Ethics of contacting client directly Thread poster: nikia
| nikia Local time: 19:11 Persian (Farsi) to English
I was getting great projects through an agency that solicited my services and was sending work my way for a number of months. It seems that the organization that needed translation services is breaking its relationship with the agency, and I'm wondering whether it is conventional and/or ethical to by-pass the agency and contact the client directly. | | | esperantisto Local time: 02:11 Member (2006) English to Russian + ... SITE LOCALIZER Basically not, but | Jul 31, 2007 |
how did you know about that organization? If you knew them other way than throught the agency, so, it would not be clearly UNethical to contact them directly. But no sooner they break with the agency. | | | Samuel Murray Netherlands Local time: 01:11 Member (2006) English to Afrikaans + ... Not unethical | Jul 31, 2007 |
nikia wrote: It seems that the organization that needed translation services is breaking its relationship with the agency, and I'm wondering whether it is conventional and/or ethical to by-pass the agency and contact the client directly. The ethics of contacting the client directly usually has to do with undercutting the agency, which is bad for the industry. In your case, however, the end-client had broken off its relationship with the agency with no declared intent to bypass it. I would therefore not regard it as unethical for you to contact and work for the end-client... although in fairness you should charge what the agency had charged. But... read your contract with the agency first. There may be a clause in it prohibiting this. | | | nikia Local time: 19:11 Persian (Farsi) to English TOPIC STARTER
Thanks esperantisto and Samuel, your advice makes a lot of sense. | |
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Textklick Local time: 00:11 German to English + ... In memoriam
nikia wrote: It seems that the organization that needed translation services is breaking its relationship with the agency, and I'm wondering whether it is conventional and/or ethical to by-pass the agency and contact the client directly. It might well "seem", but are you sure? If the agency hasn't confirmed this to you, why not ask them and inform them of your intentions? You might even learn something interesting, like: "We couldn't bear working with them any more, they are bad payers," or whatever... Keep yourself covered for a possible direct appoach. Good luck Chris | | | nikia Local time: 19:11 Persian (Farsi) to English TOPIC STARTER Directly contacting agency | Jul 31, 2007 |
Thanks, Chris. I think I will contact the agency directly. I have a good relationship with my project manager at the agency, and I'll run the whole thing by him. | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Ethics of contacting client directly Trados Business Manager Lite | Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio
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