| User | Thread poster: conejo What can I do to collect payment from an agency in the US? |
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conejo 
United States
Local time: 15:28
 Member (2003)
Japanese to English
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I apologize if this has been posted in other forums, but I couldn't find any answers in the forums from the past year, so please bear with me.
Background: I am in the US, and the agency is also in the US.
There is a new client that claimed payment would be in 30 days before I worked with them. However, payment is now more than 2 weeks late, and I haven't received payment. I contacted them multiple times after the invoice was late, and they said 'we'll pay you this week' or 'we'll pay you tomorrow' just about every time I contacted them. However, they have not followed through on their promises, because I still don't have payment. It is a large amount of money that is causing a lot of problems for me, and I need to get it ASAP.
What can I do to get paid, or what legal recourse do I have? So far, contacting them every 2-3 days and saying 'where is my payment' and them saying 'we'll pay you tomorrow' and then them not paying, is obviously not working.
Please advise??
Thanks.
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Elías Sauza
Mexico
Local time: 15:28
 Member (2002)
English to Spanish
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Enter a (lowest) rating for the agency. This has worked for me a few times, thanks to the Proz.com staff efforts.
HTH
Elías
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Vie007
United States
Local time: 13:28
Vietnamese to English
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Or, you can file a claim with your Small Claims Court if amount < $10K.
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 21:28
Member (2007)
English
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| | Make things sound official? | Feb 9 |
Hello,
I really don't know how things work in the US so can't give any concrete advice. However, I have found in the past that the more formal the demand, the more chance it has of being listened to. A phone call is easily dismissed from the mind. Using formal language and including "If I do not receive your full payment within n days, I will have no alternative but to initiate debt recovery procedures" (or similar) in a letter sent by mail to their registered office is likely to have more impact.
Good luck.
Sheila
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT
Spain
Local time: 22:28
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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Elías Sauza wrote:
Enter a (lowest) rating for the agency. This has worked for me a few times, thanks to the Proz.com staff efforts. |
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You seem to recommend to use the Blueboard as a collection method, something I entirely disagree with. Now it is already clear that our colleague's customer is not a reliable business partner, and if a rating is added to their page in the Blueboard, the comment should stay even if our colleague gets paid!
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Vladimír Hoffman
Slovakia
Local time: 22:28
Member (2009)
English to Slovak
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The agency clearly avoids of paying its debts. Reason is irrelevant. They could use funds to cover other overdue payments, they could even use funds to cover their personal needs (unfortunately, I have faced to both types of conduct) and they continue to mislead the asker. Negative comment on Blue Board (maybe after one warning) is exactly what they deserve.
Actually, I am a bit tired of the agencies that try to move their real or imaginary business risks on my shoulders (our clients doesn't pay to us, our clients press us to lower our prices), although I has no share in their business profits.
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
and if a rating is added to their page in the Blueboard, the comment should stay even if our colleague gets paid! |
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[Edited at 2012-02-09 09:42 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-02-09 09:42 GMT]
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT
Spain
Local time: 22:28
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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Vladimír Hoffman wrote:
Negative comment on Blue Board (maybe after one warning) is exactly what they deserve. |
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Exactly. What I mean to say is that, if a bad rating is given in the Blueboard, the rating should stay there even if you get paid. Many agencies pressure us to remove the bad rating after they have paid, and it would be a mistake if we did.
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Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 22:28
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
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I disagree that a translator should go complaining to a customer every couple of days after only 2 weeks of delay. It makes the translator look like a novice.
More information would help us give more reliable input. What is the company's reputation? Do they have administrative problems? Cash flow problems? Is it worth it to get paid a bit late, albeit reliably?
If the company has been proven to be unreliable, the translator still looks like a novice, since he did not require up-front payment after doing his due-diligence.
I don't mean to do anyone down here, but I'm calling 'em as I see 'em.
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Katalin Horvath McClure
United States
Local time: 16:28
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
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| | Payment terms should be respected | Feb 10 |
Edward Potter wrote:
I disagree that a translator should go complaining to a customer every couple of days after only 2 weeks of delay.
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Well, "only 2 weeks of delay" is not "only", especially if they agreed on 30 days. That is half again the original payment term. On top of it, the OP said it is a large amount. I don't think it is fair to call her novice just because she insists on the agreed payment terms.
The problem is not the two weeks delay, but that they keep promising payment (this week, tomorrow), which then does not arrive. This should make anyone concerned, novice or not.
