| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Client didn't pay, now more than month later saying my work was too similar to MT Thread poster: bebee_lut
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bebee_lut 
Czech Republic
Local time: 08:17
English to Czech
+ ...
Hi everyone,
I'm not sure what to do in my case - I did subtitle translation (MTPE, ENG->CZE) for a turkish translation agency. I have worked for them before and they have always paid me (although basically every time it was late and I always had to e-mail them to remind them about the payment). I have finished the project in late December, in January I've sent an invoice. They have 30 days payment policy, so because it was more than 30 days, I've messaged them to remind them about the pay... See more Hi everyone,
I'm not sure what to do in my case - I did subtitle translation (MTPE, ENG->CZE) for a turkish translation agency. I have worked for them before and they have always paid me (although basically every time it was late and I always had to e-mail them to remind them about the payment). I have finished the project in late December, in January I've sent an invoice. They have 30 days payment policy, so because it was more than 30 days, I've messaged them to remind them about the payment... and they have replied that the files were highly similar to machine translation and were rejected and had to be re-delivered (= done by someone else). They've never said anything to me, never e-mailed me that my work has been rejected.
I have no idea what to do, I've been working in subtitle translation for almost 7 years now and I have never had any issues, my clients are always content with the work I do and I know that I have done a proper job... there's no way the files I've delivered could be similar to machine translation. I still have the files as a "proof", but I have no idea what to do.
[Edited at 2023-03-03 18:08 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Stepan Konev
Russian Federation
Local time: 09:17
English to Russian
| Similar to scam | Mar 4, 2023 |
A translation can be either poor or good. If the translation is poor, they should demonstrate that and then unambiguously reject it. If the translation is good, it doesn't matter what it is similar to. The MT output they use for their comparison is out of your control. You can't control similarity between your translation and their fantasy/MT/whatever they fabricate on their side to evade paying you. Unless your translation quality is proved to be low, their behavior is just a blatant fraud.
| | | | Jan Truper
Germany
Local time: 08:17
Member (2016)
English to German
Bee Lutovska wrote:
I did subtitle translation (MTPE, ENG->CZE)
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there's no way the files I've delivered could be similar to machine translation.
I don't understand the concept. If you do MTPE (at "MTPE rates"), of course the result will be similar to machine translation.
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Bee Lutovska wrote:
Hi everyone,
I'm not sure what to do in my case - I did subtitle translation (MTPE, ENG->CZE) for a turkish translation agency. I have worked for them before and they have always paid me (although basically every time it was late and I always had to e-mail them to remind them about the payment). I have finished the project in late December, in January I've sent an invoice. They have 30 days payment policy, so because it was more than 30 days, I've messaged them to remind them about the payment... and they have replied that the files were highly similar to machine translation and were rejected and had to be re-delivered (= done by someone else). They've never said anything to me, never e-mailed me that my work has been rejected.
I have no idea what to do, I've been working in subtitle translation for almost 7 years now and I have never had any issues, my clients are always content with the work I do and I know that I have done a proper job... there's no way the files I've delivered could be similar to machine translation. I still have the files as a "proof", but I have no idea what to do.
[Edited at 2023-03-03 18:08 GMT]
Tell them that if they don't pay you'll be taking legal action.
In the UK we have a "Small Claims Court" that offers a straightforward route for pursuing claims below a certain amount. Do you have similar where you are?
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| If the client is in the BB | Mar 4, 2023 |
Submit a non payment report for the staff to see, they will contact them asking why, (2 months are too much for complaining)
This can work, it worked for me twice, also please enter a low rate in the BB, so you will see how to post a non payment report.
This is the faster way just for starting.
I hope this helps
Good luck!
[Edited at 2023-03-04 13:50 GMT]
| | | | | Subtitle translation is outside the province of MT | Mar 4, 2023 |
At least in my language pair, but I'm sure English to Czech is similar. It takes lots of creative thinking to translate things while remaining mindful of the character count. If you take all of my subtitle translations, you won't find a single complete sentence that's translated in a machine-like way. I've always found subtitle jobs particularly difficult. So, I can't figure out how such an accusation could arise in the first place if you were doing subtitle translation properly
| | | | bebee_lut
Czech Republic
Local time: 08:17
English to Czech
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you for all your replies, tbh I've been freelancing for years and this is the first time I had any issues, so I'm kinda baffled... plus I've been working for them for over a year, so I don't get this sudden change of attitude.
