they didnt pay!! - Freelance Translator Ulatus Employee Review

Ulatus offers interesting work in various fields. I have passed their tests for Computer Science and Religious Studies, but mainly get work on computer science related academic papers, particularly machine learning. They have a wonderful benefit incentive program, where I can get a bonus if the quality of my work stays at a certain level, and a very good rate in general for most assignments. The project managers are quick in their communication. I also have a contract with them that guarantees a certain amount of work per month, which they gave me the freedom to set.

As with other translation agencies, there is about a two-month lag in payment. The average amount of head's up on assignments is usually either same-day or the day before, so it makes it hard to plan my work schedule. In some cases, I did get a few days' heads up. Also, sometimes I am offered pro bono short translation tests in order to win a new client, or translation quality assessments that are paid rather low.

When no other work was available, I would consider taking a job from them if I didn't want to take the day off.

Very low rates - when calculating character counts, they eliminate punctuation, so if you have to change punctuation you are working for free. Incompetent head office staff who cannot keep track of their own emails and documents uploaded to their translator site. They will repeatedly accuse you of breaching a deadline even though you uploaded the document days ago. They will contrive non-existent "quality problems" to avoid paying you for your work. They do this when they have gone over budget or a client refuses to pay them. The result is a bottom of the barrel translation company providing poor quality translations. Avoid at all costs. There are far better translation agencies out there.