Late payment - time to teach someone a lesson

Here's a story about a Montréal-based translation agency I have done the occasional little job for here and there over the last three years or so. I have worked for them a few times, and each time they needed to be reprimanded before they made payment.

Here's the latest on that "outfit":

This morning I get the following email from one of their PMs:

Can you please translate a text of 5250 words from German to English?

Nothing more, nothing less. So I replied:

As I have already explained to you several times on previous occasions, any request for a translation project MUST be accompanied by:

1) an indication of the subject matter AND the actual document to be translated (I never commit to anything unless and until I have seen the actual document in question)

2) all the information regarding the project, i.e., project number, purchase order (PO) and your expected delivery date.

I cannot possibly answer a question that is given in a complete vacuum of facts.

Well, they sent another message, with the file attached, and, wouldn't you know it, it ended up being only 260 words to be delivered the next day.

What they didn't know was that I set them a little trap. You see, they still owe me money (about $80) from a previous job done several months ago.

I did the small translation but didn't send it out to them. Instead, I sent them an email tonight and told them about the outstanding balance and that they would receive today's translation only once I had received payment for the previous invoice.

They needed their translation by 8am Montréal time, so I sent them the link to my online/PayPal payment page and told them to send the money ASAP and that they would get their translation as soon as I saw the notification of payment received in my inbox.

I also told them that from now on all payment would have to be made in advance because of their chronic tardiness when it comes to paying their translators.

The whole thing doesn't involve a fortune, but since they seem pressed for time with this most recent translation, I figured this would be as good a time as any to teach them a valuable lesson.

I'll report back and let you all know how this story ended.

Update:

Here’s the update I have promised you (sorry, I’ve been too busy to post here).

The next morning I received irate emails and voicemail messages from the agency. I repeated my demands: Settle your outstanding balance by PayPal ASAP, or you won’t get your translation today.

One of their managers sent me an email and lied to me by claiming that they’d never received my original invoice. Too bad for them, because I had both read receipts and actual acknowledgments of my invoice having been received all those months ago.

I told him to stop lying to me and send his payment instead. A few minutes later, he asked for my PayPal email address so that he could send the money. Well, there you go!

About ten minutes later, I did get a notification email from PayPal that payment had been made, but the agency didn’t put it on its credit card but used the eCheck option instead, which meant that payment would take 6-8 business days to clear – and in the meantime, the agency could cancel the transaction quite easily once they had received my translation.

I told them that this wasn’t the deal, as I had demanded immediate and instant payment.

To cut a long story short, they never got my translation, so they had to find someone else on the fly to do it for them, and the eCheck payment did eventually clear.

But I’ll never work for them again, and I told them so in a very harsh email.

Readers can contact me privately if they want to know the name of the agency.

Comments

[Tom Ellett]

Nice one, Werner! I look forward to hearing the outcome...

[Werner Patels]

Well, I am in the process of battling those crooks right now. Let's just say for the time being that they have provided me with sufficient evidence that they are in fact crooks.

I will update this story soon.

[Denis Bousquet]

Good move Werner. However, I am surprised you did not ask for payment for this job at the same time. Two birds, one stone. Oh well, good luck anyways. I have been at it for more than 30 years and whenever someone pulled that trick on me, I would tell them no jobs until past due payment is received, and after that, COD all the time. Large contracts? 25 % down, 25 % half way, balance due on delivery, no matter who the client is, new or long time. "Nice guy" does not exist in business lingo.

[Judy Jenner]

Agreed. This is a difficult situation, and of course that one, as entrepreneurs, we must face. Personally I would have also not done any more work unless full payment for previous work is received. After all, you are extending free credit. Keep us posted on the results! I don't work with agencies, only direct clients, but as you know it, the one project I did for an agency (as a favor to a friend) was a disaster. They did not pay, and I just sent them to collections today. Eagerly awaiting the outcome of that!

[Victoriya]

So, what was the outcome, really?

[Werner Patels]

Sorry for taking so long, but I have now posted the updated information above.

[Jose Henrique Lamensdorf]

One trick such an agency tried to pull on me was to pay directly via Xoom - which I like, because the money goes straignt to my bank account within less than 24 hours on weekdays.

The agency sent me the colorful confirmed transaction message they got by e-mail from Xoom, which has a tracking number. So I checked that tracking number, and found out that the transaction had been cancelled. I phoned Xoom to inquire if there was any problem on my side, and their CSR told me I was OK, but according to their records the sender had cancelled the transaction two minutes after having made it.

The point here is that he just did made that transaction to have something to show that he had paid, cancelling it immediately afterwards.

Watch out!

[Werner Patels, M.A.]

Great story and advice, Jose. Indeed, there are so many crooked agencies out there, each one trying all sorts of tricks to wriggle out paying their translators, that freelance translators need to be extra careful these days. I'm almost tempted to say that there are more crooked "agencies" than real, professional ones.