Forum for Translators: DDS Europe Ltd
Hi all!!
Does anyone know about this agency, DDS Europe Ltd, from Scotland, UK? My contact is Gail Brown.
They owe me an invoice and I have already sent a couple of reminder e-mails. The answers: they had technical problems so the invoice was lost; I sent Gail the invoice again and she assured I would be paid by the end of the month (March). I received no payment. I sent another e-mail at the beginning of April. Answer: her (Gail's) dad had been very ill in hospital so she hadn't been to the office. Today is April 16th and I haven't still received any payment.
How do I proceed next? Something like "It's been 2 months now; when can I expect payment, if it your intention to pay at all?". Do I wait longer?
Thanks for any advice.
Regards,
Elizabeth Casals
Hello,
I'm in a similar situation. I'm still waiting for the payment of my February invoice. I got a reply about two weeks ago saying that I would be paid that week. I'm still waiting. Have you been paid?
I've chased today informing them that I intended to get my lawer involved (which I will if I have to) if I wasn't given a satisfactory answer. We'll see what happens.
Marie-Laure
Hello Marie-Laure,
I have been paid. After some weeks I posted my first message here, I re-sent the last mail I had sent them, saying I had received no response to it, and that same day I received my payment.
I think they intend to pay, you need to remind them! :(
Cheers!
Elizabeth Casals
Dear Elizabeth,
Thank you for your reply. That's encouraging. The same happened with them with an invoice late last year. They paid the day I chased it. But this time, I have chased three times and no luck. So, I'm starting to wonder. But, it would seem that they pay in the end. They just don't want to and delay it forever. Oh well, once bitten, twice shy. I won't work for them again.
Have a lovely evening.
Regards,
ML
Hi there,
I am having problems getting any money out of DDS Europe (have been trying for 3 months now!). Did you manage to get paid in the end? If so, could you tell me how you went about it? I am considering taking legal action and also notifying the ITI to warn other members.
Thanks
Sarah
Hi there. I have the same problem. I invoiced a big job in March and I'm still waiting for half of the money. The first half was paid at the beginning of July. They are not bad people but I think they suffer from a total lack of organisation and possibly business competence.
Extremely bad payers in my several years experience. Never pay without having to remind them a few times. In the end they did pay though. But this time it very much looks like I will have to resort to court recovery online service (done many times before, definitely recommend it: www.moneyclaim.gov.uk), invoice from March, reminded in May, Gail said she had never got the invoice, sent it to her again, nothing
Greetings
Wojtek Jasiewicz
Hello dear colleague,
I am still waiting for payment of a big job billed last March. I too will be starting a debt recovery procedure.
Please keep me posted and good luck.
Jean-Oierre
Extremely bad payers in my several years experience. Never pay without having to remind them a few times. In the end they did pay though. But this time it very much looks like I will have to resort to court recovery online service (done many times before, definitely recommend it: www.moneyclaim.gov.uk), invoice from March, reminded in May, Gail said she had never got the invoice, sent it to her again, nothing
Greetings
Wojtek Jasiewicz
I know moneyclaim.gov.uk does not cover Scotland and they don't have an online system. You have to apply to the Sheriff Ct local to the culprit.
This is what I intend to do this week
I worked for them - seems to be a decent agency.
Well, I think it is really some technical problem because Gail Brown is very decent. In the worst case, I can recommend a very good debt collector in the UK - I just finished one big issue with a very notorious and stubborn non payer in the UK.
Technical problem? Rather health-related, but either way I cannot see how this should justify the failure to pay your translators! Most of us rely on this money, I for one had to take a bank loan to pay my subcontractor.
2 weeks ago I filed a claim with Gail's local court, will let you know how it went
WJ
Hi there,
I've had the exact same experiences as everyone else on this forum and am owed nearly GBP 7,000. I was eventually paid about GBP 3,500 of earlier invoices earlier this year after very prolonged chasing and dialogue with Gail, and then allowed our credit to be extended. I regret that now! This time my chasing has produced no result, not even a peep out of them after I sent a "final notice before legal debt recovery" by recorded delivery a couple of weeks ago following several weeks of e-mail correspondence. I had thought that the UK small claims court would work, but apparently not when it's in Scotland? Wojtek, would you be able to let me know your procedure and contact details for the local Scottish court you used?
