| صفحات الموضوع: < [1 2] | Poll: Would you work for a client with a poor Blue Board rating? ناشر الموضوع: ProZ.com Staff
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conejo 
الولايات المتحدة
Local time: 03:58
ياباني إلى أنجليزي
+ ...
| Bad BB rating=hassle or no payment | Mar 9, 2022 |
I'm willing to consider companies that have a rating above a certain threshold. But ultimately, if you read the details, companies that have many "1" ratings have a lot of issues. If various people are saying they never got paid or didn't get paid for 5 months... it is simply not worth that kind of hassle or problems. We are all in this to get paid... it is not a charity and there is no point in doing this unless we get paid in a timely manner. Companies that treat their translators like crap or... See more I'm willing to consider companies that have a rating above a certain threshold. But ultimately, if you read the details, companies that have many "1" ratings have a lot of issues. If various people are saying they never got paid or didn't get paid for 5 months... it is simply not worth that kind of hassle or problems. We are all in this to get paid... it is not a charity and there is no point in doing this unless we get paid in a timely manner. Companies that treat their translators like crap or otherwise have very bad business practices do not deserve to have anyone work for them. Period.
You also have to consider that companies with no BB rating at all could be very good or very bad. Small projects are the way to go in this case. I've been burned on companies that don't have a BB rating before, not getting paid for many months, so caution is required in this case as well.
We have to do what we can to protect ourselves.
[Edited at 2022-03-09 04:09 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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The BB rating is an average. Who made what comments may be more relevant.
The payment terms I offer may reflect how reliable I feel they are, based on the Blue Board and other sources.
The idea is to always get paid in full, while having as many customers as possible, interesting work, a high hourly income, a few weeks off per year, pleasant communication, a family in good health, straightforward attitude, reasonable work requirements, free weekends, positive feedback, a relia... See more The BB rating is an average. Who made what comments may be more relevant.
The payment terms I offer may reflect how reliable I feel they are, based on the Blue Board and other sources.
The idea is to always get paid in full, while having as many customers as possible, interesting work, a high hourly income, a few weeks off per year, pleasant communication, a family in good health, straightforward attitude, reasonable work requirements, free weekends, positive feedback, a reliable internet connection and no war.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
| | | | Edward Potter
أسبانيا
Local time: 10:58
عضو (2003)
إسباني إلى أنجليزي
+ ...
I've done it a few times. I ask for payment up front. I've never had a problem under these conditions.
| | | | Kevin Fulton
الولايات المتحدة
Local time: 04:58
ألماني إلى أنجليزي
| Most of my customers don't have a BB rating | Mar 9, 2022 |
conejo wrote:
You also have to consider that companies with no BB rating at all could be very good or very bad. [Edited at 2022-03-09 04:09 GMT]
Only one of my regular customers has a BB rating (a good one). One of my non-rated customers specifically asked me not to provide a rating because they didn't want to be deluged with applications from potentially unqualified translators. They preferred finding translators on their own, based on referrals by their established translators. Another had never heard of Proz since they generally found translators through trade journals or referrals.
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Baran Keki wrote:
I had an interesting experience last week. I was contacted by a British agency for a small job through Proz last week. Naturally I checked out their BB rating, and saw that they had only one rating, which was "1" (in the red), given by a certain Finnish lady who resides or resided in NZ. So seeing that, and as I was kind of busy at the time, I didn't bother to reply to their email.
Last night I saw that very same agency appear on the BB page and clicking on their name I saw that that same Finnish lady improved her rating from 1 to 4! No longer in the red! How the f... is that even possible? She cost me a potential client. But really, can you change your rating after a few days or weeks? I mean, what kind of luck is that?
This can happen as the agency will offer to pay earlier or on the spot if you change your rating.
I had the same when the agency offered to pay me if I change the rating. Honestly this is the only time I did it and I pay extra care these days to the comments of other translators as to why they place a certain rating.
| | | | Chié_JP
اليابان
Local time: 17:58
عضو (2013)
أنجليزي إلى ياباني
+ ...
| bad rating is true and honest, but good rating often lie | Mar 10, 2022 |
Good rating often lie but bad rating is true and honest. Even if an agency is all 5-star there is some "working underground" going on and it is not rare to have negative experience with them or sudden non payment, while negative rating is almost always true. I agree to the opinion that agency without BB rating (or without even having ProZ profile ) are the best ones. The tricky part is when an agency is acquired by other agency, change BB record but their practice stay the same. when agencies ar... See more Good rating often lie but bad rating is true and honest. Even if an agency is all 5-star there is some "working underground" going on and it is not rare to have negative experience with them or sudden non payment, while negative rating is almost always true. I agree to the opinion that agency without BB rating (or without even having ProZ profile ) are the best ones. The tricky part is when an agency is acquired by other agency, change BB record but their practice stay the same. when agencies are from disputed area expecially the negative point counts.
