| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Do you usually get notified by your clients about an expected delay in payment before the due date? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you usually get notified by your clients about an expected delay in payment before the due date?".
View the poll results »
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And I find it so annoying.
This week, I asked a client about my due payment (due the end of last month), and they didn't even bother to reply my 5 or 6 e-mails. In the end I had to get very serious.
| | | | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:05
German to English
+ ...
In 14 years nobody has ever told me they anticipate a payment being late, not that I recall, at least. I have had some excellent payers apologise for paying after a week instead of their usual two days, but that's it.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 18:05
Spanish to English
+ ...
Most of the time, but not always.
My direct clients usually inform me if there is going to be a delay. Just last week I discovered that one direct client still hadn't paid one small bill from the end of May, so I contacted them and they apologised for the oversight and paid up immediately the next day.
I have some clients who accept invoices by email, whereas others insists on a printed hard copy, signed 20th-century fashion with a primitive stick-shaped writing implem... See more Most of the time, but not always.
My direct clients usually inform me if there is going to be a delay. Just last week I discovered that one direct client still hadn't paid one small bill from the end of May, so I contacted them and they apologised for the oversight and paid up immediately the next day.
I have some clients who accept invoices by email, whereas others insists on a printed hard copy, signed 20th-century fashion with a primitive stick-shaped writing implement called a "pen". The problem is that I can never remember which clients need a paper copy* so I sometimes forget to send it, which may have happened in one case about a month ago. I noticed I hadn't been paid for a bill tendered about 5-6 months months ago, this time to the regional government, who are notoriously late payers. I told my contact in the department and she said that given the labyrinthine working of their internal systems, nobody had a clue where it was or if I had in fact sent it, and that the best thing to do was issue a new copy and she would oversee the process herself. I suppose they'll get round to paying me if they haven't already done so...
I only work with a handful of agencies and they (the ones with good Blue Board ratings anyway) usually notify me too.
* I know I should keep a list or note of which clients require paper bills, but if I was that organised, I probably wouldn't be me, since my usual working method could be described as "on a wing and a prayer" so I deserve all I get (or don't). ▲ Collapse
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| not all my clients are the same | Nov 15, 2011 |
Some of them inform me, others don't.
[Edited at 2011-11-15 10:00 GMT]
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 18:05
Member (2006)
German to English
never! I have always had to chase my late payments. Fortunately almost all of my customers keep to the agreed deadlines, but the few that did not are not in my system any more.
If I see a delay in the payments I make, I get in touch with the person in due time. Fortunately only happened a couple of times.
[Edited at 2011-11-15 11:20 GMT]
| | | | | Some of them, | Nov 15, 2011 |
but very few.
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I usually have to ask what's holding it up....
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That would be too polite!
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 18:05
Member (2009)
English to German
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| Would be so nice! | Nov 15, 2011 |
Michael Harris wrote:
never! I have always had to chase my late payments. Fortunately almost all of my customers keep to the agreed deadlines, but the few that did not are not in my system any more.
No, they never do. Perhaps they are simply not taking into consideration that the translator also has to pay bills and put food on the table.
If there might be an expected/forseeable delay in payment, then informing the translator as soon as it becomes know would surely help to schedule one's budget instead of wondering when or if that money arrives.
Being duly notified of an expected delay in payment would not cause me to think less of my client. Just the opposite is/would be the case!
[Edited at 2011-11-15 14:33 GMT]
| | | | | It's happened to me twice | Nov 15, 2011 |
And they both paid up as promised in the payment schedule they then suggested (didn't really matter if I accepted or not, I obviously wasn't going to get paid earlier). Irking but ultimately a lot more satisfactory than those who had to be chased repeatedly in order, in some cases, never to pay.
| | | | Richard Jenkins
Brazil
Local time: 14:05
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
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| No, not usually. | Nov 15, 2011 |
I have customers who pay, no fuss and on time, EVERY project.
I also have customers who don't like to pay until they really have to.
So, it's not really a question of being informed about late payment, it's more an issue of what type of internal payment policy the customer has. Some customers think it's perfectly acceptable to pay after 60 or 90 days, which of course, it isn't.
Honestly, I've only had one customer in six years that hasn't paid for work. A c... See more I have customers who pay, no fuss and on time, EVERY project.
I also have customers who don't like to pay until they really have to.
So, it's not really a question of being informed about late payment, it's more an issue of what type of internal payment policy the customer has. Some customers think it's perfectly acceptable to pay after 60 or 90 days, which of course, it isn't.
Honestly, I've only had one customer in six years that hasn't paid for work. A customer working out of a PO box in U.A.E., which tricked me into doing work, but it was, after all, my fault for not checking them out in the first place.
Customers usually pay, but some of them need a push before releasing the funds. Yes, it's sometimes very frustrating and time consuming, but I don't think we should consider this a sign of bad working practices or disrespect. Sometimes customers genuinely have difficulty in receiving their own payments from the end client.
This is a very good topic because agencies and end-customers need to be aware that as they push the boundaries for increasingly improved translation quality, competitive rates, shorter deadlines, they TOO need to improve their own professional standards, and one of those standards is paying us on time. ▲ Collapse
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Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 12:05
Spanish to English
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Over the course of eight years and encompassing perhaps 25 instances of late payment, I have *never* been informed *in advance* that payment would be late. On maybe three occasions, I received the money within a week of the due date (i.e., the "grace period" I [used to] offer before sending reminders). In all other cases, I received payment only after sending one or more reminders, and in at least four cases only after threatening adverse action.
This is a good poll question, becaus... See more Over the course of eight years and encompassing perhaps 25 instances of late payment, I have *never* been informed *in advance* that payment would be late. On maybe three occasions, I received the money within a week of the due date (i.e., the "grace period" I [used to] offer before sending reminders). In all other cases, I received payment only after sending one or more reminders, and in at least four cases only after threatening adverse action.
This is a good poll question, because it highlights the obvious fact that such advance notice of a problem would show a degree of class and responsibility on the part of a late-paying outsourcer that would merit a certain amount of compassion and leniency on the part of the outsourcer (at least in the absence of chronic repeat offenses).
The fact that an outsourcer has to be reminded, on the other hand, shows a complete lack of consideration that really merits a firm approach from the first day past due. And this is why I no longer wait one week before sending reminders.
Once again, sending in a translation two weeks after an agreed deadline is not acceptable. Neither is receiving payment two (or more) weeks late.
[Edited at 2011-11-15 17:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 17:05
Member (2007)
English
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| It always seems to surprise them! | Nov 15, 2011 |
"Really? We haven't paid you? Oh dear, I'll look into it. But I'm sure it's in the post/ether."  Strange how often that happens.
I wonder if their own clients say the same thing? I bet they do.
I wonder if any of us ever forget that we have money owed to us? I bet we don't! 
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And I will say more. So far, all my invoices have been paid, but most of them after reminders. When a customer pays in the due date without any reminder, I am impressed.
Sad but true :S
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