I have lost patience and faith in DDS Europe and Gail; I simply don't believe their excuses. There are far too many translators on the Internet sharing their experiences of very late payments, poor communication and unbelievable excuses. In my capacity as vice chairman of the UK ATC and corporate member of the ITI, I will now instigate further warning to freelancers against working for DDS Europe, but in the meantime I hope to get my own money out of them.
Jesper Sandberg
Technical problem? Rather health-related, but either way I cannot see how this should justify the failure to pay your translators! Most of us rely on this money, I for one had to take a bank loan to pay my subcontractor.
2 weeks ago I filed a claim with Gail's local court, will let you know how it went
WJ
Yes it is Hamilton Sheriff Court, Caird St, ML3 0AL, 01698 201359
Print out forms from
http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/sheriff/small_claims/forms/Form_01a_Application_lodged_on_or_after_4_April_2011.doc
Complete and send to bmackin@scotcourts.co.uk
Call them if you have questions
Wojtek,
I would like to know if you were successful in your claim in the local small claims court against DDS ltd.
Best
Kevin
Yes Kevin, and I did report on this here (the case reached the Sheriff Court appropriate for the area where the company reg. office is and they paid within the time limit given to them)
Good luck
Wojtek
Hi Jasie,
Thanks for your reply. I'm really glad you gave that information about the small claims court.
How long did the procedure in the court take? How long did it take to get your money?
Best regards and thanks again
Kevin
Yes, I'm afraid I've lost faith in Gail - she is very nice indeed, but only so the company can keep shafting you. I'm fed up with the whole damned team. People like them make you wish you'd chosen another career! Don't work for them, even if you're desperate. They WILL eventually fold. In the meantime, I will keep at it. Did anyone tell you that DDS actually stands for Damned Diddly Squat ! Bon courage you lot.
Hi all, I was wondering if anybody has been successful in taking DDS Europe to court? I am owed a lot of money and am getting absolutely nowhere with them, all email correspondence has now ceased. I am just asking myself if it's worth the hassle of filing a claim and will I end up just spending more money?
Any advice and ideas much appreciated.
By all means do. I have just recovered £800 plus the costs (£65). It means they are still trading & solvent
Good luck
Congratulations! That's quite promising. Would you be willing to share any details as to how you went about it? Did you hire a debt collection agency? I am a bit hesitant hiring a bunch of lawyers in case I end up getting nothing and having to pay out even more...
Just a suggestion: why don't you send yet another reminder message? I did this a few months ago and it worked. On the other hand, last week I received the following mail from Gail:
I am working my way through a pile of invoices and have come across your name – could you possibly send me a statement of anything we owe you. I am sorry about this – I was off for a long time as my father was very ill and died a few weeks ago. I am now picking up the pieces and working my way though a whole pile of items requiring my attention.
So it seems they have the will to pay, fortunately I had already collected my invoice.
Best,
Elizabeth Casals
Thank you Elizabeth. Funny enough, I just did send yet another email and I actually got a reply. Not sure what will come of it, but at least it's some sort of communication. That email you received just proves that it's all a bit of a mess. I shall keep working on it!
Please see my entry of 3 October. What Elizabeth is now suggesting would require even more of your patience. Why not an ultimatum first: tell them you'd go to court within 7 days if they don't pay. Thez know bz now that would save them £65 court costs, hopefully they have learned their lesson
Hello everyone,
Although DDS still owes me money (I was told a cheque had been sent last week but nothing's turned up yet...), I'm inclined to accept that they probably did go through a really tough few months and to give them, yet again, the benefit of the doubt. I'll wait a little longer before getting heavy but would welcome any comment on how to go about it. Bon courage !
Hello Jasie,
I need to get 470 pounds from DDS Europe Ltd.
Pl. name debt collecting company/court/legal service which helped you to recover your money.
best regards,
Borys
See my message of 3 October
Good luck
DDS Europe is Scam period.
We did translation for them and they owe us $455
We send them invoice at least 8 times, no answer
Gail returned our email once and said his father is sick ( the same store this person told you)
Any interpreter who work for this DDS Europe, I highly doubt the interpreter will get paid
Reading your messages I have realised that I am not the only one who was cheated by DDS Europe.
