Aceri Assistance ripoff Does Aceri Assitance pay its translators? Is it a slow payer or non payer? What are their payment practices? Has not paid me the 2328.45 euros they owe me. Nanterre France

Aceri Assistance (www.aceri-assistance.fr), a member of Usaire (www.usaire.org), recruits translators on the Internet via translation job sites. That is how they contacted me for some translation work.

You would think that with clients like Aeromaritime, Arospatiale, Afdas, Afnor, Airbus industrie, Airco, Air Prcision, Alkan, Alstom, Ascom, Astrium, Berlitz Globalnet France, BGS, CEA, Cegelec, Cegos, Celerg, Canal Satellite, CIFL, CPC Satory, Dassault Aviation, Delphi, Desgranges et Huot, Deutz, Dret, Dogshower, EADS, EDF, Euroforum, Flygt, Fongecif, France Rail, France Tlcom, Hurel Hispano, Ingnico Data System, Intertechnique, Labinal, Lionbridge, LMB, Lockheed, Lucas, Mairie de Paris, Matra Nortel, MCI, MBDA France, Messier, Ministre de la Dfense, Navfco, Northrop Grumman, Numricable, Pall, Park Air Systems, Peugeot, Philips, Philips C.C., Raytheon, Renault, Safege, Sagem, Schindler, Schlumberger, Sedoc, Sepic, Siemens, Simoco, SMI-Koyo, Snecma, Sochata, Sodicam, Sogitec, Sofresa, Star Services, Studec, Technofan, Tldyne, Thales, Tyco Integrated, Transnuclaire, Valo,Wabco, Zalkin (source : www.aceri-assistance.fr), Aceri-Assistance could afford to pay its translators. At least, that is what I thought when they first contacted me. Here is how it all began.

Back on April 10, 2003, Jacqueline Chenard, Head of the Translation Department at Aceri-Assistance, contacted me via a translation site called foreignword.com to see if I would be interested in working on a project for their client Sagem.

I did as any translator would do, I checked their website, verified their Usaire membership, and came to the conclusion that it was a reputable company. Then I wrote back to Jacqueline Chenard to let her know I was interested in the project.

She sent me a second email. However, this time, instead of using Aceri Assistance's official email address (info@aceri-assistance.fr), she used aceri-assistance@wanadoo.fr. I replied using their official address, but she never replied back So, in order to make sure I was dealing with the official company, I called Jacqueline Chenard at Aceri Assistance. She assured me that both addresses were correct, she even confirmed this by email (using her non official address). After talking to her on the phone, I accepted the job. The payment terms set out in the purchase order were 45 days after the delivery of the translation. I invoiced them on April 30. The total amount due was 1459.52 euros.

On June 4, 2003 Jacqueline Chenard contacted me by email for more work. I agreed to do a 2nd job (829.25 euros). Then, on July 1st, I did a small job for them (39,68 euros).

In July, I started sending them reminders. They never replied to my emails. So, I started calling them. I talked to Jacqueline Chenard. She told me that I needed to contact Francis Moussi, President of Aceri Assistance. I was never able to reach him. At first, I would get excuses like Francis Moussi is out until next week or you just missed him. I would leave messages on his voice mail but he never returned my calls.

Then at the end of August, I talked to Jacqueline Chenard and she assured me I would be paid the following Friday. They never paid.

In September, I started doing research on the payment practices of Aceri Assistance. I searched the black and white lists available on the Internet. It turns out that on one particular site at least 7 translators have complained about Aceri Assitance.

Then, I decided to check the purchase orders (.pdf files) and the files they sent me. Well, it is impossible to identify the source when you click Properties. I guess they wanted to cover their tracks.

Today is October 27, 2003. Aceri Assitance has not paid me the 2328.45 euros they owe me.

Diane
Holyoke, Massachusetts
U.S.A.