Blacklist T




T.M. Solutions  

Simi Agarwal 
Bullshit all star entries in ProZ blueboard, have been exploiting translators for 2 cents a word since 2004, tenacious bottom-feeders

"Mr. Agarwal from T.M.Solutions - LanguagesTranslation Bureau just posted this job on Proz: "400 pages of Pump Manual English to Russian" with a deadline on August 31,2013. 
I sent a short email asking a representative sample or entire project file to estimate total cost/time. In response I got a lengthy "test" file that I was supposed to complete "as soon as possible in next few hours." (yeah, right) and indicating that "payment will be USD 2000." to which I replied again asking clarification if $2,000 for the budget for entire project – and yes, that is actually right! 2 grands for 400 pages of technically intensive content. That is anywhere from 100,000 to 140,000 words (based on 300-350 words/page + illustrations), or $0.014...$0.02/word rate. How cool is that? 
Refraining from usage of most of the powerful words that are coming to my mind now to a short conclusion: this is the last time I ever respond to any translation jobs originating from India! I will not waste another second of my time on this BS! I advise that you all avoid this and similar "offers" from them."
"How did this company manage to get 77 all "5" ratings on Blue Board??? I wish proz implemented a private translator-only comments section under each of the jobs posted, so translators could share their thoughts right away, and that feature alone would result in 99% of translator drawing away from such companies, which would hopefully lead to better trends in the industry for us fellow translators. I'm afraid Proz just doesn't give a flying puck as long as we pay them our membership fees on time, whereas outsources don't have to pay a damn thing to post these outrageous offers."  
Agreed 100 percent!!! One year after this comment, FFS STILL has 77 not-suspicious-at-all 5 stars. And Proz is still a not-suspicious-at-all portal. 



Taika translations, Texas, USA 

Another bottom feeder with no clue about translation, to boycott

30/10/14
Yet another unsolicited offer via ProZ email that made me frown (they tend to come in waves on Fridays). This one is from a US-based company, whose tagline is "Smile to the new opportunities"
"TaikaTranslations is seeking a translator to translate documents
in the Hungarian- English- Hungarian language pair. Our budget is
.04-.05 USD. We understand market pricing for all translation pairs,
and if your rate is not within this window,
please defer from contacting us."
(Done!)
Linked in thread





Talks Hub, Romania 

Disrespectful selection methods

Email 10/12/2013
"Last September I applied to Talks Hub as a freelance translator. I completed four test for different specializations (Marketing and hospitality, Software and IT; Websites and Technical). On October 29th I received the generic response you'll find attached.
As you can see, it is not clear if WE have not been selected because we failed our tests or because of our rates but, just in case, they advice us about grammar, spelling, fluency, etc. However, if our skills or general responsiveness time (???) improve significantly, they will be glad to take us into account.
This is clearly an unethical business practice so I will appreciate if you include them in the blacklist.
Best regards,
Fabiana G"
"Dear translators,

First of all, I thank you for taking your time to register in our database of potential translators.
For those of you who have also found time to respond to our call for translators and delivered the translation test, I thank you for your time and effort to complete the test, and patience awaiting for response.
Although you have not been selected to our first phase of contracting, please note that we would like to keep in our database for future assignments, based on your availability, and contact will be made individually, when case.
It is possible that your fees are currently too high for our payment policy, or your test may have been currently rejected based on one or more of the next criteria, for which we recommend further improvement:
* grammar and spelling errors
* text is not fluent in the native language
* mistranslated terms
* erroneous understanding of our translation instructions
We will be glad to reconsider applications from you in the future, should your skills or general responsiveness time will significantly improve.

Thank you for your time, and best wishes in your future professional activities and personal development,
Kind regards,
Luminita Ratiu"



TDR Translation & Language Service LTD  

CROOKS : Fake tests, NON PAYER, crap rates, can't write properly, but great Blue board rating. Hem...

Email 9/05/14:
"Hi there, 
I love reading your blog and its a big help to me. I am a newcomer, I was working as an in-house translator for the recent years.
Anyway, I might request to ad TRD Translation & Language Service LTD, to your blacklist. 
As the company had a really, really good rating on the proz.com bluebord (what I clearly don´t understand after learning their rates), I applied for a project with them. They answered my email within minutes and asked me to do a proofreading test (without any information about their company, rates, payment terms and methods). The test was a full CV which made me suspicious - it looked like it was google translated and more like a regular assignment.  

I got back to them and told them that I can not do the test without information on their prices ect. as I am not sure, if I would collaborate with them (and do the test) if their prices are too low.

This was their answer:
"New translator work with our company start with 0.02, it’s negotiable after we get positive feedback from clients."

No professional translator EN-DE living in Europe could work for this rates (even if they would double it). It is even a insult to people who study translation and keep up to date with the latest technologies and programs. I think this company is a good candidate for your low rates section. 
Best regards, Carolin"

Email 22/05/14:
"Hello,
I’m contacting you since I’d like you to add an agency to the blacklist (however, I’d like to remain anonymous).
The agency is TRD Translation and Language Service LTD. They offered me 0.01$ per word and when I told them that it was an extremely low rate, the contact person tried to play the victim telling me that he had a lot on his plate and asking me not to let him down. At that moment I really needed the money so I accepted (my bad), but then it got even more unprofessionnal : I never had the total word count, he just kept sending me documents one after the other in a way that it was impossible for me to organise myself. I collaborated with them in december and after several emails telling them that I needed the money, I was paid 60$ in january (total was of 200$). I kept harassing them with emails and in february they replied telling me that they had been « on holiday » (is there only ONE person to run the company or did they all go on holiday at the same time ?) and that they wanted me to start working on another project immediatly (I quote). Obviously I told them that I wouldn’t continue to work with them since they still hadn’t paid me what they owed me from the first time. In the end I was paid, but the lack of seriousness of it all startled me.
I also want to thank you for keeping up with this list, it’s of great help !"



