Translation - art & business » Translation Project / Vendor Management »
How much do agencies lose to accidental double-booking of the same jobs?
Thread poster: Adieu
Adieu
Adieu  Identity Verified
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
Aug 10, 2021

Once again, a client sent me two bundles of different scans of the same documents... since it was on the same day and I'm one and the same person, I actually noticed and let them know.

But this makes me wonder just how often this actually happens? It'd be reasonable to suspect that most of the time they don't book the same translator, so we never realize they are doing this.

I'm starting to suspect they spend a good 10-20% of their budget redoing the same jobs by acci... See more
Once again, a client sent me two bundles of different scans of the same documents... since it was on the same day and I'm one and the same person, I actually noticed and let them know.

But this makes me wonder just how often this actually happens? It'd be reasonable to suspect that most of the time they don't book the same translator, so we never realize they are doing this.

I'm starting to suspect they spend a good 10-20% of their budget redoing the same jobs by accident. Or more?

P.S. and for extra lulz, the PRICE difference between the totally identical jobs was ~15%. Makes you wonder just how the heck that happens.

[Edited at 2021-08-10 07:12 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:03
German to English
Two different clients? Aug 10, 2021

I've noticed a few times that 2 agencies have offered what appeared to be the same job. In the case of an RFP, it's certainly possible that two different companies are trying to bid on the same contract and have selected the same agency to translate the document. On the other hand, it is also possible that many agencies have poor internal communication and/or few internal controls which allow situations like this to occur.
 
Adieu
Adieu  Identity Verified
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Nope Aug 10, 2021

I know this was internal because I was quite a ways in before I realized this wasn't just typically monotonous (bureaucracy lives by the recycled letter template) but actually identical and emailed them about it

Mildly different word counts (sh!tty OCR) and prices, as well as being blatantly called Part 1 and Part 2 and containing a ton of files (which I proceeded to stitch together in a memoQ view to clear out reps faster) further delayed the realization

I guess they j... See more
I know this was internal because I was quite a ways in before I realized this wasn't just typically monotonous (bureaucracy lives by the recycled letter template) but actually identical and emailed them about it

Mildly different word counts (sh!tty OCR) and prices, as well as being blatantly called Part 1 and Part 2 and containing a ton of files (which I proceeded to stitch together in a memoQ view to clear out reps faster) further delayed the realization

I guess they just had two different people cleaning scans and uploading them to the server or something

Kevin Fulton wrote:

I've noticed a few times that 2 agencies have offered what appeared to be the same job. In the case of an RFP, it's certainly possible that two different companies are trying to bid on the same contract and have selected the same agency to translate the document. On the other hand, it is also possible that many agencies have poor internal communication and/or few internal controls which allow situations like this to occur.


[Edited at 2021-08-10 12:55 GMT]

[Edited at 2021-08-10 12:55 GMT] ▲ Collapse


Grigori Gazarian
 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Maya Gorgoshidze[Call to this topic]
Mahmoud Akbari[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

How much do agencies lose to accidental double-booking of the same jobs?







CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »