Payment from client

[Michael Fletcher]

Dear Yakkers:

 

I have a question regarding payment. I have a client that I provided services for in May and June. They actually have long payment terms so the due date for payment was not until the End of August. When I had not received payment by the end of September, I sent an e-mail inquiring about payment and received an e-mail (only then) that there had been issues with the translation and that they had to go through it extensively but that they would send payment about the middle of October. At the end of October they had still not paid and (only then) they started asking for reducing payment due to costs they had incurred for editing. After doing some comparisons on both their part and on my own, I concluded that the original translation was robust. The owner took some obscure comments from a reviewer and offered to make payment of 50% of the invoice. I turned down the offer because I haven’t seen justification for the reduction. Nevertheless, the agency sent payment equal to ½ of the invoice. Note, I had returned an e-mail stating that I did not accept the reduction of invoice by 50% before receiving payment.

 

My question is, if I cash this check does it weaken my position in going after the remainder of the payment?

 

Thanks,

 

Michael Fletcher

 

 

[Peter Clark]

Dear Michael,
I had a similar experience, last year, around the same time. Can you give anymore information about the 'owner'.
 
Peter Clark

---

With all the lastest places, searching has never been easier. Look now! Looking to move this spring?

[Adam]

Yes.

--
To post: mailto:hon...@googlegroups.com
List home: http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku
FAQ: http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/web
Posters assume all responsibility for their posts; list owners do not
review messages and accept no responsibility for the content of posts.

[Matthew Schlecht]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Michael Fletcher <mic...@jettranslations.com> wrote:
>
> My question is, if I cash this check does it weaken my position in going after the remainder of the payment?

     If the check mentions anything about it being "payment in full", then cashing it does damage your position vis a vis collection of the full invoice amount.
     Any agency that takes 4 months to get back to you with information that a payment reduction is in order due to poor translation quality is verkakte.  It is quite unlikely that it took them that long to get the translation delivered to the end client, and it just sounds awfully fishy.  This is probably a ploy to extract higher value from your work at your expense.
     Depending on whether the amount is large enough to warrant collection, you should probably pursue legal means (small claims, a collection agency), and in the mean time I recommend mentioning to your "client" that you find these might be the only avenues to obtain your rightful payment.  You could also file a payment default claim (or whatever it is called) which will show up on their credit rating.  That, and be generous with your description of their practices on as many payment practices lists as you have the patience to do.

my $0.02

Matthew Schlecht

[David Hanna]

--My question is, if I cash this check does it weaken my position in going after the remainder of the payment?--

 

Before cashing the check, you would want to discuss that with your attorney, if you are seriously considering preserving your rights and pursuing the balance later.  Statues and case law may vary by state or jurisdiction on whether endorsing a check "under protest" will adequately reserve a claim to the balance once the cash has been negotiated.

 

Best regards,

David Hanna

----- Original Message -----

From: Michael Fletcher

To: hon...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 7:15 PM

Subject: Payment from client

Dear Yakkers:

 

I have a question regarding payment. I have a client that I provided services for in May and June. They actually have long payment terms so the due date for payment was not until the End of August. When I had not received payment by the end of September, I sent an e-mail inquiring about payment and received an e-mail (only then) that there had been issues with the translation and that they had to go through it extensively but that they would send payment about the middle of October. At the end of October they had still not paid and (only then) they started asking for reducing payment due to costs they had incurred for editing. After doing some comparisons on both their part and on my own, I concluded that the original translation was robust. The owner took some obscure comments from a reviewer and offered to make payment of 50% of the invoice. I turned down the offer because I haven’t seen justification for the reduction. Nevertheless, the agency sent payment equal to ½ of the invoice. Note, I had returned an e-mail stating that I did not accept the reduction of invoice by 50% before receiving payment.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Michael Fletcher

 

 

[Kirill Sereda]

That would be like taking your opponent's pawn and then losing your entire game.

 

KIrill

--

[Friedemann Horn]

On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 4:05 PM, Kirill Sereda
<kvse...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> That would be like taking your opponent's pawn and then losing your entire
> game.

Why?


Friedemann Horn
www.horn-uchida.jp

[Richard Thieme]

Jurisdictions may vary on this. The original poster mentioned a check, which
seems to me that payment was made outside of Japan.

If you type in "cashed under protest" as an endorsement you can find some
information. Not sure how this might apply in the jurisdiction of the poster
however.

Regards,

Richard Thieme