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Is this dishonest? (Company offers to pay commission to translators who refer work to them)
Thread poster: Tom in London
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Feb 22, 2017

I have just received the following email addressed to me personally, from an agency in Ireland with which I have never worked. On the face of it, this seems like a very underhand attempt to pay me to create work for the agency. Is my impression correct? Has anyone else received this?

Dear Tom,

We have updated our Home Page at www.XXXXX.com to give it
some more colour. Enjoy!
... See more
I have just received the following email addressed to me personally, from an agency in Ireland with which I have never worked. On the face of it, this seems like a very underhand attempt to pay me to create work for the agency. Is my impression correct? Has anyone else received this?

Dear Tom,

We have updated our Home Page at www.XXXXX.com to give it
some more colour. Enjoy!

We also remind translators on our database that where they are asked
for jobs which are not in their language pair(s), they can refer the work
to XXXXX Translations, and we pay the translator who refers such
work to us. See www.XXXXX.com/index.php?id_page=156
Kind regards,



Mr X,
XXXXX Translations,
IRELAND
t./f. +0000 0000 0000
www.XXXXX.com

An internet enterprise of professional translation services

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2017-02-22 14:14 GMT]
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Jennifer Forbes
Jennifer Forbes  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:19
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Fishy? Feb 22, 2017

Sounds a bit fishy to me, Tom.
In any case, why would they offer work to translators in their database which is not in their language pairs? Surely their database should show them which language pairs their translators handle?


 
Natalia Pedrosa
Natalia Pedrosa
Spain
Local time: 12:19
Member (2012)
English to Spanish
+ ...
To me, it is Feb 22, 2017

Hi Tom,

I received the same proposition apparently from the same translation provider and didn't bother to reply.

To me it seems a totally dishonest practice.

Cheers!

N.


 
Manuela Ribecai
Manuela Ribecai  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 12:19
English to French
+ ...
Hahahaha Feb 22, 2017

What a great idea!

Sure, dear XXX.com
I'll send you my best clients and associate my quality work with your probably low cost platform.
And you pay me for it ? Thanks.

Yes, Tom, you are right, it seems a way to bring them work.
I don't think it's dishonest but it's clearly a way to take us for fools.

Manuela


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:19
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Interesting Feb 22, 2017

So they want you to provide them with work. Hmmm, I'm sure they need it desperately, judging by the poor English in their email.

That's a good one, Tom. Thank you for the chuckle.


 
Mair A-W (PhD)
Mair A-W (PhD)
Germany
Local time: 12:19
German to English
+ ...
different client Feb 22, 2017

Jenny Forbes wrote:

Sounds a bit fishy to me, Tom.
In any case, why would they offer work to translators in their database which is not in their language pairs? Surely their database should show them which language pairs their translators handle?


Jenny, I think they mean that if you, a translator, registered with XXXXX, are approached (independently of XXXXX) by client/agency YY for a translation which you are not, yourself, able to take on, when you tell YY that you can't do it, you could recommend XXXXX instead -- thus directing new business to XXXXX.


 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 12:19
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Pay $ Feb 22, 2017

Manuela Ribecai wrote:
Sure, dear XXX.com
I'll send you my best clients and associate my quality work with your probably low cost platform.
And you pay me for it ? Thanks.


Can image how much they would pay. $5 to send them a project worth 5 figures.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
More comments please Feb 22, 2017

More comments please. As soon as I have a good selection, I'll send the agency a link to this discussion.



 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:19
Spanish to English
+ ...
XXXX ... Feb 22, 2017

I suppose Tom just made up the website link with XXXX, but perhaps others have noticed it does take you to a real website. No, not an XXXX site, but in the same vein - a dating agency /singles page. It even has "no-cost dating".

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
haha Feb 22, 2017

Mervyn Henderson wrote:

I suppose Tom just made up the website link with XXXX, but perhaps others have noticed it does take you to a real website. No, not an XXXX site, but in the same vein - a dating agency /singles page. It even has "no-cost dating".



Seems very suitable. If you get any proposals from prospective dates who don't interest you, I'll pay you 5c for each one you refer to me.

[Edited at 2017-02-22 13:02 GMT]


 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:19
Spanish to English
+ ...
No cost Feb 22, 2017

Maybe they're into no-cost translating, too. Sounds dodgy. If it looks like a scam and smells like a scam ...

 
Lianne van de Ven
Lianne van de Ven  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:19
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Talking about dishonesty Feb 22, 2017

Tom in London wrote:

More comments please. As soon as I have a good selection, I'll send the agency a link to this discussion.



If that's your intent, you should have mentioned that in the beginning of this thread (talking about dishonesty). Of course I know that these forums are public, but intentionally collecting responses without saying so, in order to confront 3rd parties brings this to a whole new level. Of course, knowing you for a while in these forums, I knew that your question was not as naive as it sounded, so I wondered why you were bothering to bring this up. Bored maybe?


 
Annamaria Amik
Annamaria Amik  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:19
Romanian to English
+ ...
The agency is a very decent one Feb 22, 2017

I received this, too.
Maybe you had some contact with them a long time ago and they still have your e-mail address?

I worked for them a few times and they were extremely decent and professional and paid my invoice within seconds from delivery every single time. They have a stellar BB, too.

I've heard about this referral thing only recently, another agency mentioned it, too. It seems it works out well for those who do refer clients to them. I think this other agenc
... See more
I received this, too.
Maybe you had some contact with them a long time ago and they still have your e-mail address?

I worked for them a few times and they were extremely decent and professional and paid my invoice within seconds from delivery every single time. They have a stellar BB, too.

I've heard about this referral thing only recently, another agency mentioned it, too. It seems it works out well for those who do refer clients to them. I think this other agency that mentioned it pays a small (few-percent) commission which can be a nice sum in the case of large jobs.

A message like this would surely look fishy to me, too, if I didn't have previous contact with them. But since I did, it sounds fine, surely we, translators, occasionally send similar messages to our clients?...
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Never Feb 22, 2017

Annamaria Amik wrote:

...surely we, translators, occasionally send similar messages to our clients?...


Never. Oh and BTW how do you know which agency this is?

[Edited at 2017-02-22 13:18 GMT]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Bored now. Feb 22, 2017

Lianne van de Ven wrote:

Tom in London wrote:

More comments please. As soon as I have a good selection, I'll send the agency a link to this discussion.



If that's your intent, you should have mentioned that in the beginning of this thread (talking about dishonesty). Of course I know that these forums are public, but intentionally collecting responses without saying so, in order to confront 3rd parties brings this to a whole new level. Of course, knowing you for a while in these forums, I knew that your question was not as naive as it sounded, so I wondered why you were bothering to bring this up. Bored maybe?


Try not to personalise it please.


 
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Is this dishonest? (Company offers to pay commission to translators who refer work to them)







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