If the cause of the delay is that their normal payment cycle is 45 days, or in fact anything longer than 30 days, they should have stated that at the beginning. If they did not clarify that at the beginning, they should have done so at the first inquiry about the late payment.
But they did not say anything like that, so it looks like they are just simply avoiding payment.
Katalin
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Ionela Popescu
United States
| | I had a similar problem | Feb 10 |
I had a similar problem with an agency that still owes me money after 6 months. The reason why I cannot take any other action besides asking them to be paid for my 20 hours of work is the fact that they did not send me a Purchase Order in the beginning. The OP is located in the US just like me and the agency owing me money. If the OP does not have a PO (Purchase Order), no collection agency in the US will take the case (and I have tried very hard, believe me!), simply because there is no official agreement for the Order (except maybe for e-mails, which in the opinion of collection agencies are not enough). Why that is? I wish I knew.
About the small claims court: you are free to sue but unless the defendant lives in the same state as you, you will actually have to travel to the location of the defendant (that is at least the WA State law, so please check with your state law) so in my case it is out of the question to travel 3 thousand miles (or maybe more) for a $600 unpaid invoice as that would imply spending more than the agency owes me.
So unless they owe you a lot ( more than $1000 at least), maybe it is worth to travel. But what if there will be more than one hearing? Think about that part.
Remember: you should never accept a project without a Purchase Order. A simple e-mail saying "yes" or "go ahead" is not enough.
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mohan kumar
India
Local time: 01:58
Member (Mar 2012)
English to Telugu
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| | yes, much of the agencies will do | Feb 10 |
many of the times I too hadn't recieved payments on the said time.
so Its better to check the agencies reputation on various forums and boards, taking a opinion of co transaltors avoid also avoids problems
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 21:28
Member (2007)
English
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| | That's why so many of our clients pay so late! | Feb 10 |
Edward Potter wrote:
I disagree that a translator should go complaining to a customer every couple of days after only 2 weeks of delay. It makes the translator look like a novice. |
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So, the more experienced you are, the longer you should be prepared to wait for your payment? We are supposed to give 0% credit on an indefinite basis to our clients?
| Is it worth it to get paid a bit late, albeit reliably? |
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Isn't that a contradiction of terms? How can you call a client reliable if they don't pay on time?
Sheila
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Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 22:28
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
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| | Good discussion here | Feb 10 |
I figured I would get some reaction following my controversial comments .
In a perfect world, the protests to what I said above are entirely correct: 30 days was agreed, therefore the translator has every right in the world to badger the customer soon thereafter. It is an injustice and breach of contract.
However, I like to play the ball where it lies. In my experience a good amount of customers have some delay, by perhaps a couple of weeks, sometimes a month, due to a variety of reasons. It is up to the translator to guess why there was a delay. If the translator finds all delays in all cases completely unacceptable, then it is time to only take on customers who always pay right on time. Would someone provide me with a list, please?
In practice, it might be worth considering some flexibility, depending on the customer.
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José Henrique Lamensdorf
Brazil
Local time: 17:28
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
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| | I tend to disagree | Feb 10 |
Edward Potter wrote:
... I like to play the ball where it lies. In my experience a good amount of customers have some delay, by perhaps a couple of weeks, sometimes a month, due to a variety of reasons. It is up to the translator to guess why there was a delay. If the translator finds all delays in all cases completely unacceptable, then it is time to only take on customers who always pay right on time. Would someone provide me with a list, please?
In practice, it might be worth considering some flexibility, depending on the customer. |
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How many agencies have you met so far that are flexible in their deadlines? ... unless their initially required turnaround is utterly impossible, and you manage to convince them that it really is.
I've met none to date. If we mutually agreed that I'd deliver the translation by, say, Wednesday noon in a certain time zone, any PM will go postal if they haven't received it by then. Yet the very same PM may have the chutzpah to tell me, "Yeah, we agreed to pay you on Monday last week, however we'll only be able to do it some time within the next two weeks. You must have some patience." An agreement should be upheld by both sides, otherwise it will turn into disagreement.
For the past 38 years I have never missed a translation deadline (unless the client/outsourcer changed the request under way). I prefer to deliver two days early than two hours late. However I'll admit my occasional leniency: there are three intrinsically late-paying outsourcers around that I only dropped for good after having done more than just the first job for them.
Just as I respect that my clients may have their reasons to need that job done by the date I agreed to, I require them to reckon that I might have my reasons to get paid by the date they agreed to.
[Edited at 2012-02-10 15:14 GMT]
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