An important thing we can do is report everything to UK authorities:
http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/fraud/help-and-advice/support-for-victims
Yep, that's really going to help... Here is what worked for me:
I called them telling them that I was hitting hard times and that I would be thankful for any work they might be able to throw my way. "I know, you owe me money and that but we've always had a good relationship and I'd like to keep it that way. Think of me if you have anything. In the meantime, when do you think you might be able to pay my invoices?" - I got the money within a few days and an offer of work... to which I never even bothered to reply. I know it's kind of grovely, but I got my money so who cares. So long and good luck. Meantime, I would suggest sending a warning message to all your professional contacts.
DDS Europe are in a black list of Linguistic companies:
http://translationstreet.co.uk/adv-search?searchword=DDS+eu+translation&ordering=newest&searchphrase=all
Why not read the previous entries on this?
Regards
WJ
Hi everybody,
I just found this forum and it is really interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't find it before and now, DDS Europe owes me £5,000. I wanted to know, WJ, if you had to go physically to the court or if the case was solved without having to go to Scotland. I don't live in Scotland and that's an important question. If I have to go, I'll go. It's just that I don't want to spend more money for nothing.
Waiting for your answer.
Hi everybody,
I just found this forum and it is really interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't find it before and now, DDS Europe owes me £5,000. I wanted to know, WJ, if you had to go physically to the court or if the case was solved without having to go to Scotland. I don't live in Scotland and that's an important question. If I have to go, I'll go. It's just that I don't want to spend more money for nothing.
Waiting for your answer.
Hello there,
I too am one of what seems to be a very large number of translators who have been conned into working without payment by this utterly unscrupulous and deeply dishonest agency. I have only just discovered how many other people are in the same boat as me, having read their entry on the Proz forum and also this thread. How I wish I had known sooner!
Anyone who seeks to make excuses for DDS on the grounds that they are nice people, Gail is very charming on the phone, they have been unlucky enough to have financial problems, etc. is sadly mistaken. After working for them on two occasions when it took me many, many months and a long, long series of invoices, emails, phone calls and broken promises to pay next week, next month, very soon... before I did finally get paid, I very foolishly decided to give them one more chance in 2010.
Bad decision! I am still unpaid for the two jobs which I did then, despite a string of broken promises to pay on at least six different dates made by Gail, David and James in answer to my emails and phone calls. They spun one sob story after another, each one more dramatic than the last, but still no payment was made.
The bitter truth is that, however well-intentioned they may perhaps have been when they first started the business, these people are now nothing less than crooks. They commissioned those jobs from me when they already knew that they had court judgements against them for non-payment of other people.
I am in no doubt that they billed the client for whom I did the jobs, and collected both their own commission and the payment which was intended for me. They took the money which I had worked for and earned, and that is quite simply theft.
As I have now discovered both from my own experience and from reading about other people's experiences, DDS Europe consistently cheat, lie and steal from translators. So, in my opinion, the place where they belong is not in business, but in court. And I intend to do my bit to get them there, and hope that their other victims will do likewise.
I'm afraid you are right about DDS. To be honest, I'm surprised they are still trading. Has the ITI been told about them yet?
Good luck everyone and do be careful.
No Shirley, if they accept the claim (which to my astonishment they did in my case), no personal attendance is necessary. Same if they do not react
Greetings
Jasie
Hi everybody
I just found this forum and it is really interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't find it before and now, DDS Europe owes me £5,000. I wanted to know, WJ, if you had to go physically to the court or if the case was solved without having to go to Scotland. I don't live in Scotland and that's an important question. If I have to go, I'll go. It's just that I don't want to spend more money for nothing.
Waiting for your answer.
Hi,
When I contacted the court in Scotland, they told me that the claim wasn't expensive but that, as I am not living in the UK, I would have to take a lawyer and that would be expensive particularly because there would certainly be several hearings.
I quote: "you do not need a lawyer for this kind of case but you may need to seek one due to your circumstances as you reside within France. In a small claims summary cause court you have to attend each hearing or be represented by a solicitors as you reside in France there may be considerable expense for this as there may be more than one hearing involved. the court may not be liable for these expenses as we only cover certain expenses."
