In an effort to provide both sides of the story, and as a follow-up to this week's article It's a Scam: International Language Interpreters, we are hereby posting an e-mail that we received. We don't actually know who it's from -- no signature, no company information, just a free e-mail address with a name that appears to be unrelated the folks in question. Judging from the references being made, this appears to be from the accused party. Below is the entire unedited (no grammar or spelling mistakes were corrected) e-mail. Note: the writer refers to Ms. Dhillon, who is the interpreter who brought this to our attention and is one of many linguists still trying to collect. You can contact Harinder Dhillon for details on the case.
"It's amazing on how you can take the time to write these horrific things about individuals/companies without providing the companies or individuals to provide their side of the story. Faviola being the CEO of a small interpreting agency started an agency with the hopes of providing business for "Freelance Interpreters" not knowing how harsh "Self Employed Freelance Interpreters" would be. Interpreters seem to think that running a business is easy and that we are just sitting and collecting money and running. unfortunately anyone in the "Real Business World" will tell you that running a business is NOT easy and that collecting and running is not the case. I spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on sales and marketing to get business took out a second mortgage to keep business upfloat and unfortunately I was owed thousands of money from some of the customers that forced me to file bankruptcy.
As much as I tried to collect and pay interpreters I was unable to pay them all, I had to pay employees, business debts and was able to pay 98% of the interpreters and unfortunately I was unable to finish paying all of the Independent Contractors; I had mentioned to some that I would be happy to pass on the invoices that were due to the company for them to try to collect it themselves as since I was unable to successfully do, but of course they said "NO That was NOT their job" and they were unwilling to accept any of my offerings.
All I.C Contractors sign an Agreement agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and part of that agreement is that if the company goes out of business, death or bankruptcy - company, owners, officers are released of any and all liabilites and unfortunately interpreters were unwilling to understand and work with me that I had no choice but to file for bankruptcy and therefore it has released me from all liabilities and debts as well as protecting me from all of these bad threats and harrasments.
In regards to International Language Interpreters and 411-OTPI it has nothing to do with HS Interpreters, Inc and Mrs. Dhillon and you need to get your facts straight and remove these companies from this bad review as it has NOTHING to do with HS Interpreters, Inc debts.
Mrs. Dhillon needs STOP this harrasment against me my husband and family I will report it to my bankruptcy attorney and courts about these threats harrasmants and defamation on myself my husband whom again has NOTHING to do with my business or business liabilities.
If information about Mr. Aranda or my self is NOT removed we will seek legal action against individuals making these false acusations as he is NOT an owner nor an officer of the company or companies. The agency HS Interpreters, Inc. was a corporation and an entity of it's own and has nothing to do with me as a person."
"It's amazing on how you can take the time to write these horrific things about individuals/companies without providing the companies or individuals to provide their side of the story. Faviola being the CEO of a small interpreting agency started an agency with the hopes of providing business for "Freelance Interpreters" not knowing how harsh "Self Employed Freelance Interpreters" would be. Interpreters seem to think that running a business is easy and that we are just sitting and collecting money and running. unfortunately anyone in the "Real Business World" will tell you that running a business is NOT easy and that collecting and running is not the case. I spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on sales and marketing to get business took out a second mortgage to keep business upfloat and unfortunately I was owed thousands of money from some of the customers that forced me to file bankruptcy.
As much as I tried to collect and pay interpreters I was unable to pay them all, I had to pay employees, business debts and was able to pay 98% of the interpreters and unfortunately I was unable to finish paying all of the Independent Contractors; I had mentioned to some that I would be happy to pass on the invoices that were due to the company for them to try to collect it themselves as since I was unable to successfully do, but of course they said "NO That was NOT their job" and they were unwilling to accept any of my offerings.
All I.C Contractors sign an Agreement agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and part of that agreement is that if the company goes out of business, death or bankruptcy - company, owners, officers are released of any and all liabilites and unfortunately interpreters were unwilling to understand and work with me that I had no choice but to file for bankruptcy and therefore it has released me from all liabilities and debts as well as protecting me from all of these bad threats and harrasments.
In regards to International Language Interpreters and 411-OTPI it has nothing to do with HS Interpreters, Inc and Mrs. Dhillon and you need to get your facts straight and remove these companies from this bad review as it has NOTHING to do with HS Interpreters, Inc debts.