Team Translation, San Marino, Italy 

Bad business and professional practices (harassing), low paying

25/11/2013: "Just read this very interesting documentation and thought I might be able to contribute - I do not work in the domain any more but I had several assignments for this Team Translations (first based in Perugia, then in San Marino) and it was not a particularly pleasant experience: in all honesty, I did get paid with not too much hassle but they are very unprofessional (for example, one of the files I sent them had to be zipped as it was huge and I had to specifically ask them to check whether the file opened properly or not - otherwise they would have send it to the client as-is, i.e. just forwarded my mail) and the rates are low. Also, the first time they contacted me they were outright rude when I told I was not interested in a badly-paid and rush assignment, to then call me for a half an hour trying to convince me to take the job after all. Last but not least, I naturally gave them the list of my fees right from the beginning but each and every time, they tried to lower the price nevertheless.
If needed, I should still have some mails left I exchanged with them but they are on another machine I do not have always access to. Very best and keep up the excellent work!   A.K
 

Tecco (teccotranslations.co)

Charles Azzopardi / FRAUD! 

"Scammer working under the name of Stephan Jones, see very slick website under teccotranslations.com. (Alias’)This person is also known as Charles Azzopardi/John Brown/Stephen Jones/Adam Matthews/Mathieu Blanc/ Crystal Sample/ John Sutton" 
http://www.jrdias.com/images/scammer-cazz.jpg http://www.proz.com/translator/1105991http://www.proz.com/profile/1046143
Paypal and Moneybookers: charlesu92@gmx.com, cazz1234finance@gmail.com / www.proz.com/blueboard/34805, AZZ-Translations Language Services / www.azztranslations.com/ www.proz.com/blueboard/38729, Tecco Translations / www.proz.com/blueboard/38864 , Another report on LinkedIn  Warning: scammer still happily posting on proz


TEK Translation International SA, 

or TEKTRANS based in Madrid, Spain (Crooks) 

Email, oct 2013: 
"I've just received the link to your blog throug LinkedIn. I'd like to give you one more name to add to your list - but I don't want my name to appear nowhere, thank you. The translation agency is TEK Translation International SA based in Madrid, Spain. The still owe my a bit less than 1800 Euros from 2012 (spring). If you check on proz you'll find there a very long list of negative feedback, too."


Email 29/10/14:
"We worked with TEKTRANS for more than 3 years, and suddenly in 2009 they stopped paying. All that you can imagine: calls, ignored emails, ignored payment dates, new setting of payment schedule, ignored again, etc. We lost 10.000 Euros to these thieves. We were forced to sign a contract so that we could recover at least part of what they owed us, on the grounds of never revealing this. It is a contract to be honored no more. A conversation I maintained back then with a colleague of mine made me learn it was common practice: Tek owed them 60k euros. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS!!!"


Telematic Solutions, India 

Crap rates, forced feedback

Report on Translator's café: "This peanuts-paying Indian agency was also on TC Top 20 list with their 40 positive feedbacks but we found out that almost all those feedbacks were given to them under pressure and as a result we have deleted those 40 positive feedbacks and deprived this agency of their job posting rights at TranslatorsCafé.com."


TermWiki

TermWiki~ criminally low rates



Tetras SRO, Slovakia, also based in Germany 

Greedy, low rates

This shameless agency expects the translator to provide a proofread translation for a few cents per word... getting the proofreading sorted and free of charge. What THE HELL DO THEY DO? (appart from pocketting the money earned by someone else?)


Textcase.nl 

Low rates + late payers
 Email 11/06/14: "Textcase paid me after 6 months". M.B


Textmaster.com 

Low rates
Report : Textmaster - too ridiculous for words! Other reports : TextMaster



Textservice AB/CEAB/Mattias Bergström, Sweden 

Non-payer

Email 11/06/2014:
"Mattias has a non-payment to me of over 500€. The debt is based on a rate of 0.05€ per source word. He has tried various tactics to avoid the payment. No longer responding to emails since approximately 1 year.
He has successfully managed to accumulate positive ratings on ProZ (for payments under 50 euro, I checked with the reviewers.) He also has managed to remove the negative ratings there (e.g.. mine for over 500 euro.) - This is for those who don't realize that the BlueBoard serves only one purpose: To advertise the (worthless) site membership.
He also uses a fake address and phone number, which go to a paid 'office service' in Stockholm. He lives and operates in Helsingborg, which is where his companies are registered.
He has run a number of translation agencies into bankruptcy since the late 90s/early 2000s from what I can tell. His business model is apparently still largely based on non-payment.

To be regarded as a criminal.

ALSO:

textcase.nl  paid me after 6 months!

