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Keiko
Starting Member
17 Posts |
 Posted - 04/15/2009 : 03:32:07
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Hi Babylon76
I am sorry to hear about your experience with the agency. Unfortunately I've had no news from them and just send them reminders every day...
I learned from 'Blueboard' that they have several names such as
Global4trans / Nora Solliman / NORMAD / AS-Egypt / ATLS / Ahmed Sadek / Linda John/ globaltranslati / Yaras with different e-mail address. As they are still on the market, be alert to these names! I've met 2 non paying agencies since last year. It's a pity that there are so many agencies we cannot trust...
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alexberg
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2009 : 04:10:25
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hi keiko, sorry to hear about it.
Almost 2 months later now, did you get the money? I suppose not. And www.global4trans.com is still placing new jobs on this site...
one thing you can do is to let translatorspub know about it because I heard also from fellow translators about these big scammers of global4trans.
If translatorspub keep them on their homepage, this website is not very much reliable.
good luck.
alex |
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Keiko
Starting Member
17 Posts |
Posted - 04/25/2009 : 05:07:16
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Hi Alex,
Thanks for your kind e-mail.
Unfortunately I've had no news yet from the agency.
As I've found many other translators with the same experience, I'm contacting the local Egyptian embassy for help. I hope it would work somehow.
I wonder if TranslatorPub could kindly send them my message at least...!?
Dear translators, be alert to them as they are still on the market !
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alexberg
Starting Member
4 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 04:48:04
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good luck keiko.
One big question about these 'agencies':
do their clients know about this? Probably not. Probably global4t works on another proper name for their clients.
Think about a way to find out who are the clients, they probably would be very angry if they here about this.
P.S. to translatorspub:
please remove the fake agency global4trans from your website!!! if you want to be a proper translators website!! They are still on the first page of the agency list.. and don't pay the translators.
Thank you.
Edited: Please do not diffame any members. |
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Stanislav_Pokorny
New Member
71 Posts |
Posted - 04/27/2009 : 05:18:32
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quote:
[i]Originally posted by alexberg[/i]
[br]
good luck keiko.
One big question about these 'agencies':
do their clients know about this? Probably not. Probably global4t works on another proper name for their clients.
Think about a way to find out who are the clients, they probably would be very angry if they here about this.
P.S. to translatorspub:
please remove the fake agency global4trans from your website!!! if you want to be a proper translators website!! They are still on the first page of the agency list.. and don't pay the translators.
Thank you.
Seconded, seconded, seconded...
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Keiko
Starting Member
17 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2009 : 04:02:47
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Hello all,
Does anyone have the correct contact details of the agency "Global for translations" (Global4trans.com) in Egypt?? If so, please kindly e-mail me by clicking on my name. Many thanks in advance.
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Stanislav_Pokorny
New Member
71 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2009 : 06:54:09
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Hi Keiko, I'm afraid their website is currently down. I suggest that you ask at the respective authorities in Egypt (such as the Chamber of Commerce or the Commercial Register). Perhaps they will know a little more.
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Keiko
Starting Member
17 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2009 : 10:45:08
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Thanks very much, Stanislav.
Thanks to alexberg also :-)
Yes, their website has gone. I asked already the local Egyptian embassy and some other authorities for help. Dear MH123, could you please tell me if you e-mailed them about me ?? Appreciate if you could kindly let me know about it.
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PramodSrivastava
Starting Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2009 : 13:12:58
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Ladies & Gentlemen,
I am also fairly new to translation. My first two pieces of work also haven't brought me any happiness or money. The first piece of work was delivered to an individual in Qatar. One Mr. James Christopher, who is apparently a Partner in a Top 4 consulting company. Over a period of the past 6 weeks he has failed to pay me Euro 80 for a small piece of work. When I took exception the first time, he even got on his high horse and told me that he was a very busy person and how dare I suspect his intentions etc. His last response to me was on the 29th of April wherein he mentioned that he will pay but since then he has not been able to find 5 minutes on the Internet to make a Paypal payment.