So I decided not to waste my money and my energy. But if you say that no personal attendance is required and that they accepted, I am very interested. How did you do your claim, Jasie?
Please see 1 of my previous inputs (with a link to the form you print out. I did not have to attend because they did not reject the claim (and paid)
Regards
J
Hi,
When I contacted the court in Scotland, they told me that the claim wasn't expensive but that, as I am not living in the UK, I would have to take a lawyer and that would be expensive particularly because there would certainly be several hearings.
I quote: "you do not need a lawyer for this kind of case but you may need to seek one due to your circumstances as you reside within France. In a small claims summary cause court you have to attend each hearing or be represented by a solicitors as you reside in France there may be considerable expense for this as there may be more than one hearing involved. the court may not be liable for these expenses as we only cover certain expenses."
So I decided not to waste my money and my energy. But if you say that no personal attendance is required and that they accepted, I am very interested. How did you do your claim, Jasie?
Jasie and Shirley,
DDS accepted my claim as well, and have made me a proposal, through the court, to pay a certain amount per month. It remains to be seen whether they do actually pay or not.
However, it may in some cases be necessary to attend the court, if what they propose is not acceptable or there is a negotiation involved. I had prepared myself for the trip, this month. But in the end it won't be necessary.
Best regards
Kevin
Big congratulations to you both, Jesper and Kevin, for taking the necessary action to stop these crooks from playing their dirty little games with your money and get your claims accepted by the courts. I very much hope that you do get paid, and I also hope that your successful actions mean that a really clear mark will be left on DDSE's financial and legal records.
As for my own claim... well, I am left with a bit of a dilemma there. In my case the amount concerned is about £900, which, although a lot to me as illness has caused my income to shrink severely in the last couple of years, is relatively small compared with some other people's claims. So it is probably not really worth spending £450 on solicitor's fees - particularly if I am unlikely ever to get paid.
But it's the principle of the thing that matters most to me. They simply cannot be allowed to carry on doing this to people and getting away with it... please excuse the pun... Scot-free! Their unscrupulous actions have consequences, after all. Massive ones in my own case, as it happens: my naivety in believing that they really did mean it when they said that they were just about to pay me last year led to my missing a couple of loan and mortgage payments. That in turn wrecked my credit rating and so prevented me from getting a mortgage, just at the time when I was selling my house to pay for private medical bills.
(Don't EVER get bitten by ticks, good people - they can give you Lyme disease, a bacterial infection which will not only seriously damage your health in more ways than you could ever imagine possible, but is also not yet admitted even to exist in chronic form by much of the world's medical establishment. All of which means that you will end up paying a fortune out of your own pocket for private testing and treatment, which even then in many cases will not cure you...)
But I digress... anyway, the end result of the lies and broken promises that DDS peddled to me at that particular time last year was that I was reduced to buying, and am now trying to live in, what I politely describe as the Flat from Hell - and yes, that really is the politest way I can find to describe it. While David Brown and co. continue to live what I imagine is a relatively comfortable lifestyle in their own probably really rather pleasant homes, and are now promising the courts to make payments which it does not sound as though they can possibly make except by continuing with their Ponzi scam-like system of robbing some translators in order to pay others.
Well, that being the case, I need to consider what my options are. At the very least, I want to file a Small Claims Court case against them in order to make sure that they get another county court judgement on their record. Beyond that, I would be very grateful if anyone here could tell me what other options there are, whether they can recommend a particular firm, and roughly what those options are likely to cost.
Oh and Jesper, yes, please, I would very much like to have details of the two unscrupulous translating agencies you have done battle with in Bristol and London. The last thing on earth I want is to get into this situation ever, EVER again!
Shirley,
I only paid £65 to lodge the case with the court, and then £80 to have a solicitor uplift the summons and post it by registered letter to DDS.
I would have gone to the court myself to put my case if it had been necessary, but wouldn't have paid a lawyer anyway. I seem to have what I want, i.e. a promise to pay the money, for what it's worth...
In my opinion dds are more incompetent than malicious, but I agree they should close the company, and try to get jobs without responsibilities of this kind.
