Originally written by Laurent J. Krauland on January 6, 2009 3:42 PM ... - by accepting either low rates, or impossible delivery dates, or long long payment deadlines, or a combination of those three, or... etc., we just feed the hollow and greedy green-eyed monster of non-payment, recession and the like!

Right, but as far as the impossible delivery dates are concerned, we are the weakest link in the chain. There is a belief in the catalog industry, for example, that translators are the most easy to compress. And if it is too much for one to do in the available time then you just get another one and split the work between them. You cannot do that with a printer, have one do one half of a catalog and the other printer do the other half and then stick them together, even if it would work the printers would not go along with it but translators always seem to be willing to, or at least it is always possible to find some who will.

I have had that happen to me. I agreed to do a job by a certain date (4 weeks) and shortly after I had started they told me that due to the printer's other commitments, I would have to be finished in 3 weeks, the printer had told them to go find another printer if that was not convenient. I told them that I was going to finish in the 4 weeks originally promised so they just took half the job away from me and gave it to another translator.

I don't see any way around that tactic.

Derek

My current belief is that, deep down inside us, we know what is right and what is wrong - call it angelism, optimism or idealism...

And when we have tactics such as those you describe appearing in a global process, we know that someone has played foul elsewhere. Maybe nothing to really worry about, but something to take into account for a potential future co-operation with such clients.

I had a potential client who asked me to give them 20% rebate even before the first job. When I completed it and received their "feedback and corrections", I knew why I never should have accepted their one-off offer in the first place: they were just looking for some new ideas and phrasings they could build upon in their own way. 

Laurent K.  

As has been pointed out, business-wise it doesn't make sense for an outsourcer to pay $00.04 per word when s/he can get the job done for less. If it works, it works.

Even TDC (Tele Denmark Communication) a giant in telecommunications is feeling the recession - they keep overcharging me and when I complain and refuse to pay the bill unless they remove the overcharge, I am told that they will deduct the overcharge on the next bill, which is paid quarterly. No, I will not lend TDC my hard earned money for the next quarter. "That's just the way it is," I'm told. "I must pay or risk a surcharge."

My thoughts on the matter are that TDC is seen as so big and so powerful that no one complains, and thus they can get away with it. If it works, it works! I have complained! It's stressful and tiring writing all those letters but it works.

Why should I allow TDC, whose chairman earns millions of kroner per year, to borrow my money without interest (of course) and against my will. 

By allowing outsourcers and other 'godtfolk' to behave as though they are above reproach, I am consenting to behaviour which in my view is fuelled by greed.

I will NOT!

Nanna

Surely your client was not legally entitled to unilaterally amend the agreement you initially had entered into?

Exactly!

Laurent K. 

exactly, Nanna! My way of looking at it too.

Originally written by Laurent J. Krauland on January 6, 2009 6:42 PM ... but something to take into account for a potential future co-operation with such clients. Laurent K.

... and to take into account as well for a potential (i.e. highly unlikely in my case) future cooperation with any translators-colleagues who accept to work for such clients... (easy to keep tabs: they generally post here or on other similar sites to complain about their 2-cent client who won't pay!! duh... surprise!)

df

Originally written by Thor Kottelin on January 6, 2009 5:54 PM Surely your client was not legally entitled to unilaterally amend the agreement you initially had entered into?

I have no idea and I wasn't about to hire a lawyer to find out! It was the feeling of being compressed that irked and I doubt whether a lawsuit would have cured that.

Derek

And that's the only thing that (subjectively) can and will matter AFAIAC at the end of the day... Even with a rather thick skin, which seems to be required in the standard equipment of every Modern Times translator.

Laurent K. 

Originally written by Laurent J. Krauland on January 6, 2009 3:42 PM ... - by accepting either low rates, or impossible delivery dates ...

Something odd must be going on because I have the impression that the impossible delivery dates are getting even more impossible. I am getting several inquiries a day now asking me if I can take on thousands, even tens of thousands of words, sight unseen, with deadlines that imply 3000-4000 words/day. Many of them say that the deadline cannot possibly be extended under any circumstances. Some of them are so urgent that the inquiry has to be made by telephone, e-mail obviously takes too long - they probably have the client waiting on another line.

Could it be that the lower limit has been reached by the price cutters and now they are underbidding each other in delivery times?

I suppose the logic is: If you can do it for the price then you should be able to meet the impossible deadline otherwise you could get a better hourly rate bagging hamburgers.

I have even had such inquiries from agencies who claim on their websites that they deliver the highest quality and use only translators with a recent degree in translation and years of experience.

The conclusion is obvious: There must be very many direct clients about who have had bad experiences with such agencies and are dying to make direct contact with the translators if they can. I deduce this from my observation that many agencies have upped the penalty for contacting their clients directly from EUR 2000 to EUR 5000 recently plus compensation for loss of earnings. I am wondering if this is only bluff and whether such clauses are contra bonos mores ("sittenwidrig" in German).

There is probably a translators' forum with a contact service somewhere on the Internet that does not admit translation agencies as members and advertises its services only amongst likely direct customers. I would join it tomorrow if I could find it, not that I am short of work but some of the agencies reading this posting are beginning to get on my nerves. 

Derek