Much more to follow as I go through my project history right nown! Many thanks for your excellent site!
Best regards/
M.B


Tilti systems SIA, Latvia 

Bottom feeder, insulting rates

03/10/14: "I got an enquiry from Tilti Systems SIA this morning asking for my rates which I replied to, and then got an e-mail back offering the rate of €0,004/source word for proofreading from Swedish to English (nowhere near the rate I quoted!). To put this in perspective, if I was to proofread 2000 words/hour, which is about my average speed if the translation is good (which they are unlikely to be if this agency pays such low prices!), I would get €8, not even minimum wage!
Just wanted to let everyone know so no one wastes their time replying to requests for rates and further info from this company!" 
LinkedIn


The Transcription Agency, Hythe, UK 

Unprofessional, hiding, no contact details

15/11/2013: "I would also like to add The Transcription Agency based in Hythe, Kent U.K. as unprofessional opportunists who are hiding behind anonymity, prey on misunderstandings and become incommunicado when you pin them down. Another unprofessional agency is Alpha Translation Services.com based in Melbourne, Florida. I've noticed they changed their website since I had dealings with them and they do not provide contact details. Congratulations on your efforts."


TLS Bureau 

Ridiculous company and rates
Discussion on LinkedIn: "I've just had a look at their website, and they highlight their cheap rates as a major unique selling point. Straight from their home page: 0 - 10 k: £0.06 p/w; 10 - 20 k: £0.05 p/w; 20 - 40 k: £0.04 p/w. Needless to say I haven't bothered registering with them, but thought you might like to know!"
"Also taken straight from their website:
<<Every individual or company is indifferent>> 
No more comment needed!  
 

TLS Translation Company - tlsbureau.com‎

"We Are leaders From € 0.038 p/word Get to know us!"




TLT GmbH (Non-payer)

"With all of them we have had massive problems with payments. Big translations, but no money and a lot of excuses... Google listing n 1 ads"


Trad'ilp, France (non payer)

Email 4/12/14
Please add to your list the follow agency from France and the name of the owner: Gulperi Akdag.

Miss Gulperi Akdag proposes fair prices for translation but she doesn't pay. Please view also: http://www.proz.com/blueboard/12831
I send you copies (in .jpg) of all the emails that I sent or received from Trad'ilp since September 29 (so 2 months). Excuse me but they are almost in French. After the sixth email I never got any more answer to my questions.
Best regards
Paulo R


TRADSPOT, Spain (Non-payers)

Translator's email (oct. 2013):
"Hello, compliments for your initiative: SOOO NECESSARY!
My unlucky/turned-lucky experience was with TRADSPOT (Madrid, Spain) Good fee, kind. Compliments after the translation. But the payment did not arrive. Several emails, and again and again excuses. Till I warned I would make it public in a List of Shame, and the payment was immediate.
Some weeks later a read a complaint in that LoS from another Translator for the same issue.
I wonder if Black List should be the same as Warning List, but here is my experience."
Translator's email (12/12/13):

"Thank you so much for your initiative, it is so necessary.
I would like to tell you about Tradspot, which is an agency that is already included in your list. In the case reported by the translator in your case they finally paid, but not in my case. I revised a couple of translations for them about a year ago, and some months after the date when they should have made the payment I sent them an e-mail asking about it. Just excuses and more excuses, so my e-mails went from politeness to telling them that I would report this case in lists of shame. This is the part that is different from the translator who told her story on your list: I never got a payment, just more excuses.
You can see some of the e-mails we have exchanged below (I have more, but I think this is enough)." (Available in Spanish upon request)
Best regards,
Auria R.



Traduix, Belgium

Non-payers, liars, threatening bullies, bully into getting positive entries) TO AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Email 04/01/14
"Hi and thanks for this very useful list!
Today I decided to add my experience with Traduix, based in Belgium.
I did just a few translations for them this year, 2 invoices not more, but when it was time to receive the payment (which I had to ask as it was not arriving) they told me there was a problem with my swift/bic number, which btw was regularly indicated on the invoice, and I never had problems with any other customer before.   
In November they told me the payment resulted to be done (but still no money on my bank account!), and they asked me availability for a new translation. This time I refused it and kept asking for the payment, which never arrived.
This could really be just my problem, but I was curious to know if somebody else experienced problems with this agency!


Email 14/04/14:
"He was supposed to pay on December 23rd, 2013. End of December he could not pay because the bookkeeping people were on holidays…. In January 2014, he could not pay either because there were construction works going on in his office. All of these were unforeseen events, of course. There were lots of mails to and fro: I was a shame for the profession, I should be stopped of working in this profession, does money make me happy? (!!), and should I ever dare publish something about this, he would see to it that I did not ever work in this profession again. Interesting to see, that suddenly at this period several translators put good notes into his blueboard … because they were asked to …."


TRADUXPRESS 

Non-payer/Scammer
 
Translator's report: "I want to add a translation agency in Argentina called TRADUXPRESS. this woman is called Marita Sanchez, or Maria Concepcion or M. Schmidt. She didn't finish payment, never sent invoices or answered calls or e-mails. Her address is a fake."


Translate 24, Germany 

Very unprofessional

Email 27/07/14:
Company : translate-24, Kuhnweg 55, D-64291 Darmstadt  in Germany, Mr. Rodenberger
Not only did the guy change my translation adding mistakes in my text, but he as well told me that he would pay me if the client accepted the translation and if he paid.
Which means, he put a risk on my shoulders that I do not have to bear. I am not responsible for a text he tampered with.
And anyway, if his client pays or not, is not my problem. My client is the agency.
I told him very clearly the consequences of his not paying me, and he paid, finally."


Translate Plus Limited 

Dishonest methods, greedy leeches
 
Professional on LinkedIn"I was contacted by Translate Plus last year who asked me for a discount of more than 50% of my usual rate. Bigword is infamous for asking their translators to lower their rates. Would not work for either of them. " 
Comment 27/07/14: 
"Translate plus have been mentioned here as trying to push prices down.
Their latest trick is:
You do not lower the prices, they accept. Next, they do their proofing on the uncleaned files and when they send you their 'final' check it is another set of bilingual files. They ignore your warnings as to these are not the clean files.
In the end they will send you a letter that due to quality issues the will reduce the invoice by 20% and thus get the rate they asked you to reduce to up front. And if you try to answer this last letter, the person having written it is on her annual leave. Last but not least during a project the project managers may rotate several time in my case there were three."



