Poll: Do you currently have a client that you wish to leave? 投稿者: ProZ.com Staff
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| | neilmac
スペイン
Local time: 00:24
スペイン語 から 英語
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Not really. I do have one long-standing client that I dumped a couple of years ago, for being slow payers among other things. They then came back last year and begged me to work for them again. I agreed to do so after raising the rate 25%, just for them. However, I'm not sure if they eventually paid me for the two bills I presented after the jobs, and I'm seriously thinking about telling them to sod off again. In fact, I might check my records now to see if they did pay up after all...
[... See more Not really. I do have one long-standing client that I dumped a couple of years ago, for being slow payers among other things. They then came back last year and begged me to work for them again. I agreed to do so after raising the rate 25%, just for them. However, I'm not sure if they eventually paid me for the two bills I presented after the jobs, and I'm seriously thinking about telling them to sod off again. In fact, I might check my records now to see if they did pay up after all...
[Edited at 2016-02-13 08:33 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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No, over the years I have managed to build a solid long-standing client base. Yes, of course I have fired those that were bad clients (in general non-payers or slow payers).
On the contrary, I do wish that a client who left me 2 years ago for financial reasons would come back, he was a slow payer but projects were extremely interesting and very regular…
| | | | | Only had one | Feb 13, 2016 |
A woman who wanted a novel translated. I did a few thousand words for which she paid in advance (her initiative, not mine), and she wanted it turned into an absolutely literal translation, word for word, same word order, clauses, tenses, the lot. I refused and returned her payment because I didn't want anything more to do with her.
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There is an agency that I had been trying to get rid of. They paid well, my best (=highest) rate and in time, the projects were not exactly to die for but ok, the procedures uncomplicated. On theother hand, the PM was so unprofessional, sending e-mails all capitals in red font and yellow highlighting to stress how important her projects were, writing my name wrong every time and some other things I do not want to mention because they would be identifiable.
No big deal, one would say... bu... See more There is an agency that I had been trying to get rid of. They paid well, my best (=highest) rate and in time, the projects were not exactly to die for but ok, the procedures uncomplicated. On theother hand, the PM was so unprofessional, sending e-mails all capitals in red font and yellow highlighting to stress how important her projects were, writing my name wrong every time and some other things I do not want to mention because they would be identifiable.
No big deal, one would say... but still it made me reluctant to work for them. I refused some projects, she came back. I started consequently asking for deadline extensions, she came back. I increased the rate by 20% and tadaaa! she came back!
At least I am now 20% more motivated to read her e-mails ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Nice posts from Anna and Jack :). | Feb 13, 2016 |
I'm very happy with my active clients, after definitively sacking a few. But there are a couple of dormant ones whose next email I'll be reluctant to open. They might be late payers but mostly the problem will be difficult file types, unclear instructions, difficult communication or poor management at their end meaning everything is urgent.
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I have a client that needs to be 'educated' - their payment schedule is in blatant violation of the law. I will have a chat with them soon because I am getting more and more work and want to rectify the situation since this leaves me at an even bigger disadvantage.
At a push and a shove, I will have no choice but to report them to the Fair Trade Commission if they do not listen. I know for a fact that they will be slapped with 'corrective measures' and back payments to all of... See more I have a client that needs to be 'educated' - their payment schedule is in blatant violation of the law. I will have a chat with them soon because I am getting more and more work and want to rectify the situation since this leaves me at an even bigger disadvantage.
At a push and a shove, I will have no choice but to report them to the Fair Trade Commission if they do not listen. I know for a fact that they will be slapped with 'corrective measures' and back payments to all of their vendors - not just translators but content authors, DTP operators, technical writers, etc. - if they are found in violation of the law, which I have already checked. And, all this will cost them a pretty penny in additional payments, take up a lot of their time and they will be constantly monitored for a two-year period to see if they are observing the law.
Sometimes, it takes a bit of courage to stand up to Goliath. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I had two, now I have one | Feb 13, 2016 |
I had two long-time clients that paid me peanuts until last December. As soon as 2016 broke through, I sent e-mails to both to renegotiate prices. One of them did not accept it, and is no longer my client. The second one agreed to raise the rate by 50% of what I proposed. The rate is thus still not satisfactory, but I will still accept jobs from them for a while, until I fill up my time with better clients. I got rid of all agencies in Brazil and a few other countries that do not respect the pro... See more I had two long-time clients that paid me peanuts until last December. As soon as 2016 broke through, I sent e-mails to both to renegotiate prices. One of them did not accept it, and is no longer my client. The second one agreed to raise the rate by 50% of what I proposed. The rate is thus still not satisfactory, but I will still accept jobs from them for a while, until I fill up my time with better clients. I got rid of all agencies in Brazil and a few other countries that do not respect the professionals, except for this one client. But it's surely only for a few more months. In Brazil and in these other countries, I only accept jobs from direct clients ever since.
I also no longer accept jobs from students working in their masters and PhD theses. These are one-time jobs, and the client usually "forces" you to make undue translations and use "ornamental" terms that do not exist, literal translations, etc. because they think they speak English. My experience shows that, after the local agencies, these are the worst kind of clients you can get. So, it's no use getting rid of the former and adding new of the latter, only to have to get rid of them in the next stage.
[Edited at 2016-02-13 16:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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EvaVer (X) 
Local time: 00:24
チェコ語 から フランス語
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There are some that I do not consider my clients any more, do not accept work from them, but they still contact me with job proposals.
| | | | Ventnai
スペイン
Local time: 00:24
ドイツ語 から 英語
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I have intentionally dropped a few along the way, mostly due to disagreements over payment - not paying for a half-completed job which the end client cancelled, dodgy TMs on which discounts were based and so on.
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