Mrs. Dhillon needs STOP this harrasment against me my husband and family I will report it to my bankruptcy attorney and courts about these threats harrasmants and defamation on myself my husband whom again has NOTHING to do with my business or business liabilities.
If information about Mr. Aranda or my self is NOT removed we will seek legal action against individuals making these false acusations as he is NOT an owner nor an officer of the company or companies. The agency HS Interpreters, Inc. was a corporation and an entity of it's own and has nothing to do with me as a person."
18 comments:
This is all true what was said about Faviola Valencia and her husband Jose Aranda.
Two years ago I have received a 900usd judgment against them when they operated HSinterpreters in Sacramento which was conveniently closed. They collected for my interpreting service 1200usd within 2 weeks from the client. I have not seen a penny from them to this day.There are least 30 other interpreters who had the same thing happen.
Faviola Valencia and Jose Aranda is a duo which scammed more interpreters out of money than any other interpreting agency in this country. They also lied to the judge during the small claims hearing with no problems what so ever.
Patricia George
Faviola it does not matter how much you get upset about the truth. It will always be the thruth and the facts. You owe me 900 usd for the Czech interpreting assignmnet on which you collected 1200 usd within 2 weeks from the client. You did not even lift a finger, you collected all the money for my work and I haven't seen a penny to this day. That was 2 years ago. Obviously 900 usd court judgment does not mean anything to you and Jose Aranda as you guys proved yourself in the small claim court by lying unconscionably to the judge. Thank you to our legal system that they did not fall for your lies.
No, the most amazing thing is how you (Faviola Valencia, from International Language Interpreters) can dare to say that your accountant is ill in order to not pay translators. If you have been forced to file bankruptcy, just tell the truth and do not keep telling lies to translators. I haven't received any email from you with an explanation about the bankrupcy of your company.
I'm sorry but I cannot believe anything coming from you.
If you are a translator/interpreter, please do not work for this people specially if you have a family to feed like me.
The blog is put up for a purpose, to prevent new and unsuspecting interpreters and translators from falling into this trap with these people. Their actions speak for themselves. Translators in California, New York, Nevada, Spain and Argentina have not been paid. You will find bad comments about them on www.proz.com. Please judge for yourself.
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Oh boo hoo. Sounds like this person is a terrible businessperson. Did you interpret for your clients? The interpreters did the actual work and should be paid for that work. It is thanks to their work that you could pay your employees and business debts, buy your equipment, etc. As long as the facts are presented clearly and without bias or sentiment, it isn't libel and won't stand up in court. It sounds like Judy has quite a few readers who would be willing to testify against you with documented claims if you were to try to sue her, whoever you are, so I would seriously rethink that approach (and BTW her husband is a lawyer...).
Excuses and technicalities aside, the facts are really quite simple:
1. Faviola Valencia used to be president of HS Interpreters, as any of us that used to work for HS and personally dealt with her on a regular basis can confirm. Some years later, International Language Interpreters is now listed in her name (e.g. http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_76pdn8) and also under Jose Aranda (look him up on http://www.metrochamber.org).
2. There is currently a list of over 30 known interpreters who are either owed money by these companies, or had to take them to small claims in order to collect. End of story.
Yet I can't possibly resist adding a couple more points:
3. Insisting on getting paid for your work, attempting to serve legal documents on the people who don’t pay you, or trying to collect the judgments you obtain against them, can hardly be considered harassment. Similarly, comments only amount to slander or defamation if any of the information is false. I have yet to hear a single thing that is not true and easily verifiable.
4. Playing the victim is almost amusing in its irony, but it is absolutely irrelevant: So running an interpreting agency is hard. Here's an idea: how about finding a different line of work?
5. Last but not least - ever heard of spelling/grammar check?
@Mariana Sanchis:
A hundred LOL for the topic number 5.
I mean, let's be honest here, boys and girls... how could a translation company profit when the ones running it don't know what the F7 key works for on MS Word (hold your horses IT-freaks, I'm talking about the default config, of course, for chrisssss' sakes).
Oh yeah, this comment probably contains one or more typos and mistakes, but, hey, my business card doesn't read "president" or "CEO".
