Question on how to deal with abusers of the proz.com site

Zareh Darakjian Ph.D. wrote:

I am sure, the owner will say
I did not understand him right. He will say, "he was going to pay me as soon as possible". I don't believe that.. Our agreement was 1 or two weeks... Additionally, the fact that every time I asked him about my invoice or the date of the bank transfer, he answered me back with another job offer.. with no mention of the payment on the job completed. It was like I was supposed to understand his situation that he did not have the time to discuss such trifles as payment when
he is being showered with jobs and he needs people. He also refused to tell me the
total amount he will pay me. He just agreed to $0.10 per word and he advertised 400 lines. He said tables are not words or lines.. so? I guess by his calculations, he
should not really pay for tables. I wish I never had to do tables (with magnifying glasses)... and handwritten parts... He kept saying "so you don't want to do translations for me!" I said, "Right now, I am asking you questions about the date of the payment, why don't you answer me..". As the person I communicated with told me, that's a no, no. No discussion of payment once the job is done! He will do it if he deems it appropriate at his own suitable time. Just out of this world. But, he apparently provides a lot of work, (he sent me some 3 e-mails for incoming jobs, while not answering my questions regarding payment on the job completed"...

What he says in the initial agreement has no bearing on acutally what happens once the job is done. His answer will be "I never told him I was not going to pay".
Well, out of fear, from the way he was reacting, I already gave me a $200 discount on a $400.00 work. Still he is not happy..

Paula Tizzano wrote:

Dear friend:

There is a simple way to prevent this from happening again. Either if you get an advance payment or not, when you finish your translation you can use encryption or password protection for your file. You send the encrypted file. If your client does not pay at all, then you don't release the password, and he won't be able to open the file.
If he paid 20 per cent of the assignment on advance, then you send the equivalent part of the translation as non-encrypted regular file, and the rest in a separate encrypted or password-protected file.

If you use MS Word, you can use Tools -- Options -- Security, and then introduce a password required to open the file.

But as Microsoft software is very easy to hack, I strongly recommend that you use another way. For instance, encrypting during the compression process. Both RAR and ZIP files support encryption. You can not only encrypt file data, but also filenames, attributes and other elements. These methods use 128 encryption codes, so they are not so vulnerable. Hiring someone to break the encryption code would cost him more than repaying the money he owes to you!

Besides, you can explain this to your client as a basic policy of your bureau, saying that you encrypt files for their own security.

If your client is honest and intends to pay on time, he or she will not feel offended. So many things you buy or contract today have security passwords, and everyone accepts them quite naturally, as a way to validate authentic transactions.

Of course, if they don't pay you will have lost your time and devoted work anyway, but at least you won't feel totally cheated, as they won't be able to profit from your translation.

Good luck, and don't let these things discourage you too much.

Paula Tizzano wrote:

Dear friend:

There is a simple way to prevent this from happening again. Either if you get an advance payment or not, when you finish your translation you can use encryption or password protection for your file. You send the encrypted file. If your client does not pay at all, then you don't release the password, and he won't be able to open the file.
If he paid 20 per cent of the assignment on advance, then you send the equivalent part of the translation as non-encrypted regular file, and the rest in a separate encrypted or password-protected file.

If you use MS Word, you can use Tools -- Options -- Security, and then introduce a password required to open the file.

But as Microsoft software is very easy to hack, I strongly recommend that you use another way. For instance, encrypting during the compression process. Both RAR and ZIP files support encryption. You can not only encrypt file data, but also filenames, attributes and other elements. These methods use 128 encryption codes, so they are not so vulnerable. Hiring someone to break the encryption code would cost him more than repaying the money he owes to you!

Besides, you can explain this to your client as a basic policy of your bureau, saying that you encrypt files for their own security.

If your client is honest and intends to pay on time, he or she will not feel offended. So many things you buy or contract today have security passwords, and everyone accepts them quite naturally, as a way to validate authentic transactions.

Of course, if they don't pay you will have lost your time and devoted work anyway, but at least you won't feel totally cheated, as they won't be able to profit from your translation.

Good luck, and don't let these things discourage you too much.

Paula Tizzano wrote:

There is a simple way to prevent this from happening again. Either if you get an advance payment or not, when you finish your translation you can use encryption or password protection for your file. You send the encrypted file. If your client does not pay at all, then you don't release the password, and he won't be able to open the file.

Just last week, I took another job from an outsourcer who had a site on proz.com. His Blue Board had 9 favorable comments and one sobering one (he did not pay). I kind of believed
this single comment, yet took the job, somehow, thinking that all those 9 favorable comments on the BB should mean something. I was wrong again.. is it my fault?

Well, I am not asking in advance. The work is received by him!

What is the proz.com policy regarding outsources who want to have more than one site, under different names, on proz.com, especially when this is used for fraud? This person is a basic user. Not a member.

I, and the other victim of this outsoucer, do believe that one possibility for the existence of these 9 excellent evaluations is the provision of rave reviews in return for a "fistfull of dollars".

Will I be able to get paid in advance if I insist?

Zareh Darakjian Ph.D. wrote:
He can always buy good reviews by promising of more jobs (low-pay or no pay, eventually, or by threatening not to pay, unless a good review is submitted).

aburiaz wrote:
because I have also been the victim of such crooks found in this industry and usung the facility of Proz.com. I had to keep quiet because IMO, nothing can be done against such dishonest people except not accepting any further jobs offered by an unknown outsourcer.

Ritu Bhanot wrote:
Regarding the blue board, I know atleast one agency who has lots of nice comments from his friends and family members (and I don't know how he recieved the others). Now I know that one of the persons is his wife, another his partner (and now ex-partner) and so on... But no one else knows.

I had informed ProZ.com about it long ago but these remarks are still part of the blue-board record. So now I really don't know if I can believe all the positive records. I have started working the other way round. I look for negative comments. Of course, this is not fool-proof either but it is just my way of avoiding such people.

Elizabeth Adams wrote:
A simple phone call before starting a project is always a good idea, too. Never start an urgent project for someone who doesn't have the time to talk to you on the phone.

Ma.Elena Carrión de Medina wrote:

However, I´d like to ask you if you´d be willing to share the abuser´s name or company´s name so that we can be aware of any future job offered by him/her? Is not that we want to damage that person´s reputation -because I think s/he has done it already- but because your experience can help others avoid being victims of fraud, specially from the same client.

Chris Ryan wrote:

Dear Zareh,

I am sorry that things have not gone as you would have wished regarding payment but I think that the best way of dealing with unreliable payers is to advertise that fact! If you don't get paid within the time frame agreed, and wait an additional 9 days as you suggest, post it on Blue Board! Actually, why not wait longer, up to 30 days after the due date? Luckily you are only talking about a small sum, so even if you never got paid, you wouldn't be too burned. I am not implying it's OK to delay payments, just that when dealing with new contacts, there's always a risk involved. In order to protect yourself from such traps in the future, you could decide only to do work for well established, big reliable companies.

While asking for advance payment upon first contact may be an alternative to circumvent problems in the future - it's not very realistic. Within the field of translation via the Internet, payment is usually issued after the work has been received, not prior to it. if you take a risk, as yu did, and it doesn't pay off, then bid your time and post it on BB. Else, just work for companies that issue purchase orders, and invoice accordingly.

Regards
Chris