Translated.net, Rome 

Boycott: low rates, unprofessional bidding practices, fake office in the US +hire unqualified contractors, use machine translation)  New: CV and profile use without permission (theft)

Translator's report : "I have just a fair amount of time filling out an on-line form for a company based in Rome by the name of "Translated". When I got to the final page, it asked about rates per language combination. The maximum possible in the drop-down list was 0,09 € per word, so I filled that in, but it came up with a warning. This is verbatim:"
"Accept a lower rate: we can offer you more work
Suggested rate: Euro 0.035 "
"They must be taking the #### but unfortunately I realise they are not! I was quite hopeful after I saw that they didn't advertise on the basis of "competitive prices" or anything similar on their homepage, and they had good reviews from ProZ on their site, but this takes the biscuit!"
Their website advert:
"Translated provides professional translation services in over 1,600 language combinations and has been intelligently putting 24,652 customers in contact with over 65,116 translators throughout the world for over 10 years."
I really hope they are lying here: where do they get 65116 translators, who would accept such rates: wait they are probably mistaking the term "translators" for "cheap slaves".
Another report: "This agency, apart from stretching the boundaries of acceptable pay, issue revision jobs for translations completed to an eye-poppingly poor standard.
They appear to employ non-qualified translators to stutter through the most difficult of material (example: contracts) before expecting professionals to revise the material at lightening speed. This is a very time-consuming and laborious process for it requires the reviser to re-write vast swathes of text, far more than what should be expected.
Be warned: avoid this agency at all costs. They are highly unprofessional and exploitative, and need to be flushed out of the system!
 "And I note something phoney about the address. There is an office building at 285 Hamilton in Palo Alto (which could be just a mail drop, for all I know), but there is no such address as 288 Hamilton across the street. That entire block is occupied by Palo Alto City Hall (although their mailing address is 250 Hamilton)."
Could this possibly be another case of virtual office??

Email 15/12/14: Customer review
"Dear Blacklist Team,
How lucky I feel to have found my way to your website -- even if it may be a bit too late. Live and learn. I am writing to you with feedback on my experience with
Translated.net, who quoted me the price of EUR 155.29 (USD 193.85) for their so-called "Professional" plan and rushed translation of English to German, 1,281 words. This was my first ever attempt to obtain translation via the internet. As per your request, I attach a number of supporting documents.
Based on my experience I would not recommend
Translated.net to anyone. In my view their service is disgraceful, abominable. As I write now, on Dec. 15, my translation that was due on Dec. 13 is still listed in their tracking system as "in progress" --- days beyond the due date, and thus useless for my professional purpose. Worst of all: My inquiries to the so-called "project manager" have thus far received no reply. My subsequent inquiries via "contacts" on their website have received only automated replies to the effect of, "we will contact you." This goes for my interim inquiries as well as for my cancellation of the project late on Dec. 14. It remains to seen whether they accept the cancellation and agree to annul my (unpaid) invoice.
My initial search for reviews of
Translated.net produced results to effect of:
- no registered scam results (
http://translation.servicesreview.net/translated-net-review/); and,
- "We've only heard positive things about their service" (
http://translation.servicesreview.net/translated-net-review/).
Not until later -- when I came upon your website (and found
Translated.net named there) -- did I come to appreciate the ethics of the translating profession and potential abuses with respect to qualifications, pricing, etc. 
From the customer side, I would add my extreme discomfort with the fact a rather sensitive document is now floating somewhere out there on the internet, with no sense of containment whatsoever.
As your website lists "313 Companies I Wouldn't Work For," might you have any way to advise people like myself about how to find trustworthy translation services?
With gratitude for your initiative."

Email 06/02/2015:

I want to thank you for your black list. Scrolling through it, I recognized a few black sheep. Recently, when I was searching the Web for my name and last name, I noticed that I appeared in some sort of directory set up by translated.net. I don't recall ever giving them my permission. What made me furious was a big typo in the English version. I don't know where they got that text from.

I sent them an e-mail asking to remove my entry. But I haven't heard anything from them and I don't expect to. I haven't worked for them in years as their rates are simply ridiculous. What annoys me the most is their use of people who once signed up on their website as references to show the world that they have thousands and thousands of translators.

Feel free to add my comment to your list and thank you for your useful work!

Best regards,

Laurent Sfumat


Translation agency s.a.s, Italy (non payer)

Email 8/12/14:
"This agency owes me money for an invoice dating July 2014. They do not even bother replying to emails regarding the matter:

Translation Agency s.a.s
Via Garzaga, 8
46040 Ceresara (MN) ITALY
Tel (0376) 74281
Fax (0376) 748179
e-mail: traduttori@translationagency.it
web: www.translationagency.it

 

Translation Deals (joke?)