Kevin
You are very kind. Incompetent ? Yes, undoubtedly. Malicious ? Egg sucking time : the workings of an agency like DDS are simple - you get work at a price, farm it out for less, get paid by the client, pay your translator and pocket the difference as profit. Countless good agencies - thank God - have grasped this and seem to do fairly well on it. No one is perfect, I'll give you that, but I have a job believing that anyone could possibly keep making the same mismanagement mistakes with such disconcerting regularity and for so long, without meaning to. Keep out of their jaws and spread the word. Thanks for your contributions and good luck all.
I wanted to check whether everyone on this forum has either now been paid by DDSE, or is involved in the joint action being taken by those of us who are still owed money?
I myself finally received payment a few weeks ago for the job fee, but the interest due on that payment for the three years (!) it took DDSE to finally pay up is still outstanding even after numerous reminders.
I would undoubtedly still be waiting for the whole sum now if I had not received the invaluable help that Sol Marseiller's friend Annemieke is offering to DDSE's victims.
So if you are still waiting patiently for a payment which will almost certainly never arrive without a very strong intervention, please do read Sol's posts above and contact Annemieke without delay, as we shall be taking the next step on Monday.
Dear all who have posted here,
You may be interested to know that I initiated debt collection for my £6,100 about a month ago and have now had judgment against DDS Europe. On his admission form, where he admits the full amount owed, David Brown as director of DDS Europe put that they have annual turnover of 280,000, are £26,434 in arrears with NI, tax and VAT, and have £155.11 in their bank account. He has also ticked the box that he "lives in his own house". But of course his private assets cannot be touched as he is the director of a limited company. He has offered to pay what I'm owed in instalments of £1,500 a month, so about five monthly payments when all court costs and interest are added to my original claim.
There is no doubt that everything the latest contributor has written (Shirley) is absolutely accurate, and I couldn't agree more that the company should not be trading. I had the option to force them to pay the full outstanding amount now, and if they couldn't find the assets to do that, the company would be forced into bankruptcy/liquidation. In many ways I would have preferred to go down that route, but I didn't. It will now be interesting to see if the instalments are in fact paid according to the agreed schedule. If not, I will instruct our solicitors to enforce the judgment, and that would lead to DDS Europe being forced into bankruptcy/liquidation. The solicitors I used are www.thomashiggins.com, and the cost to get to judgment was around £450.00, which will be added to my claim. It may of course be good money thrown after bad...
I have tried once in the past (with a bad debt twice the size) to prove that the director of a company that went into voluntary liquidation had been "trading while insolvent" and been in breach of various other director's duties. This was a few years ago, and that company immediately continued trading under an "identical" name with broadly the same staff, from the same premises, with the same customers and virtually identical company name/branding. This is a medium-sized London company whose name I'm happy to give out privately to warn others as they are still trading. Ultimately my efforts to get their director banned for any breach of director's duties were futile, which I believe was mainly because the insolvency practitioners took his side (in a "circumspect" manner to avoid compromising their own professional integrity, at least as far as appearances were concerned). If any group of people owed money by DDS Europe were to start simultaneous action against the company, there seems little doubt they would quickly be forced into bankruptcy/liquidation, and there would be no assets from which to pay creditors other than the secured ones like banks and HMRC. However, if such a group of people could also succeed in proving that David allowed DDS Europe to trade while insolvent (and in my view he clearly has done, for a long time...) and/or was guilty of other serious breaches of director's duties, then I believe there is a possibility that private assets could be seized to help pay unsecured creditors.
To finish off this long contribution, I'm hoping quite soon to be in precisely that situation where the private assets of a former company director will be seized and help to pay unsecured creditors of his company that he put into liquidation last year (Bristol-based). He will almost certainly also go to prison, but then his transgressions were worse than those of David Brown. On Tuesday next week that director will appear in Bristol Crown Court for the first hearing, and as I have provided more evidence against him than most other creditors, it's likely I'll be called to give evidence against him in the main trial. I will be delighted to do so, as there is no doubt in my mind that he's nothing but a common thief. A bit like David Brown...
