Blacklist P

Parrot translations 

Low rates

Parrot Translations pays peanuts to monkey translators

Pearl Linguistics LTD

Very reluctant payers to say the least, be prepared to harass them for your money

Reviews on Yelp: 

"I have been working for them as interpreter for few months, they don't pay anything if you don't chase them a million times even just for 1 payment, and they will promised you they will pay today/tomorrow.. Believe me it's all b***sh*t. Finance team very rare you can get through. Even get through full of lies and attitude, awful company. I'm seeking for legal advise ATM.. I can not believe a company like this still running, disgusting." 

"I have worked for Pearl linguistics for more than 2 months. They never paid me any money. So be wise and think before you work for them." 

"They don't pay even minimum hourly wages to their translators. It is a sweatshop. translators and clients: you have been warned! "

Reviews on Indeed:

From an interpreter (Current Employee), London – September 30, 2013:

"I would not advice to work with Pearl Linguistic company as they are do not paying what their are promising. I work for them all August this year but I still not received a payment for August on the end of September how their promised. Last month i made enormous phone calls so that theirs financial office make me a payment for July.

I spend for my CRB check £50 to work for them + my travelling experience for interpreting work from June by August this year all in total £180 and received a payment just £60 of my work when i had every week up to 5 days a week work with them from 1 to 5 hours of my interpreting work for this company. I would not advice to work with Pearl Linguistic LTD you will have enormous problems to receive your payment."

"Staff seems professional and pelite, although they do not pay on time. Everyday for over a two weeks trying to contact finance department by phone, email- unfortunately no response. Shame..."

Pemex English library

Pemex English Library, pemexenglishlibrary dot com (deadbeat)

Planet of People

Fishy organisation and unclear website, more info welcome  (Because they are « non profit » (are they really?), they expect you to work for free) 

"Another one to add to the list. It's an agency that proposes that the translators do work for free in order to get on their "database". This is completely unprofessional and of course I did not agree to it. You don't mix charity with business. Please remove my name from the e-mail before posting it to your list. Here is an excerpt of their proposal :
"To be in our database and maybe have your personal link from one or several English language pages of our site, we would like to propose you to consider the possibility to provide some voluntary support to ‘Planet of People’ by doing some voluntary translation (Russian>English), or proofreading/editing of our already translated texts. Below the text(s) translated by you there would be your signature (Translated from Russian by XX) serving as a link to your information in our database or anywhere else.Since the "Planet of People" Foundation is a non-profit organization we propose all our potential translators to consider the possibility to provide this sort of some voluntary support to the project.
If you can afford it, please inform us about it. If not, we will understand it quite normally, and it certainly would not prevent you from collaborating with us if you are interested in it."

If I could afford it, (which won't ever happen since translation is not my hobby, yes I have a life) then I will donate my free work to a more respectable organisation, not some fishy one nobody has ever heard of.

Planet Veritas -formerly Veritas-, Swansea, Wales (Non-payer)

Email 4/11/14:

"Just an update on this company. I have done a company check, and they are now trading as PLANET VERITAS, and have moved offices, a different unit in the same block, Unit 15, J-sheds, The Waterfront, Swansea SA1 They owe a lot of translators a lot of money. There are many legal actions pending against them, and their policy seems to be only pay translators when they really have to. I have received many complaints about them. CCJ's outstanding against the company.

Beware."

Point Expression Translation, Taiwan 

VERY unprofessional, low payer

Email 02/05/14: 

I've been a freelance translator for about 9 years. I started translating while living in Taiwan before going to graduate school in the US. I worked with a company called Point Expression (http://www.point-expression.com.tw/en/index.asp). The starting rate (with no room for negotiation) was 0.4 Taiwan dollars per full-width source Chinese character, which works out to 0.01 US dollars. They also searched/replaced all full-width Chinese punctuation with half-width Chinese punctuation (to save them a few more bucks). I had to complain before they would leave the punctuation alone. I was with them for a year before I got a raise to 0.45 TWD (still 0.01 US dollars according to currency converters).