25/02/15: 
> Dear respected,
> Translation Deals Ltd. is pleased to provide you with the best
> translation and localization solutions. Our services are committed and
> a deadline-based solutions. Just try ours' that you will not give up.
> Attached our company profile, where you can find everything you may
> need to know.
> Services we provide:-
> We provide you with the most needed services: translation,
> localization, transcription, revision, proofreading, Editing,
> Updating, QA, Typing, Voice Over and DTP. We provide these solutions
> in Arabic, English, German, French, Urdu, Spanish, Italian...etc. using
> the software and CAT tools that serve this industry.
> Our Specializations:-
> We offer you the translation and localization solutions in many areas:
> Technical, Websites, Legal, Medical, Economy and Social Science.
> Our rates:-
> 0.04 USD per source word for Translation.
> 0.02 USD per source word for Editing.
> 0.01 USD per source word for proofreading.
>    5 USD per hour for Quality Assurance (QA).
>    2 USD per page for Desktop Publishing (DTP).
>      1 USD per page for typing.
>      2 USD per minute for transcription.
>      2 USD per minute for voice over.
> Our capacity is 10000 words a day.
> We are available 24/7 even holidays.
> Payment through Bank transfer, Moneybookers and Western Union.
> We are looking to hear from you.
> Best Regards,
> Khaled Kamal Ramadan
> Director of Translation Deals Ltd.
> +2 01144711980
> +2 0238722057
> Skype: translationdeals1


Translation Doctor Ltd 

"friendly" low payer

"English to German Translators required [...]
We are a small, friendly company who pay by Paypal or international BACS (Amex).
Our standard rates for this language pair are 0.06 euros per word for translation and 20.00 euros per hour for proofreading.
Please check our positive feedback on the Proz Blue board from existing and past collaborators and we hope that you will consider us. Please do include a current, up to date CV when replying and Skype id. "
What a "friendly offer". Too bad that no one can make a decent living in Germany at These rates...
LOL


Translation Kings, India 

Insulting rates/attitude

Email received in october 2013:
"Hello, I just wanted to suggest "Translation Kings" to the blacklist. Reason: unacceptable low rates (<2 US dollar per word) and not very nice (sarcastic?) PM. Please, read the exchange below. :)  I highlighted in yellow the "best" passages.
"Hello, Thanks for your interest in translating for us.
How much would you be able to handle in the next 10 days?
Our budget is 0.015$ per word. Extremely low budget due to a massive order of 1,000,000 words. If quality is good, we will consider you for future jobs as well. We are from Translation Kings and have regular jobs available. We require an invoice from you and can pay via paypal or bank transfer. Payment will be done within 7 days of finishing your part. Kindly let us know (asap) if you are willing to take on this project.
Kind regards,
M., Translation Kings"
5/19/2013 9:57 PM, reply from the translator :
"Dear M., I'm sorry but I'm used to higher rates and I feel that I can't accept such a low one."
Answer from this lady: (both sarcastic and misspelled)
"to bad .  Kind regards,
M., Translation Kings"


Translocacell 

Notorious non-payers
Translator's report:
"Hello,
I can "recommend" that you add Translocacell. They owe me money since 18 month, I am currently suing them and my lawyer told me, he already had several clients suing this agency for money.
Cheers,
Doreen Tautz, certified translator


This company appears to be one of those you will need to harass about one million times before you get them to pay a little invoice. Imagine what happens when it comes to paying a large invoice.
Report on Linked In

 

Translation Cloud LLC, Jersey city USA  

Rude and unprofessional, non payers, insulting rates

Email 12/06/14
"I think you should add Translation Cloud to your blacklist.
I worked for them as a freelancer to translate mobile apps into French.
- The rate is too low: 0.03$ per word.
- They don't pay if you don't harass them.
- They don't care at all about quality. The French punctuation rules were not respected and the text is mostly Google Translated. Proofreaders erased my work to use Google translations instead.
- They're very rude when you ask for payment. The person in charge of the financial side told me:
Me:
I attach here a list of invoices that you have not paid to me.
There is a total of 38 jobs, which amounts to $489.49.
Please ensure they are paid promptly,
Finance guy:
I didn't look into ever invoice on that list, but as you can see from
the attached file, top invoices have already been paid over PayPal in
February/March, while new invoices are scheduled to be paid on May
29th, 2014. Please keep your accounting records more accurately.
Me:
My records are very accurate.
The last invoices are scheduled to be paid in May only because Matt took care of sending me the missing confirmation emails yesterday.
Finance guy:
These emails are sent to you automatically upon completion and
approval of your projects. Just keep an eye on them and don't
procrastinate till last moment.
Me:
This is the second time you're being very rude to me about invoices. When I don't receive the confirmations it's because the projects are not marked as complete on your side.
I find your language very unprofessional and would appreciate if you remove me straight away from your system. I work with enough other agencies not to waste time with people who insult me and pay such a low fee on top of everything.
Finance guy:
Matt, please remove this translator from the system. We will not be
working with people who can't keep track of their invoices and then
start being rude about it."
I am still in their system by the way.
Thanks for your useful list!" S.B.


Translation Gardens 

Problems registering

"I just signed up with Translation Gardens. The registration was a pain, because at every slight error the registration form would "forget" all my language pairs (though there was no error there) and I had to re-enter them in addition to fixing whatever the actual problem was. Having done that, I would like to know whether anybody else in this group is on that site, and if so what results you've had, if any."


Translation secrets 

Scam alert, steal your CV,  ridiculous rates, shall I continue?