Jesper
Dear all who have posted here,
Your comments and stories are spine-chilling, but I'm glad I've found such a complaint board and you all.
I did my first job for Gail last October and got paid immediately, then a second job, a third and a fourth (this time a big one), sending the corresponding invoices in the meantime.
They owe me 1.484, 01€ which, for a Translator, is huge... moreover when you live as I do i Spain, where the situation is pretty uncomfortable.
What kind of people are they? How can they play with people lives in such a disgusting way?
James told me the following in a former email, a week ago: "Hi Sol,
There is no need to worry, we have been closed since 21st December and this is our first day open, I will get this sorted out. For the record the comments on Proz are not always accurate. We have had translations back that the quality was so poor we could not use them, in any case there has not been one translator that has done work for DDS Europe that has not been paid, all be it late on occasion."
Never heard about a Company that closes for the holidays without leaving a message on an answering machine...
Obviously, nothing was sorted out and I claimed my money for the fourth time this morning, but I guess there will be no reply to my request, nor will my invoices be paid.
I've read many comments on how you people tried to deal with the situation, but, as I live in Spain, I feel kind of desperate and lost... what would you suggest? Starting with a debt collection agency? Could anyone recommend a Scotland-based agency?
Thank you beforehand for your suggestions, good luck to everyone and best regards.
Dear Sol,
My experience was that, after several reminders, they paid. I don't know how old the invoice is, but I would do as I did, re-send the last mail saying that I received no answer (if they don't answer) and if they do, wait a week or so and reply saying something like: "I have not received any payment yet, etc etc". Then, if nothing works, you may threaten them with denouncing them to any translators forum there is. I have read elsewhere that this works as a last resort.
I totally understand you, and I hope it works out fine!
Best,
Elizabeth
Dear Elizabeth,
The fact is I sent them a very aggressive email this morning, already threatening, to which they didn't reply.
In the meantime, I talked about the problem to a colleague who lives in the UK... I don't know how she did it, but a few moments later, they paid the two small invoices... I'm now waiting for the big one to be paid on the 19th.
Anyway, I will never work for these people again and I will certainly report them on the Translators Café (another colleague of mine experienced the same issue two months ago, she still waits for her invoices to be paid), we must spread the word!
Thank you for your kind reply.
You're welcome, Sol!
Needless to say, since my experience with them I haven't worked for them again (nor have they contacted me for further work). If they contacted me now, I would decline, after reading about all the negative experiences other colleagues shared since I started this thread.
Cheers!
Elizabeth
Maybe we could... but obviously requesting the payment of a proforma invoice previously, :) :) :)
James is an utter liar! I am one of the many translators who did several jobs for them, without the slightest hint of any complaints about the quality of my work or the least suggestion that my work could not be used, and who has still not been paid for a number of jobs almost 3 years after doing the work.
In fact some of those still unpaid jobs - from early 2010!!!!! - were for a client for whom I had previously done work through DDSE (for which I did eventually, after many months of struggling to get payment, finally get paid). So clearly that client was not unhappy with the quality of what I produced, or they would not have come back for more.
Unfortunately if you take a look at DDSE's company accounts you will see that they owe a truly huge amount of money - mostly presumably to people like me - and are callously and I am sure totally illegally continuing to trade by pulling in new translators, paying them for the first couple of jobs but then keeping all the money from their later work, perhaps to pay off a few of their debts but mainly to hook in new people to work for them in the same way. It's basically a kind of Ponzi scam.
As for what to do about it; well, I myself have been very ill so have not yet taken legal action against these crooks, but I absolutely intend to do so. And I sincerely hope that everyone else in this situation does the same. It sickens me that they are not only doing this wicked business, but also smearing the reputations of the people they have conned by claiming that they produced bad quality work. DDSE are beneath contempt.
Dear all who have posted here,
Your comments and stories are spine-chilling, but I'm glad I've found such a complaint board and you all.
I did my first job for Gail last October and got paid immediately, then a second job, a third and a fourth (this time a big one), sending the corresponding invoices in the meantime.
They owe me 1.484, 01€ which, for a Translator, is huge... moreover when you live as I do i Spain, where the situation is pretty uncomfortable.
What kind of people are they? How can they play with people lives in such a disgusting way?
