| Vom Thema belegte Seiten: [1 2] > | How to deal with a difficult client Initiator des Themas: Marina Leizerio
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Hello,
I wanted to consult regarding the following. I decided to try collaborating with a new agency. They have pretty high rating in Proz - 4.7, so I decided to give them a chance. They offered me a job of around 1600 words to be completed in Memsource. Right after the job was done they presented additional instructions of adding some spaces within the Memsource file. I had to go over each segment to add those spaces manually. The day after, the PM contacted me again and told me th... See more Hello,
I wanted to consult regarding the following. I decided to try collaborating with a new agency. They have pretty high rating in Proz - 4.7, so I decided to give them a chance. They offered me a job of around 1600 words to be completed in Memsource. Right after the job was done they presented additional instructions of adding some spaces within the Memsource file. I had to go over each segment to add those spaces manually. The day after, the PM contacted me again and told me that the client has provided them a UI term list that should be strictly followed. Again, this was sent to me AFTER the job completion and was not part of the original instruction. I also noticed that this list has a lot of objective translation errors. When I mentioned it to the PM, I was told that it does not matter, it should be followed strictly. All these additional tasks took me more than the actual translation. Not to mention that it distracts me from my other tasks. This has been lasting for the last two days already, and just now I got another email. Now she is telling me that there is some term that appears in the target but not in the source, which is not true and I sent her the screenshot showing where it appears in the source. I feel like there are just making fun of me with this task. It's a pity that I cannot state the agency name here. How would you deal with this? I am afraid that this follow up will never end. ▲ Collapse
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 10:11
Mitglied (2015)
Englisch > Portugiesisch
+ ...
| I would consider if this agency is a good fit. | Oct 29 |
It’s understandable you feel frustrated. I've been there too and it's very unpleasant.
You should tell them that clear instructions shared upfront are important.
Also, you can politely clarify that if they provided additional instructions after the task is completed, revisions/additions may incur extra time/rates. By stating that, next time they can be more careful!
If they repeatedly complicate projects with unclear or no instructions at all, it may not be worth the hassle ... See more It’s understandable you feel frustrated. I've been there too and it's very unpleasant.
You should tell them that clear instructions shared upfront are important.
Also, you can politely clarify that if they provided additional instructions after the task is completed, revisions/additions may incur extra time/rates. By stating that, next time they can be more careful!
If they repeatedly complicate projects with unclear or no instructions at all, it may not be worth the hassle to collaborate with them.
Your approach when showing them the screenshot was correct. You kept the tone cooperative and let them know that a lack of instructions can lead to issues like these, not to mention their lack of professionalism.
On the other hand, that agency should have obtained clear instructions from their end client before assigning you the project.
In your place, I would consider if this agency is a good fit. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Thank you very much for your response | Oct 29 |
expressisverbis wrote:
It’s understandable you feel frustrated. I've been there too and it's very unpleasant.
You should tell them that clear instructions shared upfront are important.
Also, you can politely clarify that if they provided additional instructions after the task is completed, revisions/additions may incur extra time/rates. By stating that, next time they can be more careful!
If they repeatedly complicate projects with unclear or no instructions at all, it may not be worth the hassle to collaborate with them.
Your approach when showing them the screenshot was correct. You kept the tone cooperative and let them know that a lack of instructions can lead to issues like these, not to mention their lack of professionalism.
On the other hand, that agency should have obtained clear instructions from their end client before assigning you the project.
In your place, I would consider if this agency is a good fit.
Thank you for your support. Fortunately we have a community here where we can share our frustration.
I absolutely agree with you. These are exactly my thoughts.
I actually asked about the additional tasks and they claim that it is already included in the translation rate. It is the first time I encounter an aproach like this from an agency. If they would point me to any issues/errors made by me, then of course, no questions asked. But this is not the case here and I feel that they are just taking advantage of me.
I will definitely not accept any new task from them. I hope this one is closed eventually and they pay me for it, though now I am not sure at all.
I wonder, maybe a score of 4.7 is not high enough and I should only consider agencies with a score of 5...
| | | | Rachel Waddington 
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 10:11
Niederländisch > Englisch
+ ...
| Something along the lines of .... | Oct 29 |
"Thanks for your email. I am happy to comply with this additional request. My price for this will be x and I can deliver by y. Please let me know if you would like me to go ahead. Best regards, leimarina"
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| Their arrogance is stunning me | Oct 30 |
Wow, they had the arrogance to send me a handoff for a new task today. I replied that I am not available. Usually, this kind of response says it all. But this is their reply:
"Hi Marina
We can extend deadline to 4th or 5th if you can take it.
Or, is it because you spent too much time on fixing yesterday and you don't want to take our tasks?"
I eventually wrote them that I won't take any more tasks from them.
| | | | | I am stunned by their arrogance | Oct 30 |
They had the arrogance to send me a handoff for a new task today. I replied that I am not available, and usually this kind of response says it all. But this is their reply:
Hi Marina
We can extend deadline to 4th or 5th if you can take it.
Or, is it because you spent too much time on fixing yesterday and you don't want to take our tasks?
I eventually wrote that I won't accept any more tasks from them.
| | | | | Sorry, I duplicated my last response by mistake | Oct 30 |
Sorry for the last double message.
| | | | Jessica Noyes
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 05:11
Mitglied
Spanisch > Englisch
+ ...