 What they want to keep secret is the following practises:
CV Theft case / Here is a scary email from them (I let you enjoy the amateurism his phrasing):
"Now I will tell you our system, I work as a project manager for three years, I deal with 8 languages and I have a group of translators for each language, I ask the translator if he can give me the permission to use his CV with our clients if he agrees I send to him an agreement to sign it, and he becomes the most important translator in the team, our programming department makes an email and marketing the email with the translator's CV for our clients, then I receive the projects in this email, when I receive a project I ask the translator (who gives me the permission to use his CV) if he can take the project ( he has the Priority right ) if not I ask the group of translators.
So let me ask you can you give me the permission to use your CV with our clients?? if you agree please sign the attached file and send it back to me.
Waiting for your answer.
Sincerely, Fatma Slum."
No thanks, get your own diplomas and credentials!!
If you are still using CVs rather than Language Service Provider promotional material (see useful resources for translators on this site) please protect your CV, with watermarks, PDF format and so on. And do not put them online for download or with caution ! 



TranslationTop Co. Ltd. (China) 

Notorious non-payer

"In 2011 I was contacted by the Chinese company Translation Top Co. Ltd to translate a document from Catalan to English. After completing the job I issued an invoice on 22 December 2011. Despite various e-mails to the company, I have not received payment for the job, over a year later. On one occasion I was told I had already been paid, but when I checked there was no record of the payment. I should have done more research before accepting the job, as a search online reveals that many translators have worked for this company and then not been paid. Translators should therefore avoid working for this company as they are likely not to be paid, and companies requiring translation services should avoid contracting a company with such dubious ethics. Posted on 17 January 2013



Translit, Ireland 

Very low rates, disrespectful
What they are willing to pay for English to French: 4 cts/word.

Email 30/11/13: "I would like to signal the Translit agency based in Ireland. I contacted them not too long ago. In the application form, they said to specify my rate or if working for 0.04€ per source word would be fine. When I gave them my rate, the PM didn’t even want to negotiate and said that they were only willing to pay 0.04€. I think their practice is really dishonest..."
This rate equals about 7 euros an hour in France, once you've paid your tax. Something no professional translator would accept. I would not call that practice dishonest though, just greedy and ignorant. This is a behaviour typical of agencies that focus primarily on profit rather than quality, with no consideration for the sustainability and good reputation of their business. The only solution for freelance translators is to refuse their conditions and let them die off. They no doubt will get (and provide) the kind of quality that goes with such low budgets.
 

TranSolution, India - Arijit De : non-payer

This 'translator' does not pay his subcontractors.
His profile seems sort of inviting, and his company has, as expected, a majority of positive entries in Proz's Blue Board. However he seems far from professional:
http://www.proz.com/translator/946682

Email 26/06/2014 (from A.N)
"After speaking to the one called Arijit De who runs this company TranSolution, as it was agreed I hired a studio to record Kannada voice over for which I payed 500 rs from my pocket. Then the transolution company asked me whether i can arrange for voice overs in other two languages (Malayalam and Bengali) and they will pay for all the 3 voice overs together.  As I knew some friends who can record these languages , I spoke to them and arranged for it.  Since I was the one who spoke to the voice over artists directly , I payed both of them 1000 rs each. But later TranSolution didn't pay me a penny.
So I last 2500 from my pocket. And didn't get money even for my voice over. Companies cheat translators by not paying money for their work. But this company completed its project with my money. 
After sending series of emails for 6 months, I gave up. It was really disgusting how they cheat translators who believe them and work with them."


TransPerfect, USA  

TO BOYCOTT until they sink : low quality, zero proofreading, greedy rates, unexperienced proofreaders, fake positive reports, non-payers, ignorant/untrained PMs

Report on Glassdoor: "The WORST company in the world" 
" The other day, a newbie PM called and said that another PM (one who has been around for a while) had suggested me for a "fun and exciting" job writing the narration (in English) for a 40-50 second advertisement ordered by a major U.S. retailer (not WalMart or K-Mart, but not an upscale place). The offered price? $25. Yup, US$25 for writing the script for a 40-50 second video.The PM told me that writing advertising copy was a new field for Transperfect. This was my reply: "Thank you for your inquiry, but $25 for copywriting for a large company like X is ridiculous. They'd pay an advertising agency much more. If TransPerfect is really accepting $25 plus company's overhead plus profit margin (=$100 or less?), then there is something seriously wrong with its account executives. In any case, I'm very busy this weekend." Like many of you, I received better rates from Transperfect in the 1990s. 
" I just did some googling to find out what the going rate for advertising copywriters is. For free-lancers, the average is about $83 an hour. That's a useful bit of information to have."Read more on LinkedIn  
Read more on Transperfect on Ripoff report
 
My own experience : When I started I was contacted by them to be a translator. But then they realised that I only had one year experience in the business. Therefore they offered me another  job : Proofreader !! (Yes, the one who corrects the 10 years of experienced expert translator!) Here is another Transperfect proofreading offer sent by a translator (oct 2013):
" Here's one for THE list. Diana Chemparathy (she can be found on LinkedIn) offered me bi-lingual proofreading for US$ 0.01 per word, telling me that "2,000 words per hour is the norm in this industry"! The proofing/editing/reviewing (she never really clarified what she meant by "proofreading") was to be done over the weekend and came with very detailed formatting instructions as well as two separate style guides. The work was highly specialised and not to be undertaken lightly, as it consisted of pages of faxed medical case notes, pathology reports and culture results, some handwritten. Needless to say I turned the job down flat. The agency she works with/for is TransPerfect. I complained directly to their head office but never received a reply.
Well done you for initiating this blog and list and thank you!"



