Client Bill of Rights

The Client's Bill of Rights

Index

  1. Definitions
  2. Introduction
  3. Punctuality
  4. Excessive Number of Errors
  5. Critical Content Errors
  6. Penalties
  7. Mediation
  8. Plea Bargaining
  9. Client Obligations
  10. Civility

  • I. Definitions

    A client is anyone using the SecureTrans interface in order to procure the services of a Translator.

    A translator is any member agreeing to perform any professional service via the SecureTrans Interface.

  • II. Introduction

    Every client has a right to an accurate translation or linguistic service that is delivered on time. If a client does not receive said service then they may seek arbitration within seven (7) days of the date of the deadline.

    In the case of an arbitration being requested by the client, the client may receive partial or complete restitution of his/her money which was paid for "poorly rendered services", as determined by the TC Online Court proceedings.

    "Poorly rendered services" will be defined based on the following criteria:

    1. Punctuality
    2. Excessive number of errors
    3. Critical Content errors

    The above listed errors are defined in the following sections.

  • III. Punctuality

    Punctuality signifies that the finished files must be uploaded to the Translator's Corner server no later than the time agreed upon and registered in the SecureTrans Job Control Center. The only extension of the original deadline respected by the TC Online Court will be an extension granted by the client at his/her own volition.

  • IV. Excessive Number of Errors

    A number of errors is determined to be "excessive" based of the ratio of 1 (one) error for every 1,000 (one thousand) translated words. More precisely, an acceptable translation must contain no more than 1 objective error for every 1000 translated words.

    To determine this infraction (the number of objective errors), it must be verified by an arbiter (an arbiter is an experienced and highly rated translator of the language pairs in the area of expertise dealt with in the translation in question).
    This arbiter can be identified to the client when the client requests this information in writing.
    The number of errors said arbiter finds will be divided by the final word count of all the files pertaining to the job registered on SecureTrans.
    These errors will include, but not be limited to untranslated words, skipped words, objective mistranslations, missing characters, extra characters, misleading or incorrect syntax, incorrect punctuation, and other objective errors as determined by the arbiter assigned to a case.

  • V. Critical Content Errors

    Given that certain words are more important than others, if errors are made in areas of critical importance, the client has the right to seek arbitration, regardless of whether or not they are made in excess.

    Critical content is defined as content similar to or the same as, though not limited to, names, dates, places, contractual or legal clauses, data which impairs website function, financial data, and any information which significantly alters or impairs the overall function and/or purpose of the document or website. In addition, mistranslations or errors causing embarrassment, disrepute or damage to the client will be accepted under this category of infraction. Said errors can be made in these critical areas in any of the ways stated in Section IV of this document.

    Critical Content errors must be cited specifically (filling in all the data requested by Translator's Corner) by the client in the TC Online Court Proceedings in order to be considered and decided upon by the Arbiter.

  • VI. Penalties

    1. Punctuality

      1. If a document is 1-15 minutes late the translator will be deducted ten percent (10%) of the punctuality points possible in the given job.
      2. If the work is submitted 15-30 minutes late, the translator will lose fifteen percent (15%) of the punctuality points possible in the given job, in addition to penalty defined in A1.
      3. If the work is submitted 30 minutes to 3 hours late, the translator will receive the penalties defined in A1 and A2 and will also lose another ten percent (10%) of the punctuality points possible in the given job. In addition, 10% of the job's value will be returned to the client in a direct refund or account credit as restitution for "poorly rendered services."
      4. For every additional hour that a job is late being turned in, after the first 3 hours of tardiness, the translator will be penalized an additional 3.33% of the job's monetary value. In addition, the translator will lose another fifteen percent (15%) of the punctuality points possible in the job from his/her punctuality points for every 5 (five) hours that the work is late. No more than 100% (one hundred percent) of the job's monetary value may be repaid to the client. However, the translator's punctuality points will be lost indefinitely by the increments specified here until the job is successfully submitted to the client, with negative one hundred percent (-100%) being worst possible penalty imposed.

