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

Funny you should bring those two things up.  I myself have seen the same kind of impossible deadlines.  if only we were robots, we might not mind as much.

Originally written by Jonathan Downie on January 13, 2009 1:47 PM legally a translation contract would only be binding for the length of time from the job being accepted to payment being made (unless the contract explicitly states otherwise, in which case, anyone signing it needs their head checked).

Well, but a poor agency can try and phish, can`t it?

Originally written by Jonathan Downie on January 13, 2009 6:47 PM As for not contacting clients: has no one told those agencies that it is very difficult, if possible at all, to get such clauses to stick legally?  Firstly, it is a restriction of trade and most Western countries look down on them anyway.  Secondly, legally a translation contract would only be binding for the length of time from the job being accepted to payment being made (unless the contract explicitly states otherwise, in which case, anyone signing it needs their head checked).  So, the agencies could find themselves trying to enforce the terms of a contract that no longer exists.

I have had an agency send me three jobs, the original files, so that it is clear who the clients are. After I declined to do any of them because I am too busy anyway, they sent me the contract to sign by which I agree, now and for the next two years, to be fined EUR 5000 each plus compensation for loss of earnings should I have the temerity to contact any of those clients directly.

I need my head checked anyway but I wonder if I should sign it just to be nice?

Derek