Transpac localization company (Vietnam)

"Employer attitude", ask for free tests to get contracts

An "Employer attitude" consists in expecting and asking things from your employee to help you with things that are mainly in YOUR interest. The translator is not an employee. He is not getting any salary from the wannabe employer. So why should he feel like helping for FREE, knowing that in return for his efforts, he gets one little job paid peanuts. Type of Emails they send out (all these spelling problems are authentic):
 
"Hi, This is XXX from Transapc Localizaiton Company. Nice to meet you! Here comes a test that needs to be translated from EN into Spanish, Please check the details and confirm whether you can take it ASAP. Can you help us to translate for free this time? Notes from our client: Wordcount: 231 . This is a massive client of ours so again needs to be perfect. The translator must have an engineering/technical background to traslate the attached into Spanish. The technical aspects need to be perfect - they do a massive amount with us. Kindly let us know when you can deliver this task. Please do not start untill you get my confirmation. Thank you." (From linkedin)
WTF?? Translation tests should be PAID your normal rate (I charge for tests over 150 words, rare exceptions made for serious agencies or clients). Just like any work (whatever the purpose is) deserves a salary. Otherwise you end up with people translating a huge text cut in little "tests".
Thanks to Krzysiek for pointing out that this company is not to be confused with Transpac technology (based in China) which appears to be an OK company.
5/11/13: "Hi! I have been working with Transpac but it looks like it is not the same Transpac you mention. If I'm correct, you listed a Vietnamese company, whereas I've been translating for Transpac Technology (a Chinese company). Now, the only issue with them is the fact that you have to remind them about payment after 30 days though they always pay."


Transquotation 

Ask for membership fees

One of my rules is to not pay for work but to work to get paid, plus who likes to waste their precious time ?
"It's a job-shop site that looked good at first, so I signed up and provided the usual details. Then they hit me with a membership fee demand. That was annoying enough, since they only mentioned it after I had gone through the registration ..."


Trans Titles 

Very low rates

$4 per minute, advertise on ProZ. Type of emails they send :
"We require excellent translators with computer terminology understanding, and good spelling and grammar. Work start is immediate with first deadline at the end of the weekend. An English transcription is provided. Rate is ONLY per video minute, which measures about 150-180 words in a minute.
Most is fluent speech mixed with technical terms, translation needs to be like all subtitles - fluent and understandable."
Translator's comment : "So I decided to bid. How I was surprised when the project manager offered me a real "treasure" - $4 per minute! Simple calculation showed that they offer $0.022 per word."
Discussion on Linkedin: translation of video tutorial, $4 per minute - Trans Titles company
  

 

Transyanu or Argotrad Lucus

Owner : M. J. Rodriguez, Spain (Non payer)

Email 30/06/14:
"My name is Sara de Albornoz and I am a freelance translator based in Spain. I would like to warn you about a non-paying agency. They owe me more than 500 euro and have now stopped answering my attempts of communication, after three months of giving excuses.
They contacted me as Transyanu, but their invoicing name was Argotrad Lucus. They are based in O Saviñao, Galicia (Spain) and they also work or have worked with the names Artrad and Comunicarte. They appear in Proz's Blueboard and other sites as non-payers. The person who contacted me was Isabel Rodríguez Losada and I believe the owner of the company is Miguel Pérez Rodríguez.
I hope you could include them on your black list. Thanks for the great job you do compiling all those non-payers."


Travod, Moldova 

Fake offices+low rates

Read my article (1/12/13)
"I just wanted to tell you about my last experience with Travod, agency who sent me the following message last Monday:
"We have a new project. The details are below:
Language source - destination: English - Spanish
Translation Area: General
Number of units: 433
Price per Unit:0.020 USD
Total Price: 16.670 USD "Travod is a joke of a company. I received several similar "offers" from them but the rate they are proposing you are even worse than the 0.04-0.05 USD they proposed to me. I also noticed that their payment terms are 3 months after the work is due. Ridiculous! Who would ever agree to these terms? How do companies like Travod stay in business? I had to put them on my e-mail black-list to avoid receiving these insulting "offers".

"I pointed out that Travod pretends to be in the USA but they are actually in Moldova! This is clear from the IP address.
(read the rest of report)
This week (17/10/2013) I stumbled upon a very interesting piece of information on LinkedIn : Travod pretends to have offices in Paris!!
"I made a translation for Travod. It took 12 days before I received an answer to my many reminders asking if the translation was fine and for a PO# so that I could invoice them.
They replied that all needed info is published on their website www.travod.com Checking the website it says that they have offices in Paris at 44 boulevard des batignolles. After checking at this adress there is only a church! Moreover, I checked the French chamber of commerce and there no company called Travod registered in France. So beware, personally I will never work with them again and I should feel lucky if I ever get paid for my translation."
Read more on Travod:



Trust Traduzioni (Novara, Italy) 

Shameful practices

It all started with a scandal in 2010 when Trust Traduzioni very confidently published this job announcement on Proz.com:
Dear Translators,
We are looking for new team members to include in a translation project for the Italian Ministry of Tourism. The Ministry has begun sending us—and will continue to do so throughout 2010—materials from the site http://www.italia.it that need to be translated into English, French, German, and Spanish.
The “cartella” imposed by the Ministry is 2600 characters and the price is 9 euros gross with payment after 90 days (this condition is also a requirement of the Ministry).
The price is extremely low, but translators should consider the large amount of work on offer and the ongoing nature of the project. If you are interested, contact me via email, telephone, or Skype. We already have files ready for translation that need to be assigned with some urgency. Your participation is appreciated."
Hem. That is embarrassing. After a wave of infuriated mails and petitions knocked them hard in the face, the Ministry had this mortified answer:
The Ministry of Tourism has published no announcement of any kind regarding a search for translators nor has it authorized any other party to do so. With regard to the announcement that appeared a few days ago on the http://www.proz.com internet site, and in which untrue information was imputed to the Ministry of Tourism, an official complaint has been filed with the competent authorities against person or persons unknown. In addition, the Ministry would like to make clear that it does not apply and has no intention of applying the fees and conditions indicated in the announcement.



