Poll: Do you think that files could be encrypted or locked until you get paid? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you think that files could be encrypted or locked until you get paid?".
This poll was originally submitted by Ines R.. View the poll results »
| | | | | It would be highly unpractical | Jul 18, 2021 |
Clients would not accept a system like that.
I have a number of agency clients who send me several jobs every month, and I send an invoice at the end of the month, with payment terms 30 days. These clients often pay 28-29 days from the invoice date. Administration is simple.
However, if I do a translation, e.g. on 3rd March and invoice it on 31 March, to be paid for by 30 April, the end client will have to wait around 8 weeks if the translation was locked! (Change dates... See more Clients would not accept a system like that.
I have a number of agency clients who send me several jobs every month, and I send an invoice at the end of the month, with payment terms 30 days. These clients often pay 28-29 days from the invoice date. Administration is simple.
However, if I do a translation, e.g. on 3rd March and invoice it on 31 March, to be paid for by 30 April, the end client will have to wait around 8 weeks if the translation was locked! (Change dates as appropriate, but at best clients may have to wait 30 days for a job done at the end of a month.)
Apart from that, I do ten to twenty jobs most months. Who would unlock the translations? The agency? They could just do that without paying me! I have no contact with the end client, and I certainly do not want to spend time (unpaid), contacting them with unlocking instructions, weeks after the job was finished and archived.
Carry out due diligence before you take on a job, then trust the client. There is a lot of talk about non-payment, but in practice the great majority pay as agreed. Plenty of time is wasted on administrative hassle already, so don't create more!
Encryption for security reasons is an entirely different matter, but this is not the answer. Clients will simply go elsewhere! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:50
Member (2008)
Italian to English
ProZ.com Staff wrote:
"Do you think that files could be encrypted or locked until you get paid?"
No, I don't; but I often think that files I receive as PDFs should be sent back, translated, as PDFs - although I've never done it.
[Edited at 2021-07-18 10:12 GMT]
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First of all, it signals distrust towards clients and my relationship with my customers has been based on mutual trust. So far my “strategy” has been working fine: in over 35 years one hand is enough to count the number of times I haven’t been paid: two direct clients and two translation agencies, always small amounts. Of course, over the years I had a few delays but nothing that one or two reminders wouldn’t solve (one with Proz help).
Furthermore, I wonder if that would b... See more First of all, it signals distrust towards clients and my relationship with my customers has been based on mutual trust. So far my “strategy” has been working fine: in over 35 years one hand is enough to count the number of times I haven’t been paid: two direct clients and two translation agencies, always small amounts. Of course, over the years I had a few delays but nothing that one or two reminders wouldn’t solve (one with Proz help).
Furthermore, I wonder if that would be legal in the EU as the Payment Services Directive says that “public authorities have to pay for the goods and services that they procure within 30 days or, in very exceptional circumstances, within 60 days, and enterprises have to pay their invoices within 60 days unless they expressly agree otherwise and provided it is not grossly unfair” ▲ Collapse
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Muriel Vasconcellos (X) 
United States
Local time: 00:50
Spanish to English
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It's a crazy idea. It would never work!
| | | | | Smart contracts? | Jul 18, 2021 |
Seems too impractical and borderline silly at the moment.
Maybe less so in the future, with a smart contract technology…
| | | | | Not with business clients | Jul 18, 2021 |
With any business client the normal procedure is that you deliver the service first and the invoice is paid later. Invoices run through internal procedures before they are paid.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 05:50
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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| Of course not! | Jul 18, 2021 |
What a very utopic idea, total nonsense. If you were the client, would you accept this? Would you accept to receive your food in a restaurant in a locked dish and only be able to try it after you paid? People really have some unbelievable ideas!
[Edited at 2021-07-18 15:01 GMT]
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| No- poorly worded question | Jul 18, 2021 |
The question restricts us to whether a client will accept it. I answered no for practical reasons. For example, one of my agency clients pays the first week of the next month for all translations done the previous month. Say I did a translation June 2, and the end client has to submit that document for a job interview on June 7. I won't be paid by my agency client until around July 5 for all work done in June. Should I make it impossible for the end client to submit my translation to her j... See more The question restricts us to whether a client will accept it. I answered no for practical reasons. For example, one of my agency clients pays the first week of the next month for all translations done the previous month. Say I did a translation June 2, and the end client has to submit that document for a job interview on June 7. I won't be paid by my agency client until around July 5 for all work done in June. Should I make it impossible for the end client to submit my translation to her job interview? What use would my work even be? The idea is impractical.
[Edited at 2021-07-18 15:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | marlene Le Duc (X)
France
Local time: 09:50
English to French
| I had to do so once or twice | Jul 18, 2021 |
ProZ.com Staff wrote:
This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you think that files could be encrypted or locked until you get paid?". This poll was originally submitted by Ines R.. View the poll results »
Once or twice I did so : I have contacted by some clients who were mostly rated as bad payers, so I told them that I would do the job but whith half payment in advance, and the rest at delivery (with of course the possibility for them to ask for correction or change afterward).
In order to make sure that I will be paid, I did encrypt the file, so I get my money.
Of course I wouldn't do so, with most of customers ; nevertheless i do believe that anyone deserves a second chance, I was jus taking my precaution
| | | | Jo Macdonald
Spain
Local time: 09:50
Member (2005)
Italian to English
+ ...
| Translation locked on 61st day | Jul 19, 2021 |
As the deadline for payments is 60 days it would be great to have an app that locked (greyed out) the translation on the 61st day in the case of late payment.
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Jo Macdonald wrote:
As the deadline for payments is 60 days it would be great to have an app that locked (greyed out) the translation on the 61st day in the case of late payment.
I think this concept is called "ransomware".
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Kay-Viktor Stegemann wrote:
Jo Macdonald wrote:
As the deadline for payments is 60 days it would be great to have an app that locked (greyed out) the translation on the 61st day in the case of late payment.
I think this concept is called "ransomware".
Both the idea and calling it ransomware would be a harsh approach. I was thinking about this the other day and how it could be justifiable without getting dirty. Just setting up a simple base64 password, and exchanging it hot with payment would be fine.
Or just send a somehow partial demo to prove that you did the job, and demand payment for the rest.
Best resolution here of course is to cherrypick your clients and just work with good, straight people.
| | | | Manfei Li
Australia
Local time: 19:50
English to Chinese
| NO, but there should be another way | Jul 21, 2021 |
If you are sending a translated file without credential information, I think you can lock the PDF or word file so client will not be able to edit it, but they can still review that.
If you encrypted it to stop client viewing it, it may not be acceptable by any clients.
So you may be able to lock it as you do not want your file to be used for other purposes, but encryption may not work.
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