The owner is rude and constantly tried to teach me how to write in English, even though he hired me and gave me a lot of work. My last project for them was supposed to be a book, I got about 1/3 of the way through, the company claimed that their client was unhappy, they never paid me for the portion I completed, and I never heard from them again. I don't know if someone ended up translating the book. I worked with a lot of companies since then and Taiwanese companies generally paid very little; but Point Expression was the lowest I encountered. They occasionally post on Proz.com with the absurdly low rates (around 0.02 USD).

I would also like to thank you for maintaining your website; I've

worked for a few companies on the blacklist and I don't anymore, so I

also hope that someone out there will find this information useful.

Thanks for your attention and let me know if you have questions.

Best,

W.C

Email 8/05/14:

"I’m a Japanese translator based in Budapest, Hungary.

I recently worked with Point Expression Translation (Taiwan) for Japanese to English project. The pay was not good ($0.05 per Japanese character), but I decided to take part in their project because I’m not a native English speaker and I wanted to gain experience in the tech/engineering field. And I didn’t find this company in your blacklist.

I finished working on April 29th, but I haven’t heard from them since regarding payment, and I’m wondering if they are a nonpayer. PO issued in advance has no number of characters and I’m waiting for the character count analysis.

Project manager Loren was disrespectful and chaotic. Loren’s e-mail address is 54007@54007.com.tw and I needed to include poem.hermit@gmail.com in all correspondence. I have never seen any e-mail address with “@point-expression.com.tw.”

This is an ongoing and unconcluded issue, but somehow I feel this urge to tell a relevant third party before I send them a message asking them what’s going on. I’ll report my conclusion to you later. I hope they pay, but I still don’t recommend working with them.

No need to reply for now. Thank you very much for your attention.

Best regards, E.T"

Polyglot  

Very low rates, machine translation editing

Report on LinkedIn

"The job post available at http://www.proz.com/job/691829 offers €0.026 EUR to €0.03 EUR per word for English to French translation of 2,500 words, with Trados preferred."

New discussion currently going on on LinkedIn about Polyglot

PoliLingua, Moldova

Bidder, unprofessional practices, low rates

Email 5/11/13:  

"Here's another company you can add to your list.  

They are called PoliLingua and they are also in Moldova (like Travod).

When calculated per word, the project that they proposed is about $0.04 per word.

 They must be sending mass e-mails through Proz.com because their message was not addressed to any one person in particular:

"Hello,

We have a financial report we need translated into English, see details below:

Source language: Russian

Target language: English

Word count: 5136 words

Source format: MS Word

Delivery format: MS Word

Payment: $205 by PayPal, 30 days from invoice.

Deadline: November 8th, 10 AM London time.

Please advise availability and I shall send you the files.

Many thanks,

Ruxanda Chirosca.

PoliLingua Ltd.

jobs@polilingua.com

PNA Solutions (late payers)

August 2014: Huge debts they don't pay on time

"I have just checked ProZ Blue Board and found a comment that

ALBIRAN (freelance translator)

has just inserted (Aug 6, 2014) about this PNA Solution.

He says that he is still waiting his payment (USD1,246.86)

for almost 60 days, with no reply from ths agency.

Have a nice day"

Premiere or Premier Language (UK): fraud, non-payer

http://www.premierlanguage dot com

"Several translators (myself included) undertook legal action against them last year. We are owed varying quantities, ranging from several hundred Euros to thousands. They simply ignore us. "

Regards from Spain, Ángel Domínguez, CT 

From WPPF (7707) : "I'm reposting with the correct spelling for this agency so it can be located in future searches. Note, also, that Premier Language is banned from posting jobs on ProZ.com"

"Thank you so much for your help and the information you're sharing with me, this is a real shock to be, but now i know how they are dealing with everyone, we could use any information to sue them in London or their other office and explain how they are banned and fraud..."