@everyone: Thanks for your comments. It's really upsetting to hear that many of you are owed money -- we've been hearing from folks offline as well. If you have any additional comments/information, feel free to leave more comments and we'll be sure they get to Harinder.
We don't know any Lindsay Mason, but this posting is reminiscent of Mrs. Valencia's style. She has used similar threats with interpreters before.
In any case, whoever the author, he or she has admitted that only 98% of interpreters are paid due to other financial liabilities. Why should that be a problem for the other 2% who have also performed their work?
Filing for bankruptcy and starting new companies just to defraud interpreters seems to be Mrs. Valencia's modus operandi, so we will forward this posting to the D.A.’s office so they can read about it in her own words.
As of now there are 27 interpreters and translators that we know about in California, Nevada, New York, Spain and Argentina, who have either sued Mrs. Valencia's companies in Small Claims, or reported her to the Labor Department or the DA's office in Sacramento. These are not false accusations. Some have managed to collect, but among the others there are currently over $11,500 worth of unpaid services.
Also, we would like to clarify that our list includes current debts that apply directly to ILI, regardless of Mrs. Valencia's history as a business owner. We do not dispute that the monies owed by bankrupt corporations may be uncollectable, but the interpreters' losses remain, and when new corporations run by the same people repeat the same "mistakes," it is only fair to warn others within our professional community.
We do have our facts straight and it is our mission to put an end to this. It is our moral and ethical duty to inform other unsuspecting, future victims. The list grows longer day by day, which is why we believe this 2% might be an understatement, but time will tell.
Affected Interpreters from California, Nevada, New York, Argentina and Spain.
Talking about not being able to collect from the clients, Faviola did collect in my case. Travellers Insurance paid her $1080.00 for my interpretation services in Panjabi. She owed me $443.00 at that time and told me that the initial check went to the wrong address. It was a big fat lie. When I contacted the concerned attorney, she was very upset. I got nasty emails after emails from Richard R., who for some reason had misplaced his last name. I really wonder why. Of course, it was Faviola. Who else, but the C.E.O., who uses aliases and does not even have the guts to sign her real and authentic name. In her response, she indicated that she wanted the interpreters to contact the clients directly. I have not heard of anyone that she told that to. Another lie! I did this interpretation for Faviola in 11/2007. I am a cancer survivor and at that time I was barely able to walk because of the peripheral nueropathy in my feet caused by chemo-therapy. But I still went to do my assignment in the hopes of making some money. Shame on this woman, who is living off of the earnings of cancer patients. The $1080.00 that I made for you, Faviola what did you spend that on?
I have also been cheated by Faviola Valencia and International Language Interpreters Inc. They owe me USD 808 for Spanish translation services provided in March and April this year, and all I have heard are excuses and unfulfilled payment promises from her and Jose Aranda.
I am a certified translator in Argentina and sincerely hope California authorities take all necessary steps to stop this fraudulent operation.
This woman has been hurting many people for too long, with the hope that no one would connect the dots and follow through. By remaining difficult to reach, they are hoping that the people they have wronged will go away. This opeartor gives all of us who toil in this industry a bad name, and diminish us all by her crimina behavior.
Dear Colleagues,
I was also a victim of Faviola Valencia and her company "International Language Interpreters". I translated and proofread around 7 documents for her in Spanish, French and Italian. She didn't want to pay me for any of them but after I wrote several threatening letters and phone calls she paid me with a bad check. I filed several complaints against her mentioning the bad check until she finally paid me half of the money 9 months after I did the first translation for her. She is still owing me money for some of these translations. It's very sad that we have to deal with people like this. Just be careful with this company. Don't let this happen to you.
Two bench warrants for her arrest are in effect for this lady.
This company - International Language Interpreters, Inc. is blacklisted on Translation Directory.
Approximately, $17, 000.00 is owed to the interpreters and translators that we are aware of.
As of today the financial crimes still continue. The victims should get in touch with the F.B.I. in Sacramento, Ca. They have a - High Density Financial Crimes Unit.
The law needs to deal with them.
As of today the financial crimes still continue. The victims should get in touch with the F.B.I. in Sacramento, Ca. They have a - High Density Financial Crimes Unit.
The law needs to deal with them.
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