Trusted Translations, Argentina 

Shameful rates

Email received on the 9th November 2013: 
"Claiming to be based in Florida, instead uses staff from Argentina (cheaper!) and pays crappy rates. I have been in their database since 2006 and they have been offering the same rates ever since. When I asked to revise my rates, they replied "You signed for those, remember? They are fixed".
Service Languages Unit price per word in U$S 
Translation English to Italian 0.040 
Edition English to Italian 0.020 
Proofreading English to Italian 0.010
When they are panicking because they can't find a translator working for peanuts, they say they can "combine your rate" (translation + edition = $0.06) if you perform a final reading of the job before delivering. Sometimes they subcontract from other agencies, but whether direct client or not, the rate is always the same. Impossible to negotiate rates, really the bottom chain of the translation industry."
Regards,
EN > IT translator



TSL Madrid (Non-payer)

"I had a similar experience with a translation agency from Madrid (tsl traducciones), which did not pay me for 2 pretty long translations. I claimed my money calling them and writing Emails but it did not worth to loose my time at the end. So, before we deal with strange people check well who we will work with!" LinkedIn Thread




TTC France 

Pretend to be top of the range, willing to pay peanuts
Email 10/10/14:

Thank you so much for creating this list. I was just talking today about the need for  such an initiative and am delighted that you have had the wherewithal to get it done.

My problems are with TTC France (ttcfrance@gmail.com). I normally only reply to companies who seem reliable based on their websites, and this company was no exception. On the splash page it says:

"Nous vous proposons un rapport qualité-prix imbattable pour une agence de traduction professionnelle qui ne travaille qu’avec des « pros » et non avec des étudiants ou des personnes ayant uniquement une connaissance superficielle de la langue." (=We only work with pros, not with students or persons with an approximative knowledge of the language)

I wrote to them offering my services for German legal translation posted on Proz and, despite it being a French company, ELKE Gunia, the owner, wrote back:

"What is your rate please? we cannot afford more than 0.05 Euro/word"

My response:

"If you cannot afford more than 0.05e, then someone is definitely get exploited in the chain: either your agency is getting too much mark-up or your clients are paying too little. Either way, never in Europe have I seen such an embarrassing rate offered for German legal translation. If you do get people signing up at that rate, they are not pros like your website claims but indeed students or people with a superficial knowledge of the language."

Her response?

"We do not need your comment or suggestion, keep your "thinkings" just for you."

Would you be interested in sharing this gem with the wider community?
Oh dear. Well thanks for not keeping your "thinkings just for you", because we now all know what to expect from TTC :) (Laugh/Sigh/Cry) Yes 5 cents for LEGAL translation (should be 20 cents at least) is INSANE!! Hello miss ELKE, try and do it yourself in your own language, and then teach us how it's done! And starting by the basics, look up "thinkings" in the dictionary.


TTG /  The Translator Group / The Native Translator / The Business Translator (see under N also): 

Non payers -110 days late

Seville, 7th of April 2015
"Hey,
More about TTG / The Translator Group / The Native Translator / The Business Translator in Switzerland:
Not only do they not pay, they also set their lawyers on me ... Just got a letter from them telling me to erase the negative comments from the different forums. This is the second “warning” I receive. This is part of the letter I received:

“As you know, the end client of the translation in question haven´t paid the total amount to TTG as they claim there are quality issues in the delivered service. The customer claim there are errors in, for example, the translation you delivered. TTG is therefore withholding the payment to you until this dispute has been solved.
We therefore ask you to stop this behaviour immediately and erase previous comments and statements about this matter.”

As I have said earlier, they have yet to come up with specific feedback of my translations and/or concrete examples of what is wrong. They say they don´t have time/money to proofread my text and that they are waiting for proofreadings/comments/feedback from the end client. In the meanwhile, they don´t pay me. Is this how you should do business?!

Payment is now 109 days late (on Tuesday 7th of April 2015).

Kind regards / Un cordial saludo / Med vänlig hälsning
Christer Heljestrand


TXT, Lyon, France

Email 30/09/2015
 

"I would like you to know that there's a translation agency named TXT Studio that should appear on your so valued black list. They hire contractors in order to work translating articles for Yahoo on a daily basis. They promise you a minimum workload of 1500 words per day. They offer you a ridiculous rate, $0,02 per word, since they're supposedly bringing you the opportunity to get an ongoing job. They ask you to be online about 10 hours per day, just waiting for some articles to be translated. You have to be available to start working immediately. But the truth is that there are many many days when there are no articles at all and many other days when there are about 300 words to translate. When you tell them you can't be available 10 hours for translating that ridiculous amount of words or no words at all, specially with such a low rate, they tell you that you committed yourself to do so and that they don't have any control on how many articles Yahoo sends per day, so they do NOTHING. They are recruiting translators into Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian and German for their supposed great translation project with Yahoo. This agency has no ethics at all (there are some other days when they ask you to translate 8000 words within just a few hours) and they abuse their translators. Furthermore, the payments are delayed and the internal organization is chaotic. The owner, from Lyon, France, is a total irresponsible and exploiter. If you need further information, I'll be glad to give it to you, but I would like this report to be anonymous, since I am just scared about any possible overreaction from the owner of the agency, although obviously I no longer work with them."



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