Previous : "Hello,
I worked on 165k words on over 500k words project for Premiere Language UK, We completed the 165k words in 6days the field was legal, fiancial, and the language Italian to English, of course we expect an editing to the file that was done by different translators in a rush time, even some people collapsed because of the pressure and abondoned the project, after sometimes, we were asked by our client to edit, or there will be a discount, and we did edit the whole, in 4days... And we believe we provided high quality work by qualified professionals.
So now, my client is saying that she wait the payment, then she pays us, Premiere language forced my client to  40% or 50% discount and even though we agreed at first, yet no payment was made, no prooves provided regarding quality or corrections done by their proofreader...
I called Premiere language plenty of times, and they were so arrogant and rude, and yet they are not replying us... Always managers aren't available, i don't know what kind of company has only receptionist taking details and leaving messages, but in two weeks, nobody got back to me, or replied to my enquiry.
Premiere language office in Canada square in UK, which is an expensive place, i believe this is their way in keeping the business going... They are thieves.
Right now i'm planning to do anything to get my money, and i will do my best to sue this company, and my client if she doesn't pay soon...
Please i'm seeking any help, any details you could provide us about this company and their rude atittude that could be a plus.Any good agencies or lawyer that could handle this case, some client come only by force, not with ethics and good manners, they only take advantage of you, and abuse you in every way.
I also got a client from UK, he shows up after few months and paid small money and requested me to wait, while he paid others quickly because they are from other countries like Israel and Portugal...
I have noticed unfortunately a discrimination also from certain client and would love to sue these people are well.
We are all human beings and professionals and deserve respect, in all my life and while working as a freelance manager, i always respect those doing their work right, even the one who didn't and came to me, and say ok, sorry, i let go with them, and didn't want to spoil their name, trying to give them chances...
But companies that act like they are Top companies, and yet they're theives and liars, i have no pity for these...
Please help, i'm ready to provide you any detail, any proove, that these people caused me and my team a lots of damage... " (WPPF, 7703)

Presto, Prague (Bottom feeder)

25/02/2015: 

"Here is an agency that pays 0.02 EUR pw, but first you have to complete a free test."

From "Presto Překladatelské Centrum s.r.o. (Milan Fiala)" <milan.fiala@presto.cz>

Dear Ms. ,

Thank you for your respond.

Our agency might offer you maximum 0,02?/word. The whole project contains about 500 000 - 2 000 000 words. If are you still interested in our project, we would like to ask you to perform a short translation test free of charge.

The test would not longer than 250 words for each field – technical, finance, legal and marketing. You must apply for at least one of them.

You should be able to translate one test within 2 hour limit.

Please, state what time (see below my options) would you suit for this test and which test you would like to participate in.

POSSIBLE DATES FOR TEST:

-          Friday 27th February: 9:00-15:00 CET (13:30-19:30 IST)

-          Monday 2nd March: 9:00-15:00 CET (13:30-19:30 IST)

-          Tuesday 3rd March: 9:00-11:00 CET (13:30-15:30 IST)

-          Wednesday 4th March: 16:00-18:00 CET (20:30-22:30 IST)

-          Friday 6th March: 9:00-15:00 CET (13:30-19:30 IST)

If any of our possible dates is not suitable for you, please let me know and we can choose another one.

We will then send you respective test at requested time and expect your final translation wthin next 120 minutes.

Please, advise.

Thank you.

--

Appropriate reply: HaHaHa.

Profi SchnellDienst  

See case 1, 2011 on Linked In 

Prolingua 

Payment issues

Ripoff report, case of non payment

Professional Translators Team (or Lonaverbas), Istanbul:

 SCAM (Fake profile and address, CV thieves)

Their signature is the following (except it doesn't lead anywhere: website gone, Proz profile erased):

Details: Professional translators Team

162 Lourmel ST

Bridgeport, CT 06606

United States

www.proz.com/profile/1663897

http://www.ptteam.us/

They are still in business and offer jobs to translators through ProZ.

Mars 2014: "Dear Translator, Professional Translators Team is looking for an experienced Danish to English (US) translator to take a job of 3000 words (including reps) and deliver the translation by Tuesday 05:00PM GMT.

