Forum for Translators: Ulatus Crimson
I often see job ads by this company, however it's very difficult to find some sort of review on the net (especially by fellow translators).
It would be quite handy if legit companies (not only scammers) could be rated on the forum (as far as rates and company attitude toward freelancers are concerned).
Back on the subject, I noticed that they usually advertise jobs quite often, even on the same language pair and that is certainly not a good sign because professional and reliable agencies tend to build stable and long-term business relationships with their translators (as long as translators are pleased with them).
Did anybody have any experience with above mentioned company.
If so, please share your impressions and opinions (about payment terms, attitude etc.); I think it would be very beneficial for other professionals.
Thank you!
I think this is a great question to ask!
I've done some work with Ulatus, and frankly find them terrible. They're based out of India and pay peanuts--their average quoted rate is 5JPY per source character, which is already low, but about 75% of the work requests they've sent me have had even lower rates--anywhere from 2.8-4JPY per source character, and sometimes less! One time they even asked me to translate 750 words for free because it was a "sample" and, if I did a good job, the client would send "voluminous work." Other times, they've switched the 5JPY per source character to 5JPY per word of English output, resulting in an even more abysmally low rate.
Last but not least (but most funny), they never paid me for some editing work I did. I was already very suspicious about the company by that point, and when my invoice didn't come in for something like 3 months after they guaranteed it would, I threw my hands up. I repeatedly asked them to stop contacting me about jobs, and they've completely ignored that. I still get requests from them a few times a month, and I just mark everything as spam now.
If you don't mind extremely low rates and possibly not getting paid, the email staff is friendly to deal with, but that's the only plus I can think of. I'd recommend avoiding this company unless you're looking for translation experience or live somewhere with a very low cost of living.
I also noticed the frequent hiring advertisement posted by Ulatus. It is unlikely that this is because of exponential increase in their work demands; rather it is more likely due to a constant loss of translator base.
My personal experience with Ulatus as freelance translator is not positive either. It can be summarized as follows:
1. Non-responsive management team: I've sent several requests to adjust my rates in the past two months; but the management staff has not responded yet;
2. Fee-cutter: The people at the management level try their best to cut down payout to both translators and reviewers through their review process;
3. The management team often stirs up the conflict between the initial translator and the subsequent reviewer, with or without intention. To protest this malicious practice, in several occasions after completing a review work, I sent a message to the manager along with the reviewed translation to remind them that my review work is to improve the quality of translation, not to give Ulatus an excuse to cut down the original translator’s payout. But they seem to be continuing this practice.
So, to sum up, Ulatus is doing a disservice to itself by squeezing every possible penny out of its translators. I suspect that the same strategy is also applied to their clients, and that the losing trend is not limited at the translator end.
And if you can, stay away from Ulatus.
This company is associated with spam e-mails.
They are non-payers.
I re-up this message to see if anyone else has some further experiences he/she want to share about this agency.
Please share your contributes (also positive ones).
Thanks!
Why would you update this thread after two years and specifically ask for positive feedback about this company? Do you work for them?
Search forum and the rest of TranslationDirectory.com:
|