that we were legally entitled to refuse payment on grounds of low quality ONLY after giving the translator the opportunity to review their own work. I think you have written proof that they even told you the matter was resolved? I think offering a discount was already a generous thing to do, and if the agency is not getting paid (I doubt it, to be honest), it's their own fault for not being able to stand their ground ... See more
I used to work as PM for a British translation agency and had always been told that we were legally entitled to refuse payment on grounds of low quality ONLY after giving the translator the opportunity to review their own work. I think you have written proof that they even told you the matter was resolved? I think offering a discount was already a generous thing to do, and if the agency is not getting paid (I doubt it, to be honest), it's their own fault for not being able to stand their ground against unjustified complaints!Collapse


 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2]


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Agency refusing to pay....







Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »
Trados Business Manager Lite
Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio

Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.

More info »