I hope you warn the rest of us with a low score on the Blue Board.
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| I'll definitely do this | Oct 31 |
Jessica Noyes wrote:
I hope you warn the rest of us with a low score on the Blue Board.
I'll definitely do this though I usually avoid leaving negative feedback, but I have never encountered a situation like this.
And it's not over yet. Yesterday, they got back to me and asked me to revert everything that I've updated upon their request to my original translation
because the client agreed that the term list contains errors. So I worked on this today, and they are still spamming me with requests like "the client requested to change inches to mm". Ok, I made the update. Then they get back to me with "but you only had to update it in two instances". I would have dropped it but I feel commited. Hopefully this abuse will end eventually.
| | | | Dan Lucas
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 10:11
Mitglied (2014)
Japanisch > Englisch
| They are not solely to blame | Oct 31 |
Marina Leizerio wrote:
I would have dropped it but I feel commited. Hopefully this abuse will end eventually.
It continues because you are agreeing to it. You need to stop, right now.
Of course, if they are in a different country where you cannot use legal means to force them to pay, then you are in a difficult situation, and may not get paid. (And this is a very good reason not to work with clients from certain countries.) Even so you need to stop throwing good money after bad by spending more time on them.
Note also that because they know that you are not going to work with them again, they understand that they can treat you as badly as they like - they don't have to maintain a professional relationship going forward. Just as an example, they could have changed inches to millimetres themselves, but they have judged your character well and clearly decided that there was a good chance you would agree to it, so they asked you. And you did, despite talking about "arrogance".
You cannot succeed in business - any business - unless you stand up yourself when necessary.
This is a lesson.
Regards,
Dan
| | | | | You are 100% right | Oct 31 |
Dan Lucas wrote:
Marina Leizerio wrote:
I would have dropped it but I feel commited. Hopefully this abuse will end eventually.
It continues because you are agreeing to it. You need to stop, right now.
Of course, if they are in a different country where you cannot use legal means to force them to pay, then you are in a difficult situation, and may not get paid. (And this is a very good reason not to work with clients from certain countries.) Even so you need to stop throwing good money after bad by spending more time on them.
Note also that because they know that you are not going to work with them again, they understand that they can treat you as badly as they like - they don't have to maintain a professional relationship going forward. Just as an example, they could have changed inches to millimetres themselves, but they have judged your character well and clearly decided that there was a good chance you would agree to it, so they asked you. And you did, despite talking about "arrogance".
You cannot succeed in business - any business - unless you stand up yourself when necessary.
This is a lesson.
Regards,
Dan
That's true that I cannot always stand up for myself and I am learning the lesson now. I actually told them that those additional tasks should be paid separately and they eventually agreed to add one hour to the task (of course it took me much more time than that). I also asked them twice if the task is complete now. They didn't respond to that.
I absolutely agree with you that it has to stop right now. If I get another email from them, what would you suggest me tell them?
Unfortunately they are located in another faraway country and I am not sure whether they pay me or not eventually. I will find out after 45 days as these are their payment terms.
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I work both with translation agencies and direct clients (almost 50/50) and MY payment terms are 30 days upon date of invoice though over the years I have negotiated different payment arrangements from pre-payment (large projects from a first-time client), prompt payment (two of my customers pay the day after receiving my invoice) to 60 days (the most I accept).
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Rachel Waddington
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 10:11
Niederländisch > Englisch
+ ...
Dan Lucas wrote:
It continues because you are agreeing to it. You need to stop, right now.
...
You cannot succeed in business - any business - unless you stand up yourself when necessary.
This is a lesson.
Regards,
Dan
Dan is right. You need to stop reacting emotionally (anger and frustration with how you are being treated) and start being a bit more clear headed about what you will and will not accept. If a client comes to you with additional tasks that were clearly not part of the original remit it's fine to explain this and offer a price for the extra work. You are not obliged to do endless extra work for free (which I think you know).
I always find that starting small with a client - i.e. accepting small jobs to test the waters and see if you can work together reasonably well before accepting huge amounts of work - helps a lot. This can make it easier to say no to unreasonable demands and make sure you both have similar expectations. Once a good working relationship is established, it's easier to negotiate if differences of opinion crop up.
Standing your ground is not necessarily easy, but it's a skill you need to work on if you are going to be successful and happy as a freelance - or in any kind of work really. Part of this is accepting that you may have to let certain clients go, but it's usually worth explaining your point of view calmly and firmly first to see if you can reach an agreement.
| | | | jyuan_us
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 05:11
Mitglied (2005)
Englisch > Chinesisch
+ ...
Didn't you put a follow-up post saying that they assigned you a new job after the incident but you rejected it? If so, I wonder where that post is now.
| | | | jyuan_us
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 05:11
Mitglied (2005)
Englisch > Chinesisch
+ ...
| Please ignore my last post | Nov 1 |
jyuan_us wrote:
Didn't you put a follow-up post saying that they assigned you a new job after the incident but you rejected it? If so, I wonder where that post is now.
I found your post that I was looking for. What happened was that only three replies showed up after I clicked the title of this thread. Now I can see all of the replies.
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