Poll: How often have you come to an agreement with a client who then never sent you work?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Sep 6, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How often have you come to an agreement with a client who then never sent you work?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 11:03
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Agreement? Sep 6, 2017

An agreement is entered into after the client accepts, either verbally or in writing, my quote and deadline. Before that all we do is negotiate and over the years I’ve had many occasions where I tried to negotiate a rate or a deadline and it never became an assignment, but never after we have reached an agreement...

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 12:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
A few times Sep 6, 2017

One guy that springs to mind was recommended to me by a long-standing client a few years ago. He was the head of a local university department. He seemed determined to meet me in person and was rather miffed when I explained that I would normally be too busy to make the forty-five minute journey into town to "discuss things over coffee". Although he claimed to have a plentiful budget, he seemed to find my rates, which are actually average to low, rather high. In the end, rather than translations... See more
One guy that springs to mind was recommended to me by a long-standing client a few years ago. He was the head of a local university department. He seemed determined to meet me in person and was rather miffed when I explained that I would normally be too busy to make the forty-five minute journey into town to "discuss things over coffee". Although he claimed to have a plentiful budget, he seemed to find my rates, which are actually average to low, rather high. In the end, rather than translations, he sent me an article to revise, which looked like he'd got his students to do it. I got no feedback from him and don't even recall bothering to bill him for it. I never heard any more from this person, and it's absolutely no skin off my nose. In fact, quite the contrary. (= Good [expletive deleted] riddance)Collapse


 
Georgie Scott
Georgie Scott  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 12:03
French to English
+ ...
40% Sep 6, 2017

I think that about 40% of the agreements I have signed have failed to lead to subsequent work. In 95% of those cases, the client agreed to terms they initially didn't want to apply, such as negation of non-compete clauses or higher rates.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:03
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
It happens fairly often Sep 6, 2017

We will negotiate a price and then the client comes back and says the job was canceled. Unless that's a polite way of telling me they found someone who would do it for less money.

 
Jed Segovia
Jed Segovia  Identity Verified
Philippines
Local time: 19:03
English to Tagalog
+ ...
Maybe they are just collecting translator profiles Sep 6, 2017

I many times applied for a freelance translstion job, then the agency/company required me to send my CV and sign an NDA. After I submitted these, I will get no response anymore. Very few will come back later and offer me small projects.

 
Ventnai
Ventnai  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:03
German to English
+ ...
Just in case Sep 6, 2017

I think some agencies inquire about your services and still enter you into their database even if they don't like your rates. This normally entails filling out endless Excel data sheets or on-screen masks and then you never hear from them again. Others use you once and then try to change conditions. I had one agency from Gerona province which made me answer questions in a series of emails, fill in forms, sign an NDA and then state what rates that they were prepared to pay after I had indicated w... See more
I think some agencies inquire about your services and still enter you into their database even if they don't like your rates. This normally entails filling out endless Excel data sheets or on-screen masks and then you never hear from them again. Others use you once and then try to change conditions. I had one agency from Gerona province which made me answer questions in a series of emails, fill in forms, sign an NDA and then state what rates that they were prepared to pay after I had indicated what my non-negotiable rates were at the outset. I learned my lesson. I now never complete any interminable Excel sheets.Collapse


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:03
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
A few times Sep 6, 2017

Contact had been made by the client, then silence on the line, or ether. But that's fine with me since they apparently don't want to or can't accept my rates, and especially no agreement had been made. So I take it as an inquiry, then delete all correspondence in my "pending" folder after a while.

Since this works both ways, I have also not accepted any work after the client had agreed on my rate, then turned around and offered half of it. Same procedure as stated above....
See more
Contact had been made by the client, then silence on the line, or ether. But that's fine with me since they apparently don't want to or can't accept my rates, and especially no agreement had been made. So I take it as an inquiry, then delete all correspondence in my "pending" folder after a while.

Since this works both ways, I have also not accepted any work after the client had agreed on my rate, then turned around and offered half of it. Same procedure as stated above.
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Erzsébet Czopyk
Erzsébet Czopyk  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 12:03
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
rarely, but Sep 6, 2017

it just happened few weeks ago that a Romanian agency Ka******a promised me work (they contacted me here); I filled the Excels, printed and signed the NDA... and never heard from them again, although I asked them two more times what happened ... I was too naive. I never reneceived a response (of course).

For such clients with such attitude I have a special blacklist + folder. I find Google Desktop extremely useful addtion to my worsening memory.
...
See more
it just happened few weeks ago that a Romanian agency Ka******a promised me work (they contacted me here); I filled the Excels, printed and signed the NDA... and never heard from them again, although I asked them two more times what happened ... I was too naive. I never reneceived a response (of course).

For such clients with such attitude I have a special blacklist + folder. I find Google Desktop extremely useful addtion to my worsening memory.


[Edited at 2017-09-07 07:05 GMT]
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Jessica Noyes
Jessica Noyes  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:03
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
"Cancelling" the job Sep 6, 2017

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

We will negotiate a price and then the client comes back and says the job was canceled. Unless that's a polite way of telling me they found someone who would do it for less money.


Once, after I asked for an hourly fee for the complicated formatting, on top of the per-word rate, a PM from a large company told me that the job had been "cancelled" by his client. The next day, though, he was back on the phone asking me to review someone else's translation of that same document!!!

[Edited at 2017-09-06 16:39 GMT]


 
R. Alex Jenkins
R. Alex Jenkins  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:03
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Hoop Jumping Sep 6, 2017

I hoop jump from time-to-time.

My particular specialty is signing NDAs, doing 'short' test translations, and receiving welcome packs/information from marketing managers, which transpire into nothing. Sarcasm intended .


 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:03
Czech to French
+ ...
Yes, they collect profiles, Sep 7, 2017

and that's not so surprising: a client enquires about a job - generally with several agencies. All of them look for somebody to do the job, which may entail registering new translators. Then they don't get the job. In some cases, I get jobs from such agencies years later, when they need one of my "special" pairs again. Unlike colleagues who work in huge markets such as Spanish to English, I sometimes receive enquiries about the same job from several agencies from different countries, so that I c... See more
and that's not so surprising: a client enquires about a job - generally with several agencies. All of them look for somebody to do the job, which may entail registering new translators. Then they don't get the job. In some cases, I get jobs from such agencies years later, when they need one of my "special" pairs again. Unlike colleagues who work in huge markets such as Spanish to English, I sometimes receive enquiries about the same job from several agencies from different countries, so that I can see what's going on. The last case to date was yesterday, 3 agencies, thereof one new to me. The record is also recent: 4 agencies asking me to go into the same tender with them, thereof 3 I registered with in the past and have never actually worked for.Collapse


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:03
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Quite frequently Sep 8, 2017

It happens a lot. Many people just register translators just in case they ever get a job in that pair. Many do have a job in the relevant pair, register about five translators and choose another one (not you). And many register me, disappear, but then show up a few months later with a job. All these have happened quite a few times.

 


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Poll: How often have you come to an agreement with a client who then never sent you work?






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