I'll definitely go through the BB, hopefully it will get resolved, but I guess that if not I'm gonna have to take a legal action. It's over 1000 euros, so definitely not something I could just dismiss.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 08:17
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Don't let this pass | Mar 5, 2023 |
Whatever you do, don't let this pass. Your client is clearly malicious. A complaint can only be valid if it is accompanied by clear evidence of your mistakes. Vague descriptions like 'it's too close to the MT output' are mostly worthless. It's in the same category as 'we don't like your style'. Now, style can be a real problem if it's bad, but they will have to prove it anyway.
Oh, and ditch your client afterwards.
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Bee Lutovska wrote:
Thank you for all your replies, tbh I've been freelancing for years and this is the first time I had any issues, so I'm kinda baffled... plus I've been working for them for over a year, so I don't get this sudden change of attitude.
I'll definitely go through the BB, hopefully it will get resolved, but I guess that if not I'm gonna have to take a legal action. It's over 1000 euros, so definitely not something I could just dismiss.
Let us know how you get on - it may help someone else!
| | | | finnword1
United States
Local time: 02:17
English to Finnish
+ ...
| Your client needs to wake up | Mar 6, 2023 |
I read someplace that 99% of world's translations are made using MT.
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 08:17
French to English
I have never had this problem as a freelancer thank goodness, but we had it at the agency.
IMHO if there is a real problem, the client raises it with you as soon as they realise. Unless there was no urgency whatsoever, this should be pretty immediate. With sub-titling, it's mostly needed yesterday.
When the client raises quality issues only once the bill is overdue, they are making the claim in bad faith. At the agency, we always asked for the final version with all their co... See more I have never had this problem as a freelancer thank goodness, but we had it at the agency.
IMHO if there is a real problem, the client raises it with you as soon as they realise. Unless there was no urgency whatsoever, this should be pretty immediate. With sub-titling, it's mostly needed yesterday.
When the client raises quality issues only once the bill is overdue, they are making the claim in bad faith. At the agency, we always asked for the final version with all their corrections, and explanations as to why those corrections were introduced.
Nine times out of ten, we never got this final version and the client quietly paid up.
Sometimes we'd get a final version, often as a fax with scribbles all over my translation. I would then go systematically through every single modification and label it according to categories such as "OK if you like" or "no that's plain wrong" or "that's completely subjective" or "that's the wrong register, it would be appropriate in a police report but not in a press release about an art exhibition".
It was important to include at least something in the "OK" category, so that it didn't look like I was just rejecting everything outright.
The client mostly paid up once I sent that document.
After such incidents, the client mostly didn't bother to come back any more, after all they were more interested in not paying than in getting good quality translations, so it didn't make much sense to work with someone who paid attention to quality and required payment. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 02:17
Japanese to English
+ ...
| similar to MT | Mar 7, 2023 |
I once had a client like this. Their claims were baseless. I took them to Small Claims Court and they paid up.
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The client should be able to prove that the translation submitted is really a MT output if they claim so, but moreover, if they find any problems with the quality of the translation, they should report it immediately, not when the payment is due.
A typical and dirty tactics of avoiding payment.
| | | | Nikolay Novitskiy
Russian Federation
Local time: 11:17
Member (2018)
English to Russian
I had such a client once - they refused to pay for segments "similar to MT".
It was not a problem for long segments, but when you have only 1-2 words in a segment, it's difficult to provide a "different" translation. Yet they refused to pay.
And I found a solution. I provided terrifically wrong translation for short segments, "different from MT". And was finally paid
And yes, the proofreade... See more I had such a client once - they refused to pay for segments "similar to MT".
It was not a problem for long segments, but when you have only 1-2 words in a segment, it's difficult to provide a "different" translation. Yet they refused to pay.
And I found a solution. I provided terrifically wrong translation for short segments, "different from MT". And was finally paid
And yes, the proofreader who was checking my text didn't correct my mistakes as well. For the same silly reason ▲ Collapse
| | | | Chris Spurgin
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:17
Member (2016)
Russian to English
+ ...
| MTPE looks like MT. Shock horror. | Mar 7, 2023 |
I love the chutzpah of agencies who say "MTPE output should make sufficient use of the MT provided, even though it would be easier to translate from scratch, and of course we will apply an MTPE discount, but it can't look too machine-y, otherwise we won't pay at all".
If they want translations for peanuts, they should have the honesty to say so.
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