I think ProZ should apply insurance policy against non payment because too many get away with it.
[2022-03-10 09:40 GMTに編集されました] ▲ Collapse
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I think it would depend on the type of comments made by the translators and when they wrote them, as a client's situation can change. In any case, as some of my colleagues say, I would definitely ask for up-front payment to start collaborating with this new client.
| | | | Paul Lambert
السويد
Local time: 10:58
عضو (2006)
سويدي إلى أنجليزي
+ ...
| Limited liability, perhaps. | Mar 12, 2022 |
Philippe Etienne wrote:
The BB rating is an average. Who made what comments may be more relevant.
The payment terms I offer may reflect how reliable I feel they are, based on the Blue Board and other sources.
The idea is to always get paid in full, while having as many customers as possible, interesting work, a high hourly income, a few weeks off per year, pleasant communication, a family in good health, straightforward attitude, reasonable work requirements, free weekends, positive feedback, a reliable internet connection and no war.
Philippe
As harsh as I am against clients with low BB scores, I can hardly hold them responsible for the reliability of internet connections or for war.
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Chié_JP
اليابان
Local time: 17:58
عضو (2013)
أنجليزي إلى ياباني
+ ...
| Reflect racial discrimination Stale old stories. | Mar 13, 2022 |
It is not very rare to see people from specific countries (usually from the West) rate agencies very high, and report great experience,
while people from other countries and regions (from Arab, African Asian countries or similar origin) report negative experience for the same agencies.
(This is often happening in ***agencies from Arab, African countries or Chinese or India*** with a lot of BB record, but as well as some of those in the West).
In a nutshell they ... See more It is not very rare to see people from specific countries (usually from the West) rate agencies very high, and report great experience,
while people from other countries and regions (from Arab, African Asian countries or similar origin) report negative experience for the same agencies.
(This is often happening in ***agencies from Arab, African countries or Chinese or India*** with a lot of BB record, but as well as some of those in the West).
In a nutshell they highly respect linguists from the West, former suzerains or the controlling countries, but do not treat their own people or origin from dependent state (sometimes same as theirs) right.
The linguistic jobs are supposed to be the same all over the globe, so in my opinion, this means existance of racial discrimination among several of ProZ agencies. Stale old stories. If you are located in the West you have less worries than when you are located in other regions in the world.
I always think that ProZ should take some action when too many people from specific regions from the world are reporting unhappy experience relative to those from the West about the same agency.
[2022-03-13 01:01 GMTに編集されました] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Chris Marquardt
الولايات المتحدة
Local time: 01:58
إسباني إلى أنجليزي
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| One low rating may be worth a second chance(?) | Mar 14, 2022 |
When an agency has just one one-star rating (and no others) from ten years of doing business, you have to wonder, where are the other ratings (if they were truly bad, wouldn't more people say so?) and what was the other side of the story (the agency's side)? Having one one-star review might be hard for an agency to recover from. Working with them is a risk, but it might be a risk worth taking. (Based on a true story, of an agency I just worked for. Fingers crossed. Should know this week if they ... See more When an agency has just one one-star rating (and no others) from ten years of doing business, you have to wonder, where are the other ratings (if they were truly bad, wouldn't more people say so?) and what was the other side of the story (the agency's side)? Having one one-star review might be hard for an agency to recover from. Working with them is a risk, but it might be a risk worth taking. (Based on a true story, of an agency I just worked for. Fingers crossed. Should know this week if they get a better rating now.) ▲ Collapse
| | | | Baran Keki
تركيا
Local time: 11:58
عضو
أنجليزي إلى تركي
| That's what I've been suspecting for many years | Mar 14, 2022 |
Chie. I wrote:
It is not very rare to see people from specific countries (usually from the West) rate agencies very high, and report great experience,
while people from other countries and regions (from Arab, African Asian countries or similar origin) report negative experience for the same agencies.
(This is often happening in ***agencies from Arab, African countries or Chinese or India*** with a lot of BB record, but as well as some of those in the West).
In a nutshell they highly respect linguists from the West, former suzerains or the controlling countries, but do not treat their own people or origin from dependent state (sometimes same as theirs) right.
The linguistic jobs are supposed to be the same all over the globe, so in my opinion, this means existance of racial discrimination among several of ProZ agencies. Stale old stories. If you are located in the West you have less worries than when you are located in other regions in the world.
I always think that ProZ should take some action when too many people from specific regions from the world are reporting unhappy experience relative to those from the West about the same agency.
[2022-03-13 01:01 GMTに編集されました]
I couldn't agree more with this post. I've never worked with Asian or Middle Eastern agencies (because of their low rates), but I've always been skeptical of the glowing BB ratings given to those agencies by white European translators (especially those living in Scandinavia and West Europe).