The second agency in Berlin AAA Eilübersetzungen has not responded either to the invoice presentation, nor to my reminder so far. I hope they do not default on payments.
A third agency, will pay but their stated policy is that they take 60 days to pay.
What I don't understand here is that when the work is required, they email and call and do everything. Have us put in late nights and weekends. And when it comes to payment time, they use us to finance their working capital. This is unfair.
I think as a community we must start insisting upon 50% payment upfront and the remaining 50% on delivery. This way only serious businessmen will come up for work.
What is missing in our business is some body that will guarantee payments and also the quality of services. This is what eBAYs of the world do.
One more trick that some of the people/agencies giving work deploy is to ask for sample translations. They usually do not publish the sample text but send everyone half a page or one page separately´. And if 50 of us respond, then their 50 page document gets done for free. Of course someone needs to stitch it all up and do quality control but their work gets done at 10 % of the effort.
TAKE CARE ALL OF YOU ... Pramod
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Keiko
Starting Member
17 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 10:00:01
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Hello Pramod,
I am sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience and totally understand how you feel. "Global 4 translations" hasn't replied to any of my e-mails (and to e-mails of many other victim translators...). I have 2 other agencies which are very late in their payment, one in Engen, Germany and the other Bangalore, India and hope their payment will be settled soon.
Today, when I receive job request, I always ask to first-time agencies/persons for the prepayment which is 50% of the total amount if I'm not sure about their credibility(Blueboard/Proz & Black & White list/GoTranslators are very usuful to get such information). Let's say, half of them stop contacting me if I ask so and then I understand they are possibly "fake...". I become even overly suspicious about the translation agency, this is unfortunate but I think I have to be.
For sample test, in my opinion it would be better to ask for paid sample anyway and many agencies do pay. I rarely accept free sample these days. I also discovered that several agencies requested me to do sample test for the reason that a huge project is coming soon or a long term partnership wil be ensured and so on, but in reality they just asked me to do their existing translation job. This is tricky and dishonest.
Well I am glad to exchange/share any kind of information about translation industry here with you as I find it sometimes very usuful.
Thank you, Pramod and I hope you will get paid soon...
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Stanislav_Pokorny
New Member
71 Posts |
Posted - 05/30/2009 : 13:44:48
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Hi Pramod,
just like Keiko, I am sorry for your bad experience you've had so far. And I can't but second Keiko's post.
Before you even quote for a job, you should check at least the following:
1) www.proz.com > Blueboard
2) www.translatorscafe.com > Hall of Fame and Shame
3) www.gotranslators.com > Black & White List
There are numerous other sites, all including some system for rating translation agencies, especially their payment practices.
I have urged several times that the Pub also implements a similar system; no success so far. That's why I don't even consider full membership here. |
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PramodSrivastava
Starting Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 10:12:04
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Hi Keiko,
Thank you very much for sharing your experiences as well. I come from an honest world and the initial experiences have been eye openers for me. I have also started asking for 50% payment up front and the rest on delivery. Many of the agencies do not come back. Actually not all of them are bad. They just have similar payment terms with the end customer. These are however individuals/agencies who take on large jobs at good rates and are offering parcels of such jobs at definitely lower rates, making some money in the process. I don't mind their making money, but then when they are running this as a 'business', they should be 'financing' the business (working capital requirements) and they should be undertaking the risk. This is a fair representation and a fair demand. They also need to run with the risk that a job will not be done well (varying skill level of different people) and that they will need someone to do a quality control and stitch the entire document together - some overheads.
As for me, I would rather not take up a job and waste my time, than take up a job, invest one's precious time, and then ultimately not get paid for it.
Regards,
Pramod
quote:
[i]Originally posted by Keiko[/i]
[br]Hello Pramod,
I am sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience and totally understand how you feel. "Global 4 translations" hasn't replied to any of my e-mails (and to e-mails of many other victim translators...). I have 2 other agencies which are very late in their payment, one in Engen, Germany and the other Bangalore, India and hope their payment will be settled soon.
