Poll: Have you ever by mistake emailed something to the wrong client? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever by mistake emailed something to the wrong client?".
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| | | | Julian Holmes 
Japan
Local time: 20:16
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
But one of my old customers did once. They were playing both sides of the fence, doing technical writing and DTP for two top manufacturers in a particular sector of industry over here. And both of the companies specifically told the customer that they were to work exclusively for them and not for others, i.e. competitors, in that same sector.
Well, what did one of the tech writers do? He sent a draft of a manual that was being written for Company A by mistake to Company B. Tee hee! ... See more But one of my old customers did once. They were playing both sides of the fence, doing technical writing and DTP for two top manufacturers in a particular sector of industry over here. And both of the companies specifically told the customer that they were to work exclusively for them and not for others, i.e. competitors, in that same sector.
Well, what did one of the tech writers do? He sent a draft of a manual that was being written for Company A by mistake to Company B. Tee hee!  The proverbial hit the fan and the second in command at my ex customer (workforce of over a 1,000!) was hauled in front the directors of Company B. Apart from an angry talkdown - they'd broken an exclusivity agreement - they were given the option of choosing one or the other. My ex customer opted to continue working for Company A because they were longstanding and had greater name value. Once again, this was a bad move.  Company A's sales plummeted while company B gained an even bigger share of the market and developed and manufactured lots of products which needed a whole lot of technical documentation.
Sometimes mistakes have a big ripple effect. Something to ponder over your morning cuppa ▲ Collapse
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One time I sent an invoice to the wrong client. Their names are almost identical and so are the emailadresses of their respective accounts depts.
I felt terrible when I discovered it, but they just said it could happen to anyone.
Second time was when I delivered a job to a PM with the first name Anne; but in reality it was the wrong Anne (you know how the browser is very 'intuitive' and if you don't watch out you may hit the wrong namesake.
Fortunately, no serious... See more One time I sent an invoice to the wrong client. Their names are almost identical and so are the emailadresses of their respective accounts depts.
I felt terrible when I discovered it, but they just said it could happen to anyone.
Second time was when I delivered a job to a PM with the first name Anne; but in reality it was the wrong Anne (you know how the browser is very 'intuitive' and if you don't watch out you may hit the wrong namesake.
Fortunately, no serious harm done. But it taught me to be more careful. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 13:16
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
But a while back I thought I had sent an invoice to the wrong client, that is, 2 clients seemed to have received each others invoice. Upon doublechecking...after the fact , it turned out that each customer has received the right invoice. Hmmmm time for a vacation?
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| Unfortunately, yes | Sep 28, 2014 |
Julian Holmes wrote:
Something to ponder over your morning cuppa
Wow, food for thought indeed!
Sadly, I must confess I've almost done something like this -- not sending files, but I copied the wrong client in an e-mail about invoice info. But then one of the parties involved had already done the same to me (copied me by mistake in a message) in the past, so no harm, no foul.
Luckily there was no exclusivity contract and no disasterous effect whatsoever, as in Julian's case.
| | | | Melanie Nassar
United States
Local time: 14:16
German to English
+ ...
| I hope not, but | Sep 28, 2014 |
I did once address the client (in an email) by another client's name, which was embarrassing enough that I had to send an immediate apology.
On the other hand, I have on 2 occasions and from 2 different clients accidentally received other translators' invoicing information in an email thread that I obviously was not supposed to see. So I ignored it.
| | | | Elina Sellgren
Finland
Local time: 14:16
Member (2013)
English to Finnish
+ ...
| Yes, sort of | Sep 29, 2014 |
Once I returned a translation to the wrong PM of the same company. Another time I sent an invoice to a PM with the same first name (a rare one!) within the same company, they were just in different branches, or subsidiaries.
So not really to a completely different client but embarrassing enough.
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