A translation company received 1 for LWA, and three days later received 12 fives. Suspicious? Thread poster: finnword1
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finnword1
United States
Local time: 20:25
English to Finnish
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I noticed that a translation company had received 1 for LWA, and three days later received 12 fives. Suspicious huh? Doesn't this qualify as a scam?
[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2015-12-05 00:16 GMT]
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:25
Serbian to English
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| not obvious at all | Dec 5, 2015 |
it could be that the "5"s are justified and the "1" was given by a "translator" that tried to pass-off some Google translate "work of art" as its own work, and wasn't happy with the reaction from the agency.
it could also be that the "1" was well justified. and that the "5"s are just given under duress
One way or another, it shows that the whole LWA system on its own is more or less useless as "rating tool".
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Perhaps it is suspicious or perhaps not, as explained by Daryo.
What you could do to get nearer the facts is contact one or more of the respondents privately and ask the reasons for their comment(s).
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 02:25
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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finnword1 wrote:
I noticed that a translation company had received 1 for LWA, and three days later received 12 fives.
Perhaps the agency forgot about the Blue Board, and when they got that "1", they woke up and realised that they had to do something, so I asked their existing happy translators if they could please give them some ratings. It does seem that the high number of 5s is a direct reaction to the single 1. I agree with Jenny... e-mail the 1 and then e-mail the 5s.
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Steven Segaert
Estonia
Local time: 03:25
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
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| Follow rather than look at the snapshot | Dec 5, 2015 |
I tend to follow the outsourcers I want to know more about.
Quite often, I see someone entering a 1 or a 2 because of payment problems. Some days after, that entry is deleted - possible because the invoice has been paid.
It just means that the blue board has become a way of forcing clients to pay.
| | | | | It could be anything | Dec 5, 2015 |
I think I know one agency matching this description. Worked for them once, it took them 18 months to pay me $40. Thank goodness I didn't do anything big there.
They have a superb HR plan, that would work if only... all freelancers were their full-time employees. But then they'd get salaries, which would thwart that entire plan altogether. It definitely backfires with freelancers.
Every now and then they get a floc... See more I think I know one agency matching this description. Worked for them once, it took them 18 months to pay me $40. Thank goodness I didn't do anything big there.
They have a superb HR plan, that would work if only... all freelancers were their full-time employees. But then they'd get salaries, which would thwart that entire plan altogether. It definitely backfires with freelancers.
Every now and then they get a flock of disgruntled translators posting a series of low LWAs on their BB record, scattered over an extended period of time. When their average score goes below a certain threshold, they get desperate to lift it quickly. So they get another flock to post a series of 5s, all in the same day, or within a 2-3 days' period.
When I noticed this occurring for the first time, I wrote a Support Ticket. Proz staff checked, and assured me that each of these entries was ascertained as legit, so there was nothing to be done. Their BB history is a series of blue and pink "waves", and they have been banned from posting jobs on Proz.
Every translation agency will have its happy and unhappy translators. I've seen colleagues bad-mouthing a few of my most valued clients. Likewise, I've rejected job offers from some agencies that ate highly regarded by other colleagues.
It's a matter of reading between the lines in those short BB comments.
I don't particularly care about unpleasant PMs; they ask, I deliver. On the other hand, I am not tolerant to "nay-payers"; I deliver, they pay. It's professional business. If they can add a friendly relationship, that's certainly a plus, worth going the extra mile(s) whenever they need.
Every translator should consider their pet peeves upon choosing clients, and try to avoid them as much as possible. ▲ Collapse
| | | | finnword1
United States
Local time: 20:25
English to Finnish
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TOPIC STARTER | additional piece of information | Dec 5, 2015 |
The reason for me to check this agency out on the Blue Board was that they offered me a job at 4.5 euro cents per word.
| | | | Steven Segaert
Estonia
Local time: 03:25
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Is there anything you could have read on the blue board that would have you accept such a rate?
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finnword1
United States
Local time: 20:25
English to Finnish
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TOPIC STARTER | too good to be true? | Dec 14, 2015 |
Still wondering how an "outsourcer" earns those fives for LWA? An agency contacted me about a job. They have 179 entries, all of them fives, but seem to come in bursts, One day they received (8), on two separate days (5) each, two other days (4) each and so on. How can anybody be so popular?
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