| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Scam translation companies Thread poster: Johanna Lönnfors
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Hi!
Is there a page/ pages on the internet where I can find scam translation companies?
I´m afraid that I have been properly taken in..
The company I worked for, promised to pay me in 30-40 days from the delivery of the work, but I haven´t seen any payment yet.. (it´s over 60 days now).
Kind regards; Johanna
| | | | airmailrpl 
Brazil
Local time: 16:26
Member (2005)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Check the BlueBoard | Jun 22, 2010 |
You should check the BlueBoard BEFORE you accept the job.
If you are not a paying ProZ member - then you can access a BlueBoard search for a company in exchange for BrowniZ points or pay a fee. Once you access that company on the BlueBoard - you can acess the same company on the BlueBoard forever.
If you are a paying ProZ member you have acess to all of the BlueBoard files.
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this may be a silly question, but have u tried googling the name of the company? Do they have a website? If so, you can find out who registered the website name with a WHOIS search on the net (type "whois" into google).
it may be that if you search for the company on google, you may find links to other forums where other people have experienced issues with the company.
| | | | Johanna Lönnfors
Finland
Local time: 21:26
Finnish to Swedish
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TOPIC STARTER | google and Blueboard | Jun 22, 2010 |
Hi!
Yes, they have a website, I have tried to contact them trough the website, by mail, by phone but they don´t answer.
I have now learnt that I shall check the Blueboard before I accept a job... I checked it now and the company had no entries, feedback.
Johanna
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 19:26
Member (2007)
English
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| Don't give up yet | Jun 22, 2010 |
Are you sure it really is a real scam?
It may be, of course. But it may also be a company facing real cashflow problems.
I have to say that the ProZ BlueBoard is neither a guarantee of a perfect outcome nor an indication of unreliability of a company that does not appear on it. It can only give an indication of previous experiences - and then only a very small subset. Does anyone on ProZ systematically rate every outsourcer they work with? That said, a negative respons... See more Are you sure it really is a real scam?
It may be, of course. But it may also be a company facing real cashflow problems.
I have to say that the ProZ BlueBoard is neither a guarantee of a perfect outcome nor an indication of unreliability of a company that does not appear on it. It can only give an indication of previous experiences - and then only a very small subset. Does anyone on ProZ systematically rate every outsourcer they work with? That said, a negative response on the BB shouldn't be ignored.
Have you tried an old-fashioned paper letter, sent by registered post (or the equivalent) so they can't say "sorry, we never got it"? A final demand sent this way, written in very official (legalese) language and threatening legal action after a fixed period (7-14 days, normally) often works wonders. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Even if there were | Jun 22, 2010 |
How long do you think it takes to set up a small fake company site on the internet (obviously using illegally copied source code to speed up the process)? Answer: minutes rather than hours. Once you've done that, most host companies will have your site up and running in 24hrs.
So the site you're imagining could be updated in real time, but still it's unlikely to be fully up-to-date when you access it.
| | | | | Blue Board ! Important | Jun 23, 2010 |
Johanna Lönnfors wrote:
Hi!
Yes, they have a website, I have tried to contact them trough the website, by mail, by phone but they don´t answer.
I have now learnt that I shall check the Blueboard before I accept a job... I checked it now and the company had no entries, feedback.
Johanna
Its very important to check the blue board first, before accepting any job offer. Do let us know in which country this translation agency is .
| | | | Anne Bohy
France
Local time: 20:26
English to French
| Proz forums wouldn't help | Jun 23, 2010 |
Stuart Robertson wrote:
it may be that if you search for the company on google, you may find links to other forums where other people have experienced issues with the company.
Well... if other forum have rules which allow that. For instance, Proz forbids to mention any company name in its posts... to protect its BlueBoard business, or to protect bad practices?
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Johanna Lönnfors
Finland
Local time: 21:26
Finnish to Swedish
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TOPIC STARTER
The translation company is working in my homecountry Finland...
| | | | | BB + payment practices mailing-lists | Jun 23, 2010 |
Hi Johanna,
Before accepting any job from any client, check the following :
1) ProZ Blue Board (BB)
2) the following lists (where you can ask for details after subscri... See more Hi Johanna,
Before accepting any job from any client, check the following :
1) ProZ Blue Board (BB)
2) the following lists (where you can ask for details after subscribing for free) :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WPPF/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tradpayeur/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TranslationPaymentsWhoWhenWhat/
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/translationagencypayment/
3) It also exists other paying mailing lists.
Now that you are afraid to have been "trapped", the first action is to check the reputation (if any) of your client on the above mentioned mailing-lists. Ask for details about them (don't forget to indicate name, address, website, etc., in other words as much information as possible). If other translators know the client and his/her behaviour, they will tell you.
Then, you'll see if it is only a delay or if it is real swindling, and can decide accordingly.
Good luck
Catherine ▲ Collapse
| | | | Johanna Lönnfors
Finland
Local time: 21:26
Finnish to Swedish
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TOPIC STARTER | BB + payment practices mailing-lists | Jun 23, 2010 |
Thank you all for the good advices!!
Johanna
| | | | Russell Jones
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:26
Italian to English
| Competing sites | Jun 23, 2010 |
Hi Johanna
Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience.
When I first saw your post, I was tempted to remind potential answerers about site rule: http://www.proz.com/siterules/general/3#3 which prohibits the naming of competing sites (the rationale behind this can be found in the FAQs), but I was too busy to do so.
Unfortunately a poster, trying to be helpful, has jus... See more Hi Johanna
Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience.
When I first saw your post, I was tempted to remind potential answerers about site rule: http://www.proz.com/siterules/general/3#3 which prohibits the naming of competing sites (the rationale behind this can be found in the FAQs), but I was too busy to do so.
Unfortunately a poster, trying to be helpful, has just listed a number of these sites but I was unable to make the post public because it infringes the above rule.
Can I invite the poster to contact Johanna privately through her profile, with this information.
Many thanks.
[Edited at 2010-06-23 12:08 GMT]
To avoid any misunderstanding, I should make it clear that I am not referring to Catherine's post above. The sites she mentions are too narrowly focused, I believe, to be regarded as "Competitor Sites".
[Edited at 2010-06-23 21:19 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Johanna Lönnfors
Finland
Local time: 21:26
Finnish to Swedish
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TOPIC STARTER | Competing sites | Jun 23, 2010 |
Yes, you can, many thanks!!
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Russell Jones wrote:
Unfortunately a poster, trying to be helpful, has just listed a number of these sites but I was unable to make the post public because it infringes the above rule.
Too bad, but I would encourage anyone to search for:
Black & White List, The List of Unreliable Translation Agencies, Hall of fame & shame, non payment, etc.
There are a lot of resources out there, but I understand Proz hesitance to link to competing sites.
| | | | | Thank you, Russell :-) | Jun 24, 2010 |
Russell Jones wrote:
...
To avoid any misunderstanding, I should make it clear that I am not referring to Catherine's post above. The sites she mentions are too narrowly focused, I believe, to be regarded as "Competitor Sites".
[Edited at 2010-06-23 21:19 GMT]
Thank you Russell, I feel better You are right, these mailing-lists are really specializing in payment practices reports.
Thanks again
Catherine
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