Re: Non-payers, part 3

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Re: Non-payers, part 3

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Re: Non-payers, part 3
Sender: Paulo de Faria-Lopes 02-01-2017 17:58

Dear translators,

My name is Paulo de Faria-Lopes and like you I am also a translator. The reason I write these lines to you is because I was targeted by another translator who is also an outsourcer and is registered on translationdirectory under French Translations. Her name is Karin Lefevre AKA Karin Chapelle and owns 3 websites: www.translationssouthafrica.co.za, www,frenchtranslations.co.za, and www.askthedoctor.co.za

This individual is a non-payer and she approached me via the phone and I believe she got hold of my contacts via the Translationdirectory website. She targets French-English and English-Portuguese translators and this is the reason I am writing to you as I don't want anyone else to fall as her victim. She first contacted me over the phone so be alert to her MO.

Here's the story.
1) Outsourcer's name, contact persons, postal address, ALL e-mail addresses, website (if any).
The outsourcer uses her own name and the names of the websites she owns. Her own name is Karin Lefevre AKA Karin Chapele. Her websites/companies are Translations South Africa (www.Translationssouthafrica.co.za), French Translations (www.Frenchtranslations.co.za) and Ask the doctor (www.Askthedoctor.co.za). Email addresses: (1) bizafri@wol.co.za; (2) admin@translationssuthafrica.co.za; (3) translator@translationssouthafrica.co.za (4) admin@frenctranslations.co.za
In the recent past (3 or 4 months ago) “French Translations” used to be in your directory of translation agencies.
2) Job number (if the job was posted at TranslationDirectory.com)
The job was not posted at Translation Directory. The Outsourcer contacted me via cell phone and among other things alleged that she needed a translator based in South Africa specially to facilitate payments!?
3) Did you meet the deadline?
The project was of about 40K words and I did it on my own and after some exchange of correspondence I agreed to do it in 2 to 3 weeks if the outsourcer was to change her payment terms to 30 days from the original 45 working days. Otherwise I would do it in 3 to 4 weeks. It has been 123 days since I finished the translation and I am still waiting for my payment. I was not late on both counts because it took me 23 days to do it and the outsourcer interrupted me twice to do other small work for her which took me 2 days to complete.
4) Did the outsourcer complain about the quality of your work?
No and this was not my 1st project for her. If she came back for more certainly is because she was happy with the quality of my work.
5) Was payment delayed or not received at all?
A small amount of the payment has been delayed but most of the payment (80%) has not been paid at all.
6) What did the agency answer to your inquiries about payment?
When the payment deadlines were reached, the outsourcer never came up with payment. At first she went quiet and would not respond to my emails. Eventually and when you threaten to take action against her, she makes a small payment which at that stage is already very late. After that she throws lawyers at you because of the threats you made (?!) without which she would not have paid out a cent in the first place. I am already on the 2nd set of lawyers she has sending letters to me, I don’t know what happened to the first ones, these new ones are now threatening me if I decide to go public with this problem like I am doing. I can send these letters as evidence if required. I always found it amazing that there are these people out there that do not have money to honour their contracts and payments but they always seem to have money to pay lawyers to threaten you! In the meantime she makes payment agreements with me through her lawyers and she fails to honour these commitments saying she has no money to pay after the deadline is reached and she is pressed for an answer. She never informed me about this beforehand. The obvious excuse is that her clients owe her money while on her websites it is clearly stated that full payment is required before any work is started. She’s using delaying tactics but in the meantime she keeps her websites running and recruiting new translators. This just cannot carry on!

7) Would you work for this outsourcer again?
Absolutely not. She is a person with no word and deceitful. I spoke to her on the phone and one can feel that she has been many years in the industry and uses this pattern of non-payment for a long time getting the lawyers to threaten the translators. This is why I believe her name has not been found in any blacklists because people let it go out of fear. I will not let go until she is exposed and justice is made for me and all others before and after me.
8) Other comments (if any).
In order to do the translation project within the time requested by Karin Lefevre I had to let go of all other work I had in hand and that came through while I was completing the project for this individual, working furiously through weekends to meet the deadline. This means that I was working exclusively for over a month for this individual and then I have had to endure for 4 months without payment up to now. This is totally unacceptable and I want to prevent this individual from inflicting any further harm to other translators as she has inflicted to me and I fathom to think how many others before me. I am not afraid of this person nor her lawyers because I know I am on the side of the truth and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that non-paying individuals/ agencies such as this one have no place in the translation industry.

Finally, I would like to add that Karin Lefevre targets the South African translation market in particular and translators of French and English and Portuguese and English respectively. The reason for this is that the translation profession is not regulated in South Africa and therefore it is easy for her to prey on her victims and get freebies from the translation community.

I can provide any further information to show that the report above is truthful and I am seeking to spread the word out there to avoid that this individual causes any further damage. She is also a sworn translator!? Therefore she is actually stealing from colleagues!
I am also seeking advice from you in order to be able to make this warning reach the highest amount of translators in the shortest amount of time.
Thank you for your time and understanding. I look forward to your reply and to find out how we can put a halt to this individual.

Happy 2017 and stay safe of non-payers and scammers.

Paulo de Faria-Lopes

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