Today, when I receive job request, I always ask to first-time agencies/persons for the prepayment which is 50% of the total amount if I'm not sure about their credibility(Blueboard/Proz & Black & White list/GoTranslators are very usuful to get such information). Let's say, half of them stop contacting me if I ask so and then I understand they are possibly "fake...". I become even overly suspicious about the translation agency, this is unfortunate but I think I have to be.
For sample test, in my opinion it would be better to ask for paid sample anyway and many agencies do pay. I rarely accept free sample these days. I also discovered that several agencies requested me to do sample test for the reason that a huge project is coming soon or a long term partnership wil be ensured and so on, but in reality they just asked me to do their existing translation job. This is tricky and dishonest.
Well I am glad to exchange/share any kind of information about translation industry here with you as I find it sometimes very usuful.
Thank you, Pramod and I hope you will get paid soon...
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PramodSrivastava
Starting Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 10:14:38
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Hi Stanislav,
Is it possible to post our bad experiences on those sites? Sorry to sound discriminatory but I have stopped accepting requests from Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa and China. I do just local German because being based here, at least I have some legal remedies. So, unless the company winds up and goes off, I can catch them.
All above precautions apart ... indeed a sorry state of affairs.
Regards, Pramod
quote:
[i]Originally posted by Stanislav_Pokorny[/i]
[br]Hi Pramod,
just like Keiko, I am sorry for your bad experience you've had so far. And I can't but second Keiko's post.
Before you even quote for a job, you should check at least the following:
1) www.proz.com > Blueboard
2) www.translatorscafe.com > Hall of Fame and Shame
3) www.gotranslators.com > Black & White List
There are numerous other sites, all including some system for rating translation agencies, especially their payment practices.
I have urged several times that the Pub also implements a similar system; no success so far. That's why I don't even consider full membership here.
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Stanislav_Pokorny
New Member
71 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2009 : 15:40:31
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Hi Pramod,
not taking business from any part of the world is your sole and exclusive privilege. For my part, I can confirm that I have never run into any payment difficulties with Czech agencies. So don't worry about them. 
I usually employ the following policy: If I can't get to the client's office at one third the price of the job and if this is the first or the second job I am doing for them, I don't accept it. In other words, I won't accept a € 200 job from a client, say, in India or in the States. A € 3,000 job is, however, worth considering, provided such an agency has a positive feedback on the sites I mentioned.
As for German agencies, you will find quite a number of notoriously known non-payers among them.
And yes, you can contribute to the ratings at those sites. |
Edited by - Stanislav_Pokorny on 06/01/2009 15:41:30 |
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PramodSrivastava
Starting Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2009 : 07:19:38
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Hi Stanislav,
I agree with you on the German companies as well. There is one in Berlin that is not responding (AAA Eilübresetzungen) and another one that has a 60 days payment term - don't know yet if they will pay but they were pretty prompt and efficient with the Purchase Order and such stuff.
This whole busines is actually full of payment risk. At eBAY they take care of such risks - payment risk as well as delivery of goods risk. But there they are dealing with well defined goods. In our business the goods (and the associated quality) can never be judged independently.
quote:
[i]Originally posted by Stanislav_Pokorny[/i]
[br]Hi Pramod,
not taking business from any part of the world is your sole and exclusive privilege. For my part, I can confirm that I have never run into any payment difficulties with Czech agencies. So don't worry about them.
I usually employ the following policy: If I can't get to the client's office at one third the price of the job and if this is the first or the second job I am doing for them, I don't accept it. In other words, I won't accept a € 200 job from a client, say, in India or in the States. A € 3,000 job is, however, worth considering, provided such an agency has a positive feedback on the sites I mentioned.
As for German agencies, you will find quite a number of notoriously known non-payers among them.
And yes, you can contribute to the ratings at those sites.
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Payment morale