James told me the following in a former email, a week ago: "Hi Sol,
There is no need to worry, we have been closed since 21st December and this is our first day open, I will get this sorted out. For the record the comments on Proz are not always accurate. We have had translations back that the quality was so poor we could not use them, in any case there has not been one translator that has done work for DDS Europe that has not been paid, all be it late on occasion."
Never heard about a Company that closes for the holidays without leaving a message on an answering machine...
Obviously, nothing was sorted out and I claimed my money for the fourth time this morning, but I guess there will be no reply to my request, nor will my invoices be paid.
I've read many comments on how you people tried to deal with the situation, but, as I live in Spain, I feel kind of desperate and lost... what would you suggest? Starting with a debt collection agency? Could anyone recommend a Scotland-based agency?
Thank you beforehand for your suggestions, good luck to everyone and best regards.
We definitely must spread the word, whether they pay the last big invoice they owe me on Monday or not (if not, I will lodge a Small Claim Court), I will report them on TC!
A short while ago I sent the following email message to DDSE:
"Dear James, Gail and David,
As you very well know, not long ago I sent you all yet another message reminding you about your still unpaid debt to me for work done in February and April 2010 and promising that if you failed to pay me immediately, I would take whatever legal action was necessary to recover the money owed plus interest and costs. As usual, you failed to acknowledge my message or respond in any way.
I have just heard the following from yet another of your company's many victims, Sol:
'James told me the following in a former email, a week ago:
"Hi Sol,
There is no need to worry, we have been closed since 21st December and this is our first day open, I will get this sorted out. For the record the comments on Proz are not always accurate. We have had translations back that the quality was so poor we could not use them, in any case there has not been one translator that has done work for DDS Europe that has not been paid, all be it late on occasion."
Blatant lies and libellous smears of that kind will not benefit you in any way whatsoever. They merely make me and many of your other victims far more determined than we already were both to spread the word to every corner of the translating profession about your unquestionably illegal business malpractices, and to take every action necessary to get our claims paid in full, immediately, and with full interest and costs.
I shall also be looking into the avenues open to me to report your malpractices to the Trading Standards Authority or other appropriate body, as very evidently your company has no business to be trading while insolvent.
Yours,
Shirley Fawcett B.Sc. M.B.A."
My message clearly had some impact this time, as instead of the usual silence from DDSE's end, Gail replied within a few minutes as follows:
"Shirley
Sol has been paid according to the 30 day terms so I have no idea what she is saying this for. As for lies and smears – this is simply untrue.
How much do we still owe you?"
As you can see, quite apart from effectively calling both Sol and me liars, Gail didn't even have the competence or courtesy to look back through DDSE's records - if it possesses any! - to find the numerous requests I had made for payment of my invoices and full and repeated details of the amount owed.
So my reply to Gail just now was:
"What is simply untrue? Are you saying that when James claims that all translators who have done work for DDSE have been paid, that is true? If so, given how you have treated me and many others, how dare you?"
Since DDSE's tactic is to divide and rule - get the translators it has paid, especially the new ones, to sing its praises on the forums and ignore or disbelieve the fact that they are accepting money which was already owed to somebody else - it will be helpful to know whether there is any truth in Gail's assertion that you have now been paid Sol, and within the 30-day period which DDSE claims to honour?
Of course, even if your situation has now at last been resolved, Sol, that does not alter the truth of my own appalling situation or the blatant untruth of James's claim that all DDSE translators have been paid. And there is no way that I am going to allow myself to be bribed by the (probably yet again false) promise of payment into dropping my intended course of action against DDSE. But I would find it helpful to know whether you are still unpaid after their 30 day time limit, Sol, and also who else still has not been paid.
Because it seems to me that by uniting our forces, we unpaid victims of DDSE's fraudulent business practices may be able both to share costs, and take much more effective action against this rogue company whose favourite tactic is to divide us and lie to us about just about everything - including our fellow translators.
Dear Shirley,
Interesting to see how aggressive emails make them react! As we say in Spain, some people act or react solely when you slap them.
