Word rate changed after job acceptance

eleonorang

Howdy, friends and colleagues!
For the sake of discussion, I would like to share with you something that has recently happened to me and to ask you how you would have reacted in my place.

I received a request for a (very) technical translation of more than 10k words, to be done in a limited number of workdays and whose deadline was fixed and could not be postponed. However, the job would have been paid at a much higher rate than usual, which made me consider accepting it. At first I was suspicious of the unusual rate, but as I remembered, it was not the first time this agency offered higher rates for a specific job.
I accepted the request and that was it for the day.
The following morning I received another email from a different PM, who confirmed that the job had been assigned to me in [insert common web-based CAT] and also that the effective word rate would be half as the initial rate because his colleague had made a mistake in the request email.

What would you do if presented with such a situation? ? Would you accept the job at the new rate? Would you try and negotiate a higher rate? Would you do anything else or anything at all?

rjgilsdorf

Hi eleonorang! Was your original acceptance acknowledged? If it's in writing and the terms of the offer were explicit in the negotiating, this second PM legally doesn't have a right to unilaterally alter the rate without your consent, that is, it sounds like you have a contract. It depends on how much you want this job, how much you want to work with this company in the future, if you are willing to negotiate and how much. Remember - they came to you (they trust you), it is a tight deadline, it is a highly technical piece, and likely you had already started work on it. Possibly you didn't take a different job so you could do this one. It would seem that you can "go above" this second PM if there is a problem, and the agency should not "punish" you instead of the first PM who may have offered the higher rate mistakenly. They made the mistake, not you, they should pay for it. Where you want to go from there is up to you. My two cents, IMHO.

Dmitry

eleonorang I agree with everything @rjgilsdorf said in the comment above. It seems like you had the contract so they can't just change it.

Personally I would politely point out that you've accepted the original offer with original price which was fair taking into account the deadline and complexity.

If they don't want it, then it's fine, something better will always come along ?

Even if it was an honest mistake of the said PM, you shouldn't be punished for it. There's a contract: they said they gonna pay X dollars, you agreed. Simple as that.

Of course, if you really like the client you might negotiate, but I wouldn't do it for half the original price. I'd give them 10-15% discount at best.

I would also avoid clients with poor organization skills in the future. Nothing good comes from it in my humble opinion.

eleonorang

Thank you for your suggestions, @Dmitry and @rjgilsdorf !
Here's what happened in the meantime and how the matter "resolved":

I replied that I was not willing to do the job at that lower rate because of the tight deadline, the technicality, etc. not to mention the different conditions under which I had accepted the job. At that point, they asked which rate I would consider acceptable and I proposed a rate that's halfway between the two.
They first answered that the rate wouldn't do and that they would have to split the job between two linguists and pay me my basic rate. Before I got round to answer that I received a second email in which they told me they had reassigned it completely. I didn't protest to that.

It's the first time this has happened, so far I had no reason to complain about their organization skills. I've worked with them for some time and they usually send good amounts of work my way; luckily I had not started working on the project nor had I had to refuse anything else because of it; it would have meant to work my ass off for several days and tbh I wasn't looking forward to it that much; last but not least, I did not want to end the collaboration because of a mistake. So I let it go.
Now I will definitely keep an eye out for similar problems in the future. It might have been just a mistake and maybe they just couldn't pay that much, but still, it means they value money more than good work and that they appreciate the quality of my translations only when it's cheap. Go figure

Dmitry

eleonorang it means they value money more than good work and that they appreciate the quality of my translations only when it's cheap. Go figure

It seems to me that you're better off without this client @eleonorang. Sorry to hear that you've lost that project in the end, but sometimes it's necessary to lose something in order to gain something ? You gained some great experience and I hope some motivation to find better clients who respect you and pay you well (as opposed to dictating their own payment terms).

I'm sure you'll have many more awesome projects and great clients!

khadis-

I have similar experience. Not really similar, I guess. So that time, I was translating a home appliance product. At the first and second batch, the rate was normal. But at the third batch, when I read the PO, the rate was lowered! So I contacted the PM, asked her about the price change. She said that for the third batch, client has limited budget. So I said, "I have translated the previous batches well and not only timely, but quickly. I cannot provide the same translation quality with the same turnaround time with a lowered price. If you (or client) cannot return the price into 'normal', I will postpone or reject the task."
That time, I was afraid that the PM would assign no more tasks. But surprisingly, the task was re-assigned with the normal rate and I even handle bigger project! ?

eleonorang

khadis- That time, I was afraid that the PM would assign no more tasks. But surprisingly, the task was re-assigned with the normal rate and I even handle bigger project! ?

All's well that ends well ? Turns out the client (or the agency?) had sufficient budget after all, right?
What's important is that you pointed out the unfairness in their terms. That's the first step to decent working conditions.

Dmitry

khadis- That time, I was afraid that the PM would assign no more tasks. But surprisingly, the task was re-assigned with the normal rate and I even handle bigger project! ?

I wonder what really happened in there @khadis- because it sounds like they were trying to shake you down. 🤔 It's great that you decided to stand your ground and it worked out fine in the end. Good for you @khadis-! I wish more freelance translators had the courage to do that. Our industry would've been so much better, but alas, life always gets in the way and forces people to accept unfair working conditions. I hope it'll change one day...

eleonorang

Dmitry Always keep your guard up, that much I learned ? I'm already working to find myself in a position where I'll no longer need them ?

Dmitry

eleonorang I'm already working to find myself in a position where I'll no longer need them ?

That's the spirit!
you got this

nancy_matis

I think eleonorang's example is a very interesting one! The error of some PMs can indeed lead to very difficult situations :-(. I'm wondering how I would have reacted if one of my PMs would have made such a mistake :-(. On the one side, I fully understand the position of the translator who agreed to do the job for a specific rate. On the other, I know how problematic it can be for the agency. Really a bad case for both and it's probably better and less frustrating that the job was cancelled. It would have been a real problem to learn that after having delivered :-(. In such a case, they should normally have paid you the originally agreed rate... but again, I wouldn't like to be faced with a similar issue!!! ;-)

eleonorang

nancy_matis It would have been a real problem to learn that after having delivered :-(. In such a case, they should normally have paid you the originally agreed rate... but again, I wouldn't like to be faced with a similar issue!!! ;-)

You're totally right, Nancy, and luckily it didn't come to that ?

Dmitry

nancy_matis

nancy_matis I wouldn't like to be faced with a similar issue!!! ;-)

You're right @nancy_matis! That's every PMs worst nightmare and I as someone who occasionally manages projects and teams, I hope this will never happen to me. That's why I'm trying to learn from the mistakes of others ?