Others receive offers from <professionaltteam@gmail.com> 

Report: Professional Translators Teams is a scam organisation (see Note 69 at www.translator-scammers.com). They are also known as Lonaverbas/Bonaverbas and claim to be based in Turkey. However, they address they give is a fake one. http://www.proz.com/profile/1413019
They are involved in CV identity theft (I speak from experience here) and they also use the made up character of Robert Wiscon and John Troops to bid for jobs. The author of Robert's CV is Mr Omar.

The person behind this scam group is Omar Salah Ibrahim Al-Balawi (aka Agatha Colten, Jessica Wear, Kathy Jack, Jhone Welson, Alham Abdulrahman and several other names).
Other fake names include Sonia Erkan and Caroline Wilsonn. Another key character in this organisation is Gulser Baran (probably a fake name as well).

Report from a translator, oct 2013 : "Found this translation agency on Proz.com. They have the nerve of offering 0.038 max per word for a legal translation of 6,000 words! What's worse, they have a perfect BLUE BOARD rating. (They still have it, it's kept hot for them, for when they'll be allowed to post again on Proz).

"That is a very tricky name for a company, as it makes it hard to google. USA is not part of the title, right? Does it have another name as well?? The only place I found it was in that Proz listing (which I cannot get into) and nowhere else..."

Read more on LinkedIn

April 2014: now this company is BANNED from PROZ, who still posts their offers though

How the hell did they get a perfect blue board rating on their site last year? 3 options:

1: PROZ either does not check anybody

2 ProZ gets dirty money all the time from agencies (on top of yours)

3 ProZ does not give a puck about anything.

Protranslating/Lauren Vega 

Joke of a company and zero quality concern

"I used to work for them several years ago. They don't treat their employees well. It's a sort of mafia like organization, with only family members or good friends in the management positions. There was a lot of turnover in the mid-management and translator positions. My first boss was great but he was quickly fired, then the next boss was fired a few months later and they installed a friend of the CEO's son instead.....sigh. What can I say!" CB, email 09/04/14

Type of offers they send out to translators:

" Thank you for contacting us! Because we are providing a large amount of work we are offering $0.04 USD per source word. This translator will be working in our Web department so the job will be on-going and consistent, we also require you to take a brief evaluation in order to determine your translating style. This will also show you the type of work you will be doing, it’s nothing technical. If you are interested in this consistent work, please let me know so that I may send you the evaluation."

2850 Douglas Rd.

Coral Gables, FL 33134

P: 305.371.7887 ext. 325

F: 305.371.8366

www.protranslating.com

ProTranslating is ISO 9001-2008 certified. Our quality management systems have been audited and meet world class standards." (This ISO cert. means nothing with regards to translation, it is what they call a marketing trick, I would call that a big lie!)

Other comments:

"They also offered me as top rate USD 0.04 per source word. And the other point is that they lie about the "consistent work". They change project managers periodically, so you'll got to be really lucky to receive great loads of work during the year. So they tell everyone the same. Once they offer you this, you'll receive some assignment only from time to time..."

Rest of the discussion on LinkedIn

Other comments:

"First of all, thanks for your great work with the blacklist. It's extremely useful. I'm sending you a proposal I have received from Protranslating. They are offering a rate of $0.015 USD per source word. I don't need to say more. In other emails I'll send you comments about other agencies.

Best regards, F. G"

From: Lauren Vega <lvega@protranslating.com>

Date: Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 7:18 PM

Subject: RE: English to Spanish freelance translator

To: XXX

Thank you for your interest. We are seeking native Spanish linguists to join our team. We are currently offering a rate of $0.015 USD per source word. We do guarantee a high volume of work. A brief translation evaluation would be required of each linguist.

Please reply to this email if interested in learning more and proceeding to the evaluation.

Look forward to your response,

Lauren Vega

Recruiter

Clients of Protranslating include big law firms and the White House. The rates they pay to translators are unacceptable. The president is a Member of the ATA. See my previous comment.