As for my case: several situations... the first time I worked for Gail, she paid upon delivery ("because you don't know us, bla, bla, bla") and told me, for further projects, that the payment term was the indicated 30-days period, here is the email (De: Gail Brown
Fecha: 14/11/2012 16:51:49
Para: sol.marzellier@telefonica.net
Asunto: RE: FreeQuote Request
Hi there
We normally pay around €0.09 per source word and payment is not later than 30 days, however as you don’t know us I will pay much sooner. I can pay ion Friday before you send the doc if that ok – do you use PayPal?)
I did 3 more jobs for them, for which I received nothing despite my reminders but the reply from James I posted on this forum, telling me he would sorted it out and so on.
Feeling desperate on Monday, I sent them a pretty aggressive email and contacted a friend in the UK... she called them and it's true that two of my invoices were paid five minutes after the call.
We're talking about two invoices which amounted 60€ and, indeed, have been paid, BUT LATE AND WITH NO INTEREST (one month and a half after the term).
BUT... now we're dealing with a big invoice which amounts 1.423€ and is supposed to be paid on Saturday, let's say on Monday, so... they STILL owe me this invoice, therefore, my situation is not completely resolved and this is why, whenever they don't pay on Monday latest, I shall lodge a Small Claim Court.
And I agree with you, we should unit our forces!
Dear Translators,
I have finally been paid by DDSEU, on time!
All of you who still are owed money, please, feel free to contact me in private: sol.marzellier@telefonica.net
Have a nice day.
Congratulations Sol! Your determination has paid off! I don't know whether I have been paid yet; probably not, but they do at least know that every extra day is going to cost them more in interest, and that I will not only take legal action if they don't pay up extremely soon, but also look into the possibility of reporting them to the Trading Standards Authority for trading whilst insolvent (which is most definitely illegal).
And they have been doing exactly that for several years now - whilst telling endless lies to their translators about how and why they cannot pay them just yet - but still apparently having enough cash to take jolly trips to parties in Ireland, etc.....!
Great Sol! I'm very happy for you!
Best,
Elizabeth
Dear Translators,
I have finally been paid by DDSEU, on time!
All of you who still are owed money, please, feel free to contact me in private: sol.marzellier@telefonica.net
Have a nice day.
Hi all,
We have unpaid invoices for DDS Europe Ltd. James and Gail keep saying we will sort this out this week!! Many weeks passed with no action yet.
Can I have your advice depending on your experience with these people.
Thanks in advance!
Nabil ALAOUI
Hi Nabil,
It has now been two years and I still didn't get paid. Some other translators and I, with the great help of Sol and a friend of her, tried something with the Scottish court, but I don't have any news... Good luck!
Dear fellow creditors of DDS Europe
After having started my legal debt collection against DDS Europe on 1st August 2012, using the services of www.thomashiggins.com, I have recently been paid the last instalment by DDS Europe to settle their debt to my company, GBP 6,165.00, for invoices that were as of August 2012 between 15 and 18 months old. The total paid by DDS exceeded GBP 7,000 and included costs and interest on our claim. It was paid over a handful of instalments spread over approx. ten months after DDS Europe admitted the court claim against them in mid-September 2012 (around 5-6 weeks after I instructed www.thomashiggins.com to pursue the debt.
I wish all of you the best of luck in recovering the money owed to you and am happy to offer further advice and assistance "privately" to anyone needing it. Just e-mail me at js@stpnordic.com.
It's abundantly clear to me that they have for a long time been trading while insolvent (which is illegal) and probably still are, but I know from experience with another large bad debt that it is very difficult for creditors to prove that a company is trading while insolvent. However, I sincerely hope DDS Europe will stop trading in an honourable manner at some point, although I guess it's unlikely and that instead more translators will be caught in their immoral "modus operandi".
Jesper Sandberg
Hello All,
Based on a good advice of a translator who has been able to get paid by this scammer (DDS Europe) we could get about half our dues. The other half is still flying in the blue!
For all those who couldn't get paid yet, and those who would like to assist us in getting paid, please contact me in private to discuss an action in details. It may save us court charges!
Waiting for your mails to nabiltranslation@yahoo.com.
Regards,
Nabil
A decade after these scammers were first reported in several forums, they are still at it. If you have made the mistake of accepting work from them, do expect a rough ride getting paid.
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