An professional agency stole an hour of my life. Can I issue an invoice according to the UK laws? Thread poster: Alexander Onishko
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Here is the whole story:
=== email 1, sent at 11:42 ===
Hi Alexander, My name is XXX and I represent the UK based company YYY. We are need of English to Ukrainaian linguists, We have a new very small project of no more than 30 words. We have to proofread the words and put the line-break control. We could provide PDF of the card from where the text could be copied, and it would be sufficient to get the changes back in a Word document. SO it is not difficult at all. We c... See more Here is the whole story:
=== email 1, sent at 11:42 ===
Hi Alexander, My name is XXX and I represent the UK based company YYY. We are need of English to Ukrainaian linguists, We have a new very small project of no more than 30 words. We have to proofread the words and put the line-break control. We could provide PDF of the card from where the text could be copied, and it would be sufficient to get the changes back in a Word document. SO it is not difficult at all. We can pay for this small job a flat fee of 7.5 EUR We need it back in next hour. Please let me kmow if you are available. Thank you XXX
=== email 2, sent at 11:44 ===
Hi, XXX!
Thank you very much for your letter.
Yes, I think I can do it.
Please send me the file.
Kind Regards,
Alexander
=== email 3, sent at 12:34 ===
Hi, XXX,
You mentioned that you need this translation within an hour.
50 minutes of the above-mentioned hour has already passed and you did not send me anything.
Therefore I withdraw my agreement.
Kind Regards,
Alexander
=== email 3, sent at 12:35 ===
Hi Alexander,
For some reason, I just found your email in our spam folder.
We have already assigned the project. Hope to work with you soon.
Thank you
Warm Regards,
XXX
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It goes, without saying that they lied about the spam folder because in this case they would not see my second email, either. Also, I have called the phone number given on their site and nobody replied.
Also, I wonder what made them write to me instead of the message written on my proz.com page in big red letters saying that "Please note that I don'take "urgent" translations (even it is "just one page"). If the deadline for your order is less than 48 hours, please refrain from contacting me. Thank you for understanding."
Therefore, what do you think? Can i send them an invoice for 50 minutes of my time according to the UK laws?
[Edited at 2015-11-23 11:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You're overreacting | Nov 23, 2015 |
1. Your spam argumentation does not hold water. I recently had an example where Gmail suddenly put an e-mail from a regular correspondent of mine into the spam folder, whereas I get all his other e-mails. I have seen something similar in the other direction. You have no basis for concluding that they lie about this. Spam filters are, in fact, an increasing nuisance for businesses all over the world because of the many false positives. You can find many articles about this online.
Ma... See more 1. Your spam argumentation does not hold water. I recently had an example where Gmail suddenly put an e-mail from a regular correspondent of mine into the spam folder, whereas I get all his other e-mails. I have seen something similar in the other direction. You have no basis for concluding that they lie about this. Spam filters are, in fact, an increasing nuisance for businesses all over the world because of the many false positives. You can find many articles about this online.
Maybe it is because you wrongly thought you knew they lied that you went on in a more aggressive direction.
2. Can you invoice? No, because you had no contract with them. They had not agreed to anything. If you call a plumber and ask if he can do so-and-so, and you don't go ahead, he can't bill you either.
3. Do you always read everything a company writes on their website and other websites presenting their services before asking them a question? I guess not. You cannot reasonably expect that busy agencies read every word you have published online.
4. If you don't accept urgent translations, why didn't you just send them that as a reply, and then end of story? But you did accept it, so you yourself are contradicting your own policy.
I'm sorry, but I think you are overreacting. Maybe you're stressed out by something else, but that's not that agency's fault. ▲ Collapse
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Thomas T. Frost wrote:
1. Your spam argumentation does not hold water. I recently had an example where Gmail suddenly put an e-mail from a regular correspondent of mine into the spam folder, whereas I get all his other e-mails. I have seen something similar in the other direction. You have no basis for concluding that they lie about this. Spam filters are, in fact, an increasing nuisance for businesses all over the world because of the many false positives. You can find many articles about this online.
Maybe it is because you wrongly thought you knew they lied that you went on in a more aggressive direction.
2. Can you invoice? No, because you had no contract with them. They had not agreed to anything. If you call a plumber and ask if he can do so-and-so, and you don't go ahead, he can't bill you either.
3. Do you always read everything a company writes on their website and other websites presenting their services before asking them a question? I guess not. You cannot reasonably expect that busy agencies read every word you have published online.
4. If you don't accept urgent translations, why didn't you just send them that as a reply, and then end of story? But you did accept it, so you yourself are contradicting your own policy.
I'm sorry, but I think you are overreacting. Maybe you're stressed out by something else, but that's not that agency's fault.
Thank you for your comments, Thomas!
| | | | | You're welcome | Nov 25, 2015 |
Alexander Onishko wrote:
Thank you for your comments, Thomas!
You're welcome. I hope you're feeling better. You sounded a bit too stressed.
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