Delayed Payment Experience with Egypt-based The Translation Gate LLC (Solved)
On 21st November 2023, I invoiced a finished and approved work worth USD 220.35 to The Translation Gate, LLC. My PM told me they implemented a new invoicing system via Nexus, so I uploaded the invoice to Nexus in .zip file (the only format accepted in the system).
I received a confirmation from Nexus that said payment will be disbursed WITHIN 45-60 DAYS from the date of invoice submission.
On January 2nd, 2024 i.e. 43 days since invoice submission, I whatsapp-ed my PM to check whether the Accounts dept. has begun to process the payment, since the invoice status hasn’t changed. These are her answers on January 4th.
I followed her advice and emailed the Accts. department on the 11th of January 2024, i.e. 52 days since invoicing, and they said with a smiley emoji that payment will be disbursed on the 15th of January 2024.
However, I didn’t receive the payment as promised, and when I followed up with the accounts dept, these are their answers.
Concerned with this lack of certainty and the unchanging status of the invoice in Nexus, I contacted my PM again on 17th January 2024 (58 days since invoice submission date). She apologized profusely, admitted my concerns about the agency’s delayed payment issues in the past, and even claimed she has escalated the issue to the “higher-ups”.
(The “accounts might delayed in issuing the payment but rest assured it will get paid” part should have been a huge red flag for me. A translator claimed they waited for TWO YEARS and even got deleted from the agency’s invoicing portal).
I asked my PM to CC me any replies from so-called “higher-ups” and she agreed, but I never got them. Or any of her emails to the Account Payables.
She asked me again whether I’ve actually uploaded the invoice via Nexus as per their new invoicing system, and I showed her the receipt from the system, as well as the screencap showing that my invoice is still “Waiting Account Confirmation”
I told her that if I don’t get paid on the due date of payment (i.e. this Friday, 19th of January 2024), I will post a public complaint. She returned later in the day to say the account will pay me “today” i.e. 17th Jan 2024. No email correspondence confirming this, and at the end of the day, no payment from Translation Gate LLC in my Paypal account.
I complained to her by showing the ever-unchanging Invoice Status, and she promised to follow up first thing in the morning. She also asked me to follow up with the Acct. dept myself and CC to her instead of the other way around. In other words, all her WA claims about “follow-ups” have never been actually emailed to me.
Instead of calling her out for it, I emailed the Acct. Dept again at 7 p.m., 17th January Cairo time. No response whatsoever, and no payment “today” as promised by the PM.
I then searched for the agency owner’s mobile phone and sent them a message about the issue. This is the current screencap – it was not immediately read at the time of sending.
This was my invoice status as at 18th January 2024 or 59 days since invoice submission. It had been “Waiting Account Confirmation” since November 2023.
I did further search about the agency’s history and found some concerning information. Apparently someone had similar payment problem in June 2023 and only get paid after the translator posted a negative review in Proz.com. Half of the agency’s glowing 5-star ratings came from Egyptian translators, and less favorable ratings from European and SA translators were edited.
The agency’s presence in the job forum is also glaringly non-existent despite their “five star” ratings.
This is confirmed by one of the admins.
Links: https://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/MegaBBS/forumthread16418.htm, https://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/MegaBBS/forumthread31878.htm
As at the time of writing, 19th January of 2024 COB or the supposed due date of my payment, this is the status of my invoice. No further communication from the account department or PM, or better still, actual payment.
May this unpleasant experience shows you that rating can be manufactured and all that glitters are not always gold.
UPDATE (19/1/2024): I have tried TWICE to post this on Proz.com‘s Money Matters Forum, the first post was rejected and the second is yet to be approved. I also got momentarily kicked out of the agency’s Nexus portal before the access was restored. Just wondering if some agency staff are actually moderators in the board because my post got views but not visible to the public.
UPDATE (20/1/2024): I received an email today from the same agency, not regarding my invoice but to lure me again with a seemingly lucrative offer.
This is my reply:
It seems like their mode of operation is to target translators who are non-paying/inactive members of prestigious translation boards, delay payment and then offer more works to “placate” them when they complain. That’s how this translator didn’t get paid after TWO YEARS worth of work.
(UPDATE: 20/1/2024): I had been posting this experience in LinkedIn, Facebook, WordPress and Blogspot as my post in Proz.com forum was still unpublished (it’s still unpublished). Then I received a WA from the owner that their CFO will take care of the issue.
A moment later, I finally got the payment. Total days from invoicing to payment: 61 days.
I’m not sure if it’s my Whatsapp to the owner that did the trick, or whether it’s my social media posts. I also don’t know if the problem lies in lack of communication, faults in the new invoicing system, or something else. In any case, I don’t think I’ll likely work with them again in the near future.
