Dear Madam/Sir,
My name is Iulia Hampu, a freelance translator with residence in Romania, Giroc, 39, Trandafirilor St.
I am contacting you regarding an attempt of fraud.
I have been contracted online by a Canadian Company “Asiatis Canada” (“A Word of Excellence” - East: 1819 René-Lévesque Ouest - Bureau 202 - Montréal, QC - H3H 2P5
Ouest /West: Box 713 - Carstairs, AB - T0M 0N0, email address: [email protected]) in order to perform a translation.
The company had posted a job on www.proz.com (site dedicated to translations); I placed my quote which was officially declined there; I was contacted anyway to do the job. Everything went well at the beginning, I was sent the file to translate, we agreed on the rate and I confirmed.
Later, after confirming, I was sent a PO including Terms & Conditions. According to this PO I have no right even in case of a dispute.
Before sending it, Ms. Gabrielle Bannard, PM at the above mentioned company, informed me that she would send me a PO which would include the exact number of words; nothing was specified about Terms & Conditions. As I assumed that the PO would include only the exact number of words, whole amount and due date, as Ms. Gabrielle Bannard specified, I did not open it at that moment, considering that, having already confirmed the project, everything would happen as agreed before. I did not sign it and did not confirm the acceptance of those T & Cs. Before somebody starts a work, he/she must be aware of the T&Cs and confirm the acceptance.
I sent the translation as agreed, but Ms. Gabrielle Bannard started to accuse me of not doing the translation myself, of not being an English native (even if before sending me the project she had my CV where was clearly specified that I was a Romanian native and that my proficiency in English was near-native), that there were numerous mistakes and that, according to the T & Cs, I would receive nothing, but because she was nice, I would receive 30% of the agreed amount. I know my translation was of high quality, but I can not demonstrate it because I would infringe the Terms & Conditions. I do not understand why she would offer to pay, even less, if my translation was miserable.
The due date of the invoice was on November 6; payment was not performed as Ms. Gabrielle Bannard stated in written, but was postponed until the end of November. At the end of November she stopped answering my emails and did not pay. After leaving a feedback on the company’s profile (www.proz.com), she answered that she had wanted to pay less but I had refused. This is true; I refused because I have the right to be fully paid for a one week work and for a translation done really well.
I tried to contact the General Director, asking for a signed response to my problem, but all the messages were replied from Ms. Gabrielle Bannard’s email address, none being signed by the General Director, Mr. Jean-Philippe Cat.
I do believe that Ms. Gabrielle Bannard did all these on purpose. In my opinion she chose me to work on the project knowing that I would have no right according to their Terms & Conditions (document sent as PO and also late, document which was not mentioned until the payment day) and that she would receive the translation for free.
Therefore, I do believe that this was and is an attempt of fraud and I kindly ask you to help me solve the problem and, as well, to stop them committing it again. As human beings, I and everybody, have the right to work, so therefore also to be paid.
All the emails sent and received by me to/from the company are open, except the document and information related to the information in the document. If the manager of the company or the client agrees, I would be more than happy to send the document to a neutral proofreader.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Iulia Hampu
40 720 23 06 09
[email protected]
Giroc, 39 Trandafirilor St
Romania
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