Client citing quality issues to withhold payment Thread poster: Katell Deletre
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I am having a problem with a client complaining about the quality of my translations and refusing to pay me for my work.
At the beginning of the year, i was contacted by an agency based in the Netherlands, after i passed their translation test, they offered me a huge volume of words to translate, split between different translators, the rates were low but i appreciated their efficient and user-friendly interface with integrated software.
They contacted me again in mid-J... See more I am having a problem with a client complaining about the quality of my translations and refusing to pay me for my work.
At the beginning of the year, i was contacted by an agency based in the Netherlands, after i passed their translation test, they offered me a huge volume of words to translate, split between different translators, the rates were low but i appreciated their efficient and user-friendly interface with integrated software.
They contacted me again in mid-July with several batches to translate for an important sum of money. I took on 36 batches and at the deadline on 28.07, their website was down for 48 hours, then they contacted me citing quality issues based on 7 screenshots showing minor changes made to my translations by their proofreader. They said they had to reallocate the batches to another translator (actually their proofreader) and therefore withheld the payment and could no longer pay me.
I find these practices very questionable and dishonest. Judging arbitrarily and suppressing more than 30 tasks son the dashboard showing the task overview while their website was « down » without letting me a possibility to comment is not an acceptable practice.
After a search over Internet, i noticed that at least one translator in 2020 had been victim of the same trick, complaints about so-called quality issues to avoid paying the freelance translator.
I would like to know if some other freelance translators had the same unfortunate experience as me and how to react. ▲ Collapse
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I sympathize with your problem and wish you the best of luck. If I were in your shoes I would ask an independent proofreader to have a look at your translations and armed with that information I would contact a lawyer as soon as possible. If I may say so in the future please never accept a job without first researching fully and comprehensively the potential client. Besides the Proz Blue Board and the TC Hall of Fame & Shame there are a lot of other sites to check: Unacceptable Translation Rate... See more I sympathize with your problem and wish you the best of luck. If I were in your shoes I would ask an independent proofreader to have a look at your translations and armed with that information I would contact a lawyer as soon as possible. If I may say so in the future please never accept a job without first researching fully and comprehensively the potential client. Besides the Proz Blue Board and the TC Hall of Fame & Shame there are a lot of other sites to check: Unacceptable Translation Rates Naming and Shaming Group (on LinkedIn), Payment Practices, Translator Scammers Directory, Translation Ethics, Translation Agencies Good, Bad and Cheap (also on LinkedIn). Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | What does your contract say? | Jul 31, 2021 |
That looks like an ugly situation.
Your contact (agreement) with your client should have a clause about quality issues describing the procedure of resolving them. The normal procedure is that when quality problems arise, the translator is obligated (gets the chance) to correct the errors (for no extra compensation, of course). Sometimes there is clause about excessive amount of errors, and sometimes it says that the client can hire an editor and deduct those extra expenses from the transla... See more That looks like an ugly situation.
Your contact (agreement) with your client should have a clause about quality issues describing the procedure of resolving them. The normal procedure is that when quality problems arise, the translator is obligated (gets the chance) to correct the errors (for no extra compensation, of course). Sometimes there is clause about excessive amount of errors, and sometimes it says that the client can hire an editor and deduct those extra expenses from the translator's pay. Sometimes these contracts are written in a way that the client has practically full, unilateral authority to withhold the entire payment, without objective justification.
People sometimes sign contracts without reading them carefully, or at all.
Check your contract.
Don't have one?
That's a problem. Don't make that mistake again. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | @ Teresa and Katalin | Jul 31, 2021 |
Thanks for your replies, my case is indeed the proof that you are never too cautious with a new client, i had checked their Proz profile and they had a 4.8 rating.
Since the 1st work experience on 2 different projets had been positive i thought i could trust them, my mistake!
The contract states that: "3. In the event of any complaints of Client regarding the translation of
Work done by Translator, xxx may recover any payment already
made to Translator regarding s... See more Thanks for your replies, my case is indeed the proof that you are never too cautious with a new client, i had checked their Proz profile and they had a 4.8 rating.
Since the 1st work experience on 2 different projets had been positive i thought i could trust them, my mistake!
The contract states that: "3. In the event of any complaints of Client regarding the translation of
Work done by Translator, xxx may recover any payment already
made to Translator regarding such Work, inter alia by setting off such
payments to any future payments to be made to Translator."
I could understand that they would retain money following the proofreader's comments, even though i dont agree with some of them, but the problem is that their website and portal were down for 48h, then my active translation tasks had mysteriously "vanished" to the exception of 2, so i could no longer have access to any of my translations and could not even defend the quality of my work, since they contacted me with only 7 small screenshots and a pdf file citing minor quality issues, and based on that, declared they had to reset my translations to another translator (actually the proofreader) and withhold the totality of the earnings for all the batches i could no longer access.
This seems like a rather questionable and dishonest behavior, apparently these people consider freelance translators like slaves who work without being paid.
Beware and always be watchful! ▲ Collapse
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| Don't sign contracts like that | Aug 2, 2021 |
First of all, it is the agency's responsibility to conduct quality assurance on work passed onto their client.
This is why they charge on top of your fees, because they should have expenses related to those QA tasks.
Your client is the agency, the end client is their client, not yours, you have nothing to do with them.
The agency supposed to check your files, and if they accept the work and send it to the client, the rest is their responsibility.
If they messed up with th... See more First of all, it is the agency's responsibility to conduct quality assurance on work passed onto their client.
This is why they charge on top of your fees, because they should have expenses related to those QA tasks.
Your client is the agency, the end client is their client, not yours, you have nothing to do with them.
The agency supposed to check your files, and if they accept the work and send it to the client, the rest is their responsibility.
If they messed up with the QA step, they have to bear the consequences, financially and reputation-wise towards the end client.
If they are simply passing files back and forth between the translator and the end client (which seems to be the case here), than it is not a translation agency, it is a translation broker, and best to avoid.
Never sign a contract that has such vague language and never allow for clawback clauses (pulling back monies already paid for work already accepted).
Try to work for agencies that have internal quality control procedures. This is one of the first things I try to find out when considering working with an agency.
[Edited at 2021-08-02 03:34 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Inga Petkelyte 
Portugal
Local time: 18:57
Lithuanian to Portuguese
+ ...
| "their website was down for 48 hours" | Aug 2, 2021 |
(This is one of the resons I don't work with any third-person platforms7interfaces/etc.)
What does your contract say about these issues?
Did you report it?
| | | | | @ Katalin and Inga | Aug 2, 2021 |
@ Exactly, a translation broker, they are clearly not professionals, even in their way to handle the translated texts.
@ I reported their website failure, no replies to my email. I also posted on their Facebook page to report the event, no replies either. I nevertheless have a screenshot showing i had 36 active tasks on hold waiting for client review, which are now reduced to only 2.
I am considering to contact a lawyer.
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