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Client stopped responding to emails.. Thread poster: Maria Johansson
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Hi there,
I have been working for a translation agency who I contacted directly through their website. They quickly got in touch and gave me 2 projects at short notice and were very responsive during the 3 weeks we worked together, even reminding me to send the invoice at the end of the project, and quickly sent me a 3rd one.
However, now I have submitted all 3 projects within a month (and only recently sent out the invoice for part 1 & 2), they have stopped responding ... See more Hi there,
I have been working for a translation agency who I contacted directly through their website. They quickly got in touch and gave me 2 projects at short notice and were very responsive during the 3 weeks we worked together, even reminding me to send the invoice at the end of the project, and quickly sent me a 3rd one.
However, now I have submitted all 3 projects within a month (and only recently sent out the invoice for part 1 & 2), they have stopped responding to emails. The outstanding invoice is quite large and I have worked full time for them for the last 3 weeks. Is there anything I can do? They have no records on their bluebord here on proz.com and I have googled them without finding any complaints.
Is this a common situation? I am fairly new to freelance work and have had no problem getting paid for other work.
Thanks
Maria ▲ Collapse
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a printed written agreemet with them?
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Maria Johansson 
Sweden
Local time: 16:22
Swedish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Only email correspondance | Apr 4, 2011 |
so I assume there isn't much I can do here? They did seem as a serious business so I had no reason to doubt them, and I couldn't afford to lose the project by asking for an upfront payment.
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| Is it a European firm? | Apr 4, 2011 |
Are they based in the UK or in Europe?
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Maria Johansson
Sweden
Local time: 16:22
Swedish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | It is a Lithuanian firm | Apr 4, 2011 |
while I am based in the UK, does this change my standpoint? I am adament to do all I can not to let them get off the hook easily, if anything.
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if they are lithuanian, than I assume the general EU rules apply, so once you've sent the invoices, they are considered binding, in whatever form and shape.
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Maria Johansson
Sweden
Local time: 16:22
Swedish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Is there a next step? | Apr 4, 2011 |
Thanks all. As the situation is new to me, is there an obvious next step I can take in this situation?
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Signe Golly
Denmark
Local time: 16:22
English to Danish
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| email correspondence is written proof | Apr 4, 2011 |
Assuming that they are a real agency and the emails were sent from their company email domain (and not an address that is simply very similar, which is a scammer technique), it is my understanding that email correspondence counts as written proof. If you can present emails that state the rate, deadline, payment terms, final go-ahead, etc. then that must be adhered to the same as a PO.
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imatahan
Brazil
Local time: 11:22
English to Portuguese
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It's becoming a more and more common situation and the complaints are shown almost daily here.
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Thomas Pfann
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:22
Member (2006)
English to German
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| Give us more information? | Apr 4, 2011 |
I'm not sure what kind of timeframes we are talking about. You say you sent your invoice "only recently". When did you send it? When was the payment due?
What do you mean by "they stopped responding to emails"? Are there any open issues? Do you need to discuss anything specific with them?
Have they actually missed a payment deadline or are you just worried because you haven't heard from them after you sent your invoice? In my experience it is not unusual for clients no... See more I'm not sure what kind of timeframes we are talking about. You say you sent your invoice "only recently". When did you send it? When was the payment due?
What do you mean by "they stopped responding to emails"? Are there any open issues? Do you need to discuss anything specific with them?
Have they actually missed a payment deadline or are you just worried because you haven't heard from them after you sent your invoice? In my experience it is not unusual for clients not to confirm receipt of invoices and not to be in touch between projects. ▲ Collapse
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Maria Johansson
Sweden
Local time: 16:22
Swedish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | in the middle of a project | Apr 4, 2011 |
Hi Thomas,
On this ocassion I haven't been chasing the payment itself but they stopped responding to emails in the middle of a project, although I still in good faith submitted the work according to deadline. Since then I haven't had a single email for over a week when they usually all throughout the last 3 weeks working together have responded within hours, any time of day, to any email sent which makes me think this is very out of character and inconvenient due to the outstanding ... See more Hi Thomas,
On this ocassion I haven't been chasing the payment itself but they stopped responding to emails in the middle of a project, although I still in good faith submitted the work according to deadline. Since then I haven't had a single email for over a week when they usually all throughout the last 3 weeks working together have responded within hours, any time of day, to any email sent which makes me think this is very out of character and inconvenient due to the outstanding invoices.
Hope that clarifies. At the moment I am mainly looking for options and will take further action once the invoice date has expired.
Thanks for all your help. ▲ Collapse
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Trudy Peters
United States
Local time: 10:22
German to English
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You said they aren't listed on the Blue Board. Why don't you enter all the company information you have on the Blue Board? Maybe some people who have worked for them will make an entry.
Good luck.
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Have you tried other means of communication? Phone, skype?
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and never do something again in this way.
Treat it as a payment for commercial training.
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| Assume the worst | Apr 5, 2011 |
Use any available means to contact them: phone, skype, registered letter to their address with your invoice, etc. Find out if they're a real agency or not, and whether they have a bad reputation or not.
It's also safe to start looking up collection agencies in your area who can handle international collections. If you don't receive your payment within a few days of it being due, I'd say skip the emails and go straight to a collector. It's less stressful in the long run.
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