Agency with a very low LWA Thread poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
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Should an agency with a LWA of 1 (only two entries both 1s) in the past 12 months be allowed to post a job? I'm asking this just in theory because I'm not at all interested in this particular agency...
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 11:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Teresa Borges wrote:
Should an agency with a LWA of 1 (only two entries both 1s) in the past 12 months be allowed to post a job?
Low LWA's can be given for anything that the translator didn't like, and does not necessarily mean that the agency is unreliable. AFAIK ProZ.com bans outsourcers from post jobs only after two or three consecutive, somewhat verified reports of non-payment. What do the comments for those two low LWAs say?
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Payment issues in both cases, delayed payment for three months in the first case, non-payment in the other one, both in 2018. Let's wait for the third case then...
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 10:51
Member (2007)
English
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| Non-payment versus dissatisfaction | Jul 6, 2019 |
AFAIK, there's a difference between a 1 meaning the person would never work with the outsourcer again, for whatever reason, and a 1 for non-payment. The latter will get the outsourcer banned if there are three active cases.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 11:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Teresa Borges wrote:
Delayed payment for three months in the first case, non-payment in the other one.
I believe it needs to be non-payment, not just delayed payment.
* BlueBoard FAQ
* ProZ.com termination policy
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 05:51
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| I thought most of the BB entries are about late payment of non-payment | Jul 7, 2019 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
Low LWA's can be given for anything that the translator didn't like, and does not necessarily mean that the agency is unreliable.
| | | | Emin Arı
Türkiye
Local time: 12:51
English to Turkish
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| rule of thumb | Jul 10, 2019 |
keep away from low bb records.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 11:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
jyuan_us wrote: Samuel Murray wrote:
Low LWA's can be given for anything that the translator didn't like, and does not necessarily mean that the agency is unreliable. I thought most of the BB entries are about late payment of non-payment.
Yes, I would speculate that most of the #1 and #2 ratings are for failure to pay on time or at all, many #3 and #4 ratings are for agencies that pay reasonably on time but offer low rates, and at least half of the #4 and #5 ratings are brown-nosing (i.e. it's part of the translator's efforts to maintain a good relationship with the client, regardless of whether they pay a low rate or pay late). However, in all ratings, it helps to read the comments.
A rating of #1 simply means that you don't want to work with the agency again, for whatever reason (e.g. the rates were excellent, communication was superb, payment was one time, but... you saw on Facebook that the PM supports the other football team). That said, there appears to be an unwritten rule that low ratings should be given to agencies who deserve to be punished for translation-related unprofessionalism, and so most low ratings tend to be about not paying.
I wonder how ProZ.com would handle such a case, though: translator gives a #1 rating, agency objects to it, ProZ.com investigates, ProZ.com discovers the low rating is because PM supports the other football team (and for no other reason)... will ProZ.com hide the rating?
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| I have given agencies lower ratings for hassle | Jul 10, 2019 |
Given that some agencies pay 60 days after receiving the invoice, but then pay on time, I have very rarely had trouble with late payers.
If those are their terms and I have taken the job anyway, then so be it.
However, I have given some agencies lower ratings (like a 3 instead of 4 or 5) if I did not like their online platform or obligatory invoicing system.
I am not sure about the last rating I gave, but I finally dropped at least one agency that started out well... See more Given that some agencies pay 60 days after receiving the invoice, but then pay on time, I have very rarely had trouble with late payers.
If those are their terms and I have taken the job anyway, then so be it.
However, I have given some agencies lower ratings (like a 3 instead of 4 or 5) if I did not like their online platform or obligatory invoicing system.
I am not sure about the last rating I gave, but I finally dropped at least one agency that started out well. OK, they still paid on time, but they tried every trick in the book to reduce rates, while tightening deadlines and sending extra work - and trying to press me to take jobs outside my subject areas.
That would be plenty of reasons for giving them a rating of 1 … they simply do not pay for hassle! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I do agree with you | Jul 10, 2019 |
Emin Arı wrote:
keep away from low bb records.
I've never accepted working with an agency with a LWA lower than 4.5, but that wasn't my point.
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