I know for a fact (as a colleague once mentioned this information which he gained first hand through a Middle Eastern agency's inadvertent mistake) that they grossly discriminate rates based on countries/language pairs. Well, this might sound a bit daft of course, as a language like Dutch or Finnish is obviously more 'valuable' than Turkish or Georgian considering the quality and volume of work intended for the clientele, but the difference in between them, in terms of rates, shouldn't be gigantic like one being 0.12 EUR per word and another 0.03 EUR per word.
Indian agencies won't pay me any more than 0.04 EUR per word, but it's inconceivable that they would offer such rates to a translator living in Finland (and for the Finnish translator to wax lyrical about them on BB, saying 'good rates', 'steady work' etc.) There is an obvious double standard at play here.
I think you're right in suggesting "so in my opinion, this means existance of racial discrimination among several of ProZ agencies", but I believe it's more to do with subliminal 'inferiority complex' on the part of those agencies than with actual 'racial discrimination'.
| | | | Paul Lambert
السويد
Local time: 10:58
عضو (2006)
سويدي إلى أنجليزي
+ ...
| Discrimination or experience? | Mar 14, 2022 |
Chie. I wrote:
It is not very rare to see people from specific countries (usually from the West) rate agencies very high, and report great experience,
while people from other countries and regions (from Arab, African Asian countries or similar origin) report negative experience for the same agencies.
(This is often happening in ***agencies from Arab, African countries or Chinese or India*** with a lot of BB record, but as well as some of those in the West).
In a nutshell they highly respect linguists from the West, former suzerains or the controlling countries, but do not treat their own people or origin from dependent state (sometimes same as theirs) right.
The linguistic jobs are supposed to be the same all over the globe, so in my opinion, this means existance of racial discrimination among several of ProZ agencies. Stale old stories. If you are located in the West you have less worries than when you are located in other regions in the world.
I always think that ProZ should take some action when too many people from specific regions from the world are reporting unhappy experience relative to those from the West about the same agency.
[2022-03-13 01:01 GMTに編集されました]
As a community, we rely on each other to be brutally honest about our experiences with given clients. After all, our livelihoods depend on it. I would not want to see ProZ take action (whatever you mean by that) if you think the like-to-dislike ratios are off. Simple consider each comment and score for what they are worth.
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Metin Demirel
تركيا
Local time: 11:58
عضو (2018)
إيطالي إلى تركي
+ ...
Baran Keki wrote:
I know for a fact (as a colleague once mentioned this information which he gained first hand through a Middle Eastern agency's inadvertent mistake) that they grossly discriminate rates based on countries/language pairs.
Hi Baran,
If you're referring to my mentioning of such an incident, it was in fact a South American agency, not Middle Eastern
As for discrimination, I believe other factors are at play here. If the Turkish translators fail to charge enough, why should the agencies across the world take it upon themselves to correct a global mistake? Agencies receive rates from the translators, and they base their own idea of a reasonable rate for the service providers.
| | | | Baran Keki
تركيا
Local time: 11:58
عضو
أنجليزي إلى تركي
| Apologies then | Mar 14, 2022 |
Metin Demirel wrote: If you're referring to my mentioning of such an incident, it was in fact a South American agency, not Middle Eastern
Yes it was you, but the topic that was being discussed at the time was about a large job advertised by an Egyptian agency, if the memory serves me right.
You're correct about the rates demanded by some of the Turkish translators, but I still remain skeptical about the agencies from those parts of the world. Nobody can convince me that 0.05 EUR per word (which is the absolute 'best' they can offer me) is a 'decent' rate in Sweden, Germany or France, where the good reviews for some of those Indian agencies seem to come from.
| | | | Metin Demirel
تركيا
Local time: 11:58
عضو (2018)
إيطالي إلى تركي
+ ...
Baran Keki wrote:
Yes it was you, but the topic that was being discussed at the time was about a large job advertised by an Egyptian agency, if the memory serves me right.
You're correct about the rates demanded by some of the Turkish translators, but I still remain skeptical about the agencies from those parts of the world. Nobody can convince me that 0.05 EUR per word (which is the absolute 'best' they can offer me) is a 'decent' rate in Sweden, Germany or France, where the good reviews for some of those Indian agencies seem to come from.
You are right. We were talking about an Egyptian agency, but the one I had mentioned was one from South America.
As for pricing, I believe we are the ones to blame. Had the Swedish translators offered 0.03 EUR per word, the agencies would take it as a fair price. Why should they buy from us if someone else agrees to work for lower?
| | | | | صفحات الموضوع: < [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 » Poll: Would you work for a client with a poor Blue Board rating? | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
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