        Worst case scenario, then mitigating factors:

      5. If the translator should effectively "disappear" and give no notice of his/her failure to complete the translation which they were paid to produce, the translator will lose one hundred percent (100%) of the money paid for the job and he/she will be assigned negative one hundred percent (-100%) of the points possibly available to him/her in the job.
      6. If the translator can produce documentation of an unavoidable unforeseen circumstance (i.e. natural disaster or hospitalization) which would render him/herself incapable of producing the job in a timeframe reasonably close to the original deadline, and communicate that to the client; then the administrator has the option of reducing the points penalty to the translator's rating to an amount less than the -100% usually indicated for this offense. However, he/she will not receive any payment for this job.
      7. If the translator cannot complete the work but is able to upload to the site the work already completed for another translator to finish in entirety, he/she will receive partial points in his/her rating for the work submitted, though not directly proportional to the percentage completed, due to the gravity of not finishing the work as promised. The reduction in penalty will be evaluated on a case by case basis according to criteria of the administrator. Once again, the translator for this job will not receive any payment.
      8. In all of these instances (5,6, and 7) the client may discontinue his/her service request and receive a complete refund amount paid, or have the amount credited to his/her account and have the work completed by another translator.

    2. Excessive Number of Errors

      1. If the TC Online Court proceedings reveal that the number of errors in a translation exceeds a ratio of 1 error for every 1000 translated words, and is less than or equal to 5:1000 then the client will receive fifteen (15%) of his/her money credited to his account or refunded directly and the translator will not receive the amount corresponding to that penalty.
        In addition, the translator will lose twenty percent (20%) of the accuracy points corresponding to the job in question.
      2. If the number of errors determined in said proceeding exceeds a ratio of 5 errors for every 1000 translated words and is less than or equal to 10:1000 then the client will receive thirty percent (30%) of the monetary value of the job in question returned to him/her in the form of a credit or direct refund.
        In addition, the translator will lose forty percent (40%) of the accuracy points corresponding to the job in question.
      3. If the number of errors determined in said proceeding exceeds a ratio of 10 errors for every 1000 translated words and is less than or equal to 20:1000 then the client will receive fifty percent (50%) of the monetary value of the job in question returned to him/her in the form of a credit or direct refund.
        In addition, the translator will lose sixty percent (60%) of the accuracy points corresponding to the job in question, and an additional penalty corresponding to twenty-five percent (25%) of the job's points value will be deducted from the translator's experience points.
      4. If the number of errors determined in said proceeding exceeds a ratio of 20 errors for every 1000 translated words then the client will receive one hundred percent (100%) of the monetary value of the job in question returned to him/her in the form of a credit or direct refund.
        In addition, the translator will lose one hundred percent (100%) of the accuracy and punctuality points corresponding to the job in question, and a penalty corresponding to fifty percent (50%) of the job's points value will be deducted from the translator's experience points.

    3. Critical Content Errors

      1. For one critical content error cited by the client and confirmed to be both incorrect and of a critical nature to the translation by the arbiter, the client will be refunded or credited fifteen percent (15%) of the job's monetary value.
        In addition, a penalty corresponding to twenty-five percent (25%) of the job's point value will be deducted from the translator's accuracy points.
      2. For two critical content errors cited by the client and confirmed to be both incorrect and of a critical nature to the translation by the arbiter, the client will be refunded or credited thirty percent (30%) of the value of the job's monetary value.
        In addition, a penalty corresponding to fifty percent (50%) of the job's point value will be deducted from the translator's accuracy points.
      3. For three critical content errors cited by the client and confirmed to be both incorrect and of a critical nature to the translation by the arbiter, the client will be refunded or credited fifty percent (50%) of the value of the job's monetary value.
        In addition, a penalty corresponding to sixty-five percent (65%) of the job's point value will be deducted from the translator's accuracy points.
      4. For four critical content errors cited by the client and confirmed to be both incorrect and of a critical nature to the translation by the arbiter, the client will be refunded or credited seventy-five percent (75%) of the job's monetary value.
        In addition, a penalty corresponding to eighty percent (80%) of the job's point value will be deducted from the translator's accuracy points.
      5. For five or more critical content errors cited by the client and confirmed to be both incorrect and of a critical nature to the translation by the arbiter, the client will be refunded or credited one hundred percent (100%) of the job's monetary value.
        In addition, a penalty corresponding to 100% of the job's point value will be deducted from the translator's accuracy points.

    Please check our Penalties document for a summarized table listing all the possible combinations of faults, and their corresponding outcome.