PSD International, Slovenia 

Ridiculous rates, lowering quality standards

This company has chosen to buy their "quality" standards ISO and EN from Bureau Veritas rather than  from decently paid translators. What a shame. That makes you wonder what this EN15038 is REALLY worth. They also like to mention they are: 

"Proud member of BNI EMONIKA Group Slovenia and ARENA Group Germany
P.S. I know a lot of people and each one of them knows more people.

I am happy to help you open the doors to new clients."

"As you can see in the attached email, PSD Translation is offering €0.03 per source word for translation and €0.01 per source word for editing and proofreading. I will appreciate if you include them in the blacklist.

Best regards,

Fabiana G.

"Dear Fabiana, Thank you for your e-mail. We are highly interested in cooperation with you.

Rates we propose for future collaboration are:

Translation:   €0.03/source word

Editing/proofreading:  €0.01/ source word

Best regards,

Saša Hudnik, Project and HR Manager

PUSH Professional or International

Yolanta and KL Mealing, Reading, UK (Non-payer, CROOK)

Email 30/10/14:

"I would like to report a non-payer: Push International, based in Reading, UK. The company had a previous life as Push EMA, went into liquidation last year owing many translators large amounts of money. The resurrected entity offered me work and was unwilling to commit to payment in advance as a gesture of good faith, so I can only assume they are up to their old tricks." Pat 

Email 15/01/2015:

"I learned about your website on Facebook and I am very glad that such kind of website exists because I think that it can be very useful and informative!
I would be grateful, if you could add the following translation agency based in Great Britain: Push International. The reason for my request is the fact that they still owe me € 30 for my translation work I did for them during the last year. I issued two invoices, each for the amount of € 15, but they haven't been paid yet even though the payment term has expired. The first invoice was issued on 31 July 2014 and the second invoice was issued on 17 October 2014. I have already contacted the responsible project manager and accountant via e-mail and phone, but nothing helps. They always come up with new excuses. Even though it's "just" € 30 I want to get paid for my work. Anything else is just unfair. Thank you very much for adding the above mentioned agency on your website!
Kind regards,
Patrick 

Email 18/02/2015:

PUSH International, Reading, UK is the new name of a company that used to be called Push EMEA and went into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation in 2014.

The company name has changed again in 2014 and is now called:

PUSH PROFESSIONAL LTD trading as

PUSH INTERNATIONAL LTD THE OLD BREEDON SCHOOL, 8 READING ROAD, PANGBOURNE, BERKSHIRE, RG8 7LY, UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone Number	01189841931
Website	http://www.push-international.com

The new company owner is the wife of the owner of Push EMEA and the company was only allowed to form in order to recover cash from assets in order to pay debts.

This new company has not filed accounts as yet and accounts are due in July 2015. The trick is for them to pay the director an outrageously high salary and to show more liabilities than assets, so that they can go into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation and do not have to pay debts.

I am inscribed in the official list of creditors of Push EMEA, after being contacted by a debt recovery agency that is dealing with this case, however it all looks very dodgy to me.

They owe me a considerable amount of money (over 800 euros) for a long project for which they forced me to rework a perfectly correct text due to corrections inserted by a non-native client on a PDF. This client replaced all key term translations with the original English and was painfully unaware of the most common translations for Italian verbs, having only been exposed to financial Italian terminology. For example, for her the verb “cedere” only meant to sell, whereas the common meaning is to give in.

They claim to have several project managers, however it looks like there are in fact only two people working in the office and impersonating the others, and these are husband and wife: K L Mealing and Yolanta Mealing, the one and only company director according to the UK Companies House documents.

These are the email addresses they use:

Ulrike.Magyarosy@push-international.com

Yolanta Mealing@push-international.com

nico.zinserling@push-international.com

Walid.Abdelkarim@push-international.com

patricia.forizs@push-international.com

Do not work for these people, they will not pay you but they will obviously get paid by their clients.

   

PURITY translations (Low rates) 

Type of offers they send out to translators:

"I actually have a large project (17145 words) in need of translation into German. It is due by 2-June-2103. I would need this to be completed in memoQ. We are subcontracting this from another agency and I can offer you USD 0.035"