changing terms after quotes
Thread poster: nini24
nini24
nini24
United States
Local time: 03:38
English to Chinese
+ ...
Sep 14, 2016

Hi everyone,

I received a request from an agency for an interpreting assignment for which there is the need of staying in hotel the night before. The assignment will need two interpreters.

The clients pay for the accommodations, per diem for meals and a full day's rate for a 3-hour interpretation. I quoted the full day's rate for the 3-hour assignment because the location is more than 150 miles away.

The client changed their mind, instead of two interpreter
... See more
Hi everyone,

I received a request from an agency for an interpreting assignment for which there is the need of staying in hotel the night before. The assignment will need two interpreters.

The clients pay for the accommodations, per diem for meals and a full day's rate for a 3-hour interpretation. I quoted the full day's rate for the 3-hour assignment because the location is more than 150 miles away.

The client changed their mind, instead of two interpreters, they want to hire only one interpreter to do the work of two interpreters, so the 3-hour work becomes 6 hours, and they will pay the interpreter the agreed upon one full day's rate, the reason being 6 hours are within the full day time frame?

I don't agree, because I weighed in all the elements when I made the quote, including the 3-hour work duration.

What are your thoughts on the situation.

Thanks.

nini
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Steffen Walter
Steffen Walter  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:38
Member (2002)
English to German
+ ...
Steadfastly refuse to work alone Sep 14, 2016

Any assignment in excess of, say, 1-1.5 hours should be covered by a team of two interpreters, and you need to make this abundantly clear to your client - 'take it or leave it', as they say. Also, if this is indeed about a three-hour assignment, you would work in tandem and take turns every 20 or 30 minutes, resulting in an (active) workload of about 1.5 hours per interpreter. (I don't quite get how you arrive at six hours, but a full-day rate would be justified in any case.)

[Edited at
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Any assignment in excess of, say, 1-1.5 hours should be covered by a team of two interpreters, and you need to make this abundantly clear to your client - 'take it or leave it', as they say. Also, if this is indeed about a three-hour assignment, you would work in tandem and take turns every 20 or 30 minutes, resulting in an (active) workload of about 1.5 hours per interpreter. (I don't quite get how you arrive at six hours, but a full-day rate would be justified in any case.)

[Edited at 2016-09-14 20:02 GMT]
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nini24
nini24
United States
Local time: 03:38
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
3-hour assignment Sep 14, 2016

Steffen Walter wrote:

Any assignment in excess of, say, 1-1.5 hours should be covered by a team of two interpreters, and you need to make this abundantly clear to your client - 'take it or leave it', as they say. Also, if this is indeed about a three-hour assignment, you would work in tandem and take turns every 20 or 30 minutes, resulting in an (active) workload of about 1.5 hours per interpreter. (I don't quite get how you arrive at six hours, but a full-day rate would be justified in any case.)

[Edited at 2016-09-14 20:02 GMT]


Sorry I wasn't clear on the assignment duration:
the entire 3 hours were assigned to me alone, the other interpreter was also assigned for 3 hours for another aspect of the event. Now they wanted to get away with just hiring one interpreter, so the other interpreter's share of work (3 hours) is going to be added to my share, so I will work for 6 hours.

The agency is saying working 6 hours is still within the full day timeframe.

I am thinking leave it unless my original quote is upwardly raised.

Thanks for mentioning the breaks which I will include in my re-negotiation.


 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 04:38
Romanian to English
+ ...
It depends on the language Sep 15, 2016

Since in my pair there aren't too many judicial interpreters, I work on most cases by myself. Recently I had a 9-hours long deposition (with a one hour brake), or I flew to Chicago (from Philadelphia) for a 7-hours hearing. First of all, you should charge your rate for the day. It does not matter if it is 1 or 10 interpreters. I charge 1/2 day for each trip.

The only time we worked as a team, it was for a delegation of judges that visited the US for a week and we spent all the time
... See more
Since in my pair there aren't too many judicial interpreters, I work on most cases by myself. Recently I had a 9-hours long deposition (with a one hour brake), or I flew to Chicago (from Philadelphia) for a 7-hours hearing. First of all, you should charge your rate for the day. It does not matter if it is 1 or 10 interpreters. I charge 1/2 day for each trip.

The only time we worked as a team, it was for a delegation of judges that visited the US for a week and we spent all the time with them.

[Edited at 2016-09-15 01:51 GMT]
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changing terms after quotes







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