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Agencies with no proz.com profile
Thread poster: Ata Arif
Ata Arif
Ata Arif  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:32
Kurdish to English
+ ...
Oct 31, 2011

Hi all,
Looking at the Blue Board of any agency provides us with a good evaluation of the company's reputation in terms of payments and communication. The problem is that there are agencies who have no proz.com profile at all. I have one or two clients without proz.com profile however I do not have any problems with them so far. The problem is that when an oversea agency contacts you for a job and they do not have a proz.com profile it would be hard to trust or to try the risk. When you f... See more
Hi all,
Looking at the Blue Board of any agency provides us with a good evaluation of the company's reputation in terms of payments and communication. The problem is that there are agencies who have no proz.com profile at all. I have one or two clients without proz.com profile however I do not have any problems with them so far. The problem is that when an oversea agency contacts you for a job and they do not have a proz.com profile it would be hard to trust or to try the risk. When you face such a situation what are you going to do? Refusing the job straight away or taking the risk?
thank you for your contributions. ▲ Collapse
 
Ty Kendall
Ty Kendall  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:32
Hebrew to English
Do more research first Oct 31, 2011

I wouldn't dismiss an agency just because they don't have a BB record.
I'd at least try to Google them to see what I could find. There's bound to be some kind of trail, either good or bad.
I'd be slightly more suspicious/worried if I couldn't find anything. But even that isn't a sure sign of anything dodgy, just might be they are new or down to random chance.

It also depends on what the job is the unknown agency is asking of you. You can mitigate the risk if it is... See more
I wouldn't dismiss an agency just because they don't have a BB record.
I'd at least try to Google them to see what I could find. There's bound to be some kind of trail, either good or bad.
I'd be slightly more suspicious/worried if I couldn't find anything. But even that isn't a sure sign of anything dodgy, just might be they are new or down to random chance.

It also depends on what the job is the unknown agency is asking of you. You can mitigate the risk if it is a relatively small job which wouldn't interfere with other projects and any loss would be minimal. If the job is significant, the risk factor would be equally significant. But this is the same strategy you should use when dealing with any new agency, regardless of whether they have a glowing BB record, or none at all.

After all, the BB is not fool-proof and is far from infallible. ▲ Collapse
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 21:32
Spanish to English
+ ...
No more Oct 31, 2011

Ata Arif wrote:
The problem is that when an oversea agency contacts you for a job and they do not have a proz.com profile it would be hard to trust or to try the risk. When you face such a situation what are you going to do? Refusing the job straight away or taking the risk?


After 2 bad experiences where I didn't get paid, one with a person in China and one with an agency based in Hungary with a good BB rating (I put the latter down to a misunderstanding which I couldn't be bothered to argue about), I no longer accept work from new agencies or clients who are geographically too distant for me to "send the boys round" if they don't stump up.
 
Laura Bissio CT
Laura Bissio CT  Identity Verified
Uruguay
Local time: 16:32
English to Spanish
+ ...
they must have a web-site Oct 31, 2011

Almost any reputable agency (or even any other business company) has a web-site. If the site gives information about the agency, contact information, and feedback of happy customers which you can also trace, it is most likely that they are reliable.
If the amount is too high, you may ask for an advance payment. But then again, why should they trust you if you don't trust them. They don't know you either.

Good luck!
 
Russell Jones
Russell Jones  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:32
Italian to English
Suggestions Oct 31, 2011

Hi Ata

If you have one or two clients without a proz.com profile, why don't you enter their details on the Blueboard to assist other users.

Also, I don't rely exclusively on ProZ.com; I refer to 2 or 3 other Payment Practices lists if necessary. These tend to be associated with particular languages but not always.
 
Ata Arif
Ata Arif  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:32
Kurdish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Oct 31, 2011

thank you all for your recommendations.

best regards
 


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