La traducción y la interpretación como actividad » Money matters »
Customer in foreign country unwilling (?) to pay
Autor de la hebra: Julia Juchmes
Julia Juchmes
Julia Juchmes
Alemania
Local time: 09:32
inglés al alemán
Nov 6, 2008

Hi together,

this is the first time I'm asking a question here, so sorry if anything is unclear.

I am a German native translator, living in Germany and have done a translation for a Chinese customer around the end of 2007/beginning of 2008. I sent an invoice and - in the mean time - lot's of reminder e-mails and three "official" reminders as we use them in Germany. All I got was a message that they will "pay soon". To this day, this has not happened.

What s... See more
Hi together,

this is the first time I'm asking a question here, so sorry if anything is unclear.

I am a German native translator, living in Germany and have done a translation for a Chinese customer around the end of 2007/beginning of 2008. I sent an invoice and - in the mean time - lot's of reminder e-mails and three "official" reminders as we use them in Germany. All I got was a message that they will "pay soon". To this day, this has not happened.

What should I do now? The next step in Germany would be a court order, but does that also apply for a Chinese customer?

Please help...

Thanks in advance for any answers. ▲ Collapse
 
Elías Sauza
Elías Sauza  Identity Verified
México
Local time: 01:32
Miembro 2002
inglés al español
+ ...
Use the Blue Board Nov 6, 2008

Use the BB to provide a rating for that agency. That will be a good start. I'm positively sure.

Good luck,

Elías
 
The Misha
The Misha
Local time: 03:32
ruso al inglés
+ ...
Move on Nov 6, 2008

... and next time don't take any jobs from places where you have absolutely no legal recourse.
 
Roy Chaudhuri
Roy Chaudhuri  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 13:02
Miembro 2006
inglés al bengalí
+ ...
LOCALIZADOR DEL SITIO
My 2 cents Nov 7, 2008

I would normally check the blue board for entries before I take up any new client. Any established client, good or bad, is normally there. If a client is not there or has a bad rating, I do not take up the work.

It may not be a very aggressive strategy for scouting for work, but it works. I had only 1 customer default in last two years.

However on the other hand I may have lost out on somr business.
 
Maartje Giebels
Maartje Giebels  Identity Verified
Países Bajos
Local time: 09:32
inglés al neerlandés
+ ...
That doesn't always help Nov 7, 2008

I would normally check the blue board for entries before I take up any new client. Any established client, good or bad, is normally there. If a client is not there or has a bad rating, I do not take up the work.


That's what I usually do as well, but I did this recently and when i took the job the rating was over 4.5, but when I checked again because I... See more
I would normally check the blue board for entries before I take up any new client. Any established client, good or bad, is normally there. If a client is not there or has a bad rating, I do not take up the work.


That's what I usually do as well, but I did this recently and when i took the job the rating was over 4.5, but when I checked again because I didn't receive my payment, the rating was down to below 3 and the outsourcer had been banned from ProZ. It seems they hadn't paid anybody from this big project that I also worked on. So checking the BB doesn't always help.

What should I do now? The next step in Germany would be a court order, but does that also apply for a Chinese customer?


Have you tried calling them? I know it might be expensive, by I have always found that if you call somebody they pay much faster. Also, although you may not be able to do anything through the legal system, you can always threaten them that you will be taking legal actions. For me that always seems to do the trick.

Good luck and I hope you'll get your money, one way or the other. ▲ Collapse
 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderador(es) de este foro
Jorge Rodrigues[Call to this topic]
Andriy Bublikov[Call to this topic]
Rita Pang[Call to this topic]
James Heppe-Smith[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Customer in foreign country unwilling (?) to pay







Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »
TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »