Troubles with payments
Thread poster: A.Đapo
A.Đapo
A.Đapo  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:12
Member (2007)
English to Serbo-Croat
+ ...
Sep 3, 2015

Hello,
I have worked with this company for two years and last year I had no problems.
This year I did three larger projects and now it was time for the payment.
When the invoice was due I contacted them and they told me that the payment would be sent at the end of the week and then at the end of the week I contacted them again and they told me they made the payment.
Money did not arrive so I contacted them again and after some 10 days they told me that it got back to t
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Hello,
I have worked with this company for two years and last year I had no problems.
This year I did three larger projects and now it was time for the payment.
When the invoice was due I contacted them and they told me that the payment would be sent at the end of the week and then at the end of the week I contacted them again and they told me they made the payment.
Money did not arrive so I contacted them again and after some 10 days they told me that it got back to them.
Then I gave them the details of my personal account. The same thing happened. They have a rather high BB score 4.4 and I could not find any feedback on any other translation group. All the time they avoided issuing me the SWIFT and finaly they sent it after the second payment was returned.
What would you do?
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Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)
Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)  Identity Verified
Thailand
Local time: 19:12
English to Thai
+ ...
Enterprise trends Sep 3, 2015

Amra Đapo (damra) wrote:

Hello,
I have worked with this company for two years and last year I had no problems.
This year I did three larger projects and now it was time for the payment.
When the invoice was due I contacted them and they told me that the payment would be sent at the end of the week and then at the end of the week I contacted them again and they told me they made the payment.
Money did not arrive so I contacted them again and after some 10 days they told me that it got back to them.
Then I gave them the details of my personal account. The same thing happened. They have a rather high BB score 4.4 and I could not find any feedback on any other translation group. All the time they avoided issuing me the SWIFT and finaly they sent it after the second payment was returned.
What would you do?


In my personal experience with agencies of many countries, I must be prepared for sudden change with reason beyond my anticipation. There are hidden agenda at the agencies whom I never met face to face. This make cyber based translation providing service is quite risky regarding payment.
I have outstanding debts of about USD 12,000 with one of the biggest US agencies. Can you suggest me to start legal action for debt collection or not? My stance is quite strong for such debts.

Regards,

Soonthon L.


 
Joakim Braun
Joakim Braun  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 13:12
German to Swedish
+ ...
What I would do Sep 3, 2015

Find out about small-claims procedures in the jurisdiction of the debtor.

 
Darko Pauković
Darko Pauković  Identity Verified
Croatia
Local time: 13:12
Member (2012)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Check with your bank Sep 3, 2015

If they sent you the SWIFT receipt, print it out and go to your bank to check the reason for returning the payment.
I believe the bank should be able to check the reason(s) and confirm that the receipt is not fake.

P.S. I assume you have double-checked your bank details on the SWIFT receipt (correct IBAN, SWIFT code etc.).

[Edited at 2015-09-03 10:13 GMT]


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:12
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Is the client in your own country, Amra? Sep 3, 2015

I imagine previous payments have gone through without any problem, so I wonder if anything has changed. Maybe they've changed their bank? Perhaps your first action should be to go to your bank and ask if anything has changed at their end, or if they know anything about the client's bank. Certainly if you now have evidence of a SWIFT payment, the bank will know whether it's legitimate and ought to be able to follow it up.

It does sound as though they are employing delaying techniques
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I imagine previous payments have gone through without any problem, so I wonder if anything has changed. Maybe they've changed their bank? Perhaps your first action should be to go to your bank and ask if anything has changed at their end, or if they know anything about the client's bank. Certainly if you now have evidence of a SWIFT payment, the bank will know whether it's legitimate and ought to be able to follow it up.

It does sound as though they are employing delaying techniques. This is normally because they have cash-flow problems. If they have far more creditors than they can deal with, and the company is folding, then there's really only one thing you can do: find out who is managing the company's finance (the receiver) and register your claim officially with them. If enough money is found, you'll be paid one day - I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you as I wasn't paid on either of the occasions it happened to me. To see if this is indeed the case, find out how to access the company's register for the country concerned. Most are on-line but you normally have to pay a little if you want more details than name and address. You should be able to get details of any grave financial problems.

If they are experiencing short-term problems then you have to decide whether to allow them more time; demand an immediate part-payment and wait patiently for the rest; or demand payment in full and threaten legal action. Of course, those who make the most noise are those who are less likely to be "overlooked". However, it may be unrealistic to insist on immediate payment if it's quite a large sum. Of course, it may just be that they've changed their policy and think that stalling is the best way to get the best cash-flow position possible. If that's the case - 'won't pay' rather than 'can't pay' - then they deserve loads of bad feedback, immediate debt collectors or bailiffs on their doorstep, and no further collaboration. You may want to withdraw from future collaboration anyway, unless a good explanation is found for the current problem.
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A.Đapo
A.Đapo  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:12
Member (2007)
English to Serbo-Croat
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all Sep 3, 2015

The client is in the US and I am in Bosnia so things are bit complicated.

 
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Troubles with payments







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