  • VII. Mediation

    Once both parties have agreed to the terms of a given job certain parts of the job details will be sealed for certain parties, and other terms will only be able to be changed by Translator's Corner administrator.

    1. Price Increase: The price will not be able to be increased by anyone other than the Client, due to the limitations built into SecureTrans. If the translator wishes that the price should increase after the job has begun, he/she must convince the client that an increase is necessary.
    2. Deadline Extension: A deadline extension can only be made by the client due to the limitations built into the SecureTrans interface. If the translator wishes that the deadline be extended after the job has begun, he/she must convince the client that an increase is necessary.
    3. Speeding up the Deadline: Only the translator can subtract time from the deadline. If the client would like the job submitted quicker that the deadline that was originally agreed upon, he/she must convince the translator to reduce the time needed to complete the translation. The translator is allowed to ask for a price increase to compensate for this.
    4. Reducing the Price: Only the site administrator can reduce the price of the job. If the translator wishes to reduce the price of the job, he/she should send an email to the site administrator citing the time and date in the communication log where the price change was agreed upon between the translator and the client. The administrator will then review the reasons for the request in order to rule out any gross irresponsibility on the part of the translator and then apply the changes where this is not the case.

  • VII. Plea Bargaining

    In the TC Online Court proceedings the translator is given the opportunity to see the charges levied against him/her and plea his/her guilt or innocence before the documents are passed on to an arbiter. This plea must be entered within twenty-four (24) hours of the initial accusation.
    If the translator doesn't enter his plea within twenty-four (24) hours, the effect will be the same as if he/she had pleaded innocent.

    A plea bargain will be accepted in the following manner and offer the following reward:

    1. If the translator then reviews the work and finds the claims against him/her to be valid, then he/she has option of admitting his/her guilt and offer to correct the problem and resubmit the corrected document.
    2. If the translator submits a plea of guilty, the penalties applied to the given infraction will be reduced by twenty percent (20%).
    3. If the translator submits a plea of guilty and corrects the errors in the translation and submits them to the client, then the translator's penalties will be reduced by an additional ten percent (10%).
    4. If the translator does not agree with the charges made against him/her he/she may submit a plea of innocence and await the evaluation of the case by an arbiter. If he/she is found guilty the full penalty for his/her infractions will be applied.
    5. If the translator feels the case filed against him was unjust due to a lack of cooperation on the part of the client, he/she should cite the instances where the client failed to promptly respond to his/her communication(s) and file a plea of "not guilty".

  • IX. Client Obligations

    A client has three responsibilities to Translator's Corner and its translators.

    1. The client must prepay 100% of the job's value to Translator's Corner via the SecureTrans server before the translator will begin working on the assigned job, and the number of days required to complete the job will not begin being counted until this obligation is met.
    2. The client, or the client's representatives authorized to act on his behalf, must be available to participate and in fact participate in all communication or mediation initiated by the translator in a "timely manner". A "timely manner" is defined herein as within twenty-four (24) hours of a registered communication by the translator during any business day that occurs before the final deadline day, when a "timely manner" will be defined as responding within two (2) hours of a registered communication. Registered communications refer to chats or emails sent via the SecureTrans server.
    3. The client has the responsibility to rate and give feedback regarding all jobs solicited on his behalf in a fair and objective manner.

  • X. Civility

    1. All clients have a right to be treated in a respectful and professional way. Any profane, vulgar, or offensive language written or spoken to clients in any communication will not be tolerated by Translator's Corner and translator faces having his membership terminated depending upon the gravity of the offense.
    2. All translators contacted via Translator's Corner must not engage in jobs outside the SecureTrans system with their clients found on Translator's Corner that are of a nature specifically promoted and facilitated in Translator's Corner. Off-site contracting of said jobs will be grounds for membership termination of both parties involved in such an offense.
    3. Contact information can only be exchanged between clients and translators after payment for a job has been made when the parties determine it is necessary to clarify any questions or problems that need to be discussed in relation to the current job. However all communications done outside of ComConsole or emails sent through the site will not be considered in cases in the TC Online Court due the fact that these communications are quite easily forgeable. So if any decisions affecting the important details of the job are reached via an off-site communication they should be reposted on the site and agreed to by the other party.