| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Do you request that outsourcers acknowledge the receipt of your finished project? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you request that outsourcers acknowledge the receipt of your finished project?".
This poll was originally submitted by Romeo Baldovino. View the poll results »
| | | | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:57
German to English
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If I'm going out shortly, or going away on holiday and won't be able to resend the files if there is an issue, then I will ask for confirmation of receipt. But I don't by default.
| | | | EvaVer (X)
Local time: 19:57
Czech to French
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Mary Worby wrote:
If I'm going out shortly, or going away on holiday and won't be able to resend the files if there is an issue, then I will ask for confirmation of receipt. But I don't by default.
or if there have been some delivery issues (the outsourcer not receiving my e-mails) or if it's a new outsourcer in a country where there have been such issues.
| | | | | Quite apart from ensuring that the project.... | Mar 3, 2015 |
...has indeed arrived safely, this is confirmation from their end that they have received it, in other words, from that moment, I can start counting the days until I am paid! In fact, I normally wait for further confirmation that things are OK, but not all clients/agencies provide this. I will prepare bills, if it is convenient for me, shortly after either of those moments.
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Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 19:57
Member (2006)
German to English
but most of my customers do so themselves.
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Yes, always, and that means I am ok with it and whatever happens in the client's office is not my business (it gets lost?, nobody knows where my translations is?). I know that I have delivered it and I am sure they have received it.
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Michael Harris wrote:
but most of my customers do so themselves.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 18:57
Member (2007)
English
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| It's an essential step, IMO | Mar 3, 2015 |
How can you sign off a job, mentally if not in writing, if you don't have receipt of delivery? What evidence do you have to the contrary if the client refuses to pay the invoice, saying that the file(s) never arrived (unless your work is available publicly)?
So, I don't "request" acknowledgement - I insist on it. I tell my clients who don't want to be bothered that it is an essential step in my QC procedures. They've all accepted that. Of course, in reality I sometimes don't get rou... See more How can you sign off a job, mentally if not in writing, if you don't have receipt of delivery? What evidence do you have to the contrary if the client refuses to pay the invoice, saying that the file(s) never arrived (unless your work is available publicly)?
So, I don't "request" acknowledgement - I insist on it. I tell my clients who don't want to be bothered that it is an essential step in my QC procedures. They've all accepted that. Of course, in reality I sometimes don't get round to chasing them, and the times I don't are inevitably the ones where the work was actually NOT received. But that's just Sod's Law in action . ▲ Collapse
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| Other - It depends | Mar 3, 2015 |
I can't set general rules, because each outsourcer is different.
Extreme case #1 - A regular client, as soon as the PM receives a completed job from me, she'll pop up on my Skype, saying "Got it! Tks."
Extreme case #2 - I uploaded the finished job to the agency's FTP site as instructed, three days before the deadline. A couple of days later, I got paid as agreed. Three weeks after the deadline, the PM wrote me asking when I thought I'd be able to deliver it.
... See more I can't set general rules, because each outsourcer is different.
Extreme case #1 - A regular client, as soon as the PM receives a completed job from me, she'll pop up on my Skype, saying "Got it! Tks."
Extreme case #2 - I uploaded the finished job to the agency's FTP site as instructed, three days before the deadline. A couple of days later, I got paid as agreed. Three weeks after the deadline, the PM wrote me asking when I thought I'd be able to deliver it.
Extreme case #3 - I subtitled a bunch of videos over a month ago, sent the pack via one of those cloud transfer services (the same used to send me the original videos) that keep them there, available for a week. Last week I called the (local) agency PM on another matter, and took the chance to ask her about those videos, if I could delete those 2 GB already. She said she'd had NO feedback from the end-client (one of the most prominent worldwide companies in electronics) ever since, other than payment having been duly received. I told her that, to play on the safe side, I'd hold them for another week. On the next day she called me, to say that the end-client had lost the link to download the videos, if I could upload them again. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Absolutely not | Mar 3, 2015 |
Acknowledging receipt is a matter of courtesy, and to request such would be the height of bad manners.
Of course, if I don't receive an acknowledgement, I will enquire politely whether the file has been received.
| | | | Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 02:57
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
| I really don't have to | Mar 3, 2015 |
Michael Harris wrote:
but most of my customers do so themselves.
Unless, I am going out and I want to confirm this before I go out for supper with my family, for example.
However, there are those miscreants who confirm receipt a day or two after I've delivered. Grrrr
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 19:57
Member (2006)
German to English
Julian Holmes wrote: Michael Harris wrote:
but most of my customers do so themselves. Unless, I am going out and I want to confirm this before I go out for supper with my family, for example. However, there are those miscreants who confirm receipt a day or two after I've delivered. Grrrr
And those are usually the ones that need the translation asap;-)
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Most of my clients do that anyway, but I do ask for confirmation if they don't have such a habit.
| | | | Diana Obermeyer
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:57
Member (2013)
German to English
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| I think I have to start doing that | Mar 3, 2015 |
Just the other week, I received a message from a regular client, saying "Thanks for your invoice, but I can't find the translation".
I had prepared the invoice 3 days after sending the translation.
When I replied to this message, I received a delivery failure message. At first, I thought it was a failed delivery of my reply. But when I checked that failure email, it was indeed a delivery failure message for the original email containing the translation.
I actually felt sick.<... See more Just the other week, I received a message from a regular client, saying "Thanks for your invoice, but I can't find the translation".
I had prepared the invoice 3 days after sending the translation.
When I replied to this message, I received a delivery failure message. At first, I thought it was a failed delivery of my reply. But when I checked that failure email, it was indeed a delivery failure message for the original email containing the translation.
I actually felt sick.
So, I will need to include that step in my workflow in the future. ▲ Collapse
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As many of you have said, most clients do so automatically. If they don't, I'm after them right away, especially if it's a rush job.
Once a client phoned me in the middle of the night from a time zone 10 hours away to say he hadn't received the work, and another client waited four days before inquiring about the job (also "rush"). In both cases, **their server had rejected my e-mails because the attachments were too large**. Another time I absent-mindedly saved the e-mail instead of... See more As many of you have said, most clients do so automatically. If they don't, I'm after them right away, especially if it's a rush job.
Once a client phoned me in the middle of the night from a time zone 10 hours away to say he hadn't received the work, and another client waited four days before inquiring about the job (also "rush"). In both cases, **their server had rejected my e-mails because the attachments were too large**. Another time I absent-mindedly saved the e-mail instead of sending it. I learned my lesson. If there's going to be a delivery problem, I want to know about it right away.
Four of my regular clients use online portals for file exchange. In those cases, the acknowledgments and notifications are built in. ▲ Collapse
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