ProZ.com, Inc.Reviews of proz.com

As a paying member, I tried to post on their Blueboard about a negative experience with a translation company. My impression was that they back the clients and not the translators: I had a back-and-forth exchange where I had to prove with written evidence my complaint was true, while the company could just falsely accuse me with no proof. Eventually, I was not allowed to leave a full review since I had "no direct experience" of the unfair conditions I wanted to warn other professionals of; that this was because I had refused to work under such conditions did not matter. Most of the jobs posted are by the same 10-20 companies that keep advertising over and over offers with extremely low-paying rates and/or scams. I canceled my subscription after 3 years as I felt that not even the high membership fee helps support the translators.

I (as a freelance translator of French to English) joined ProZ 25 years ago and after trialling it for myself, took out a membership subscription, which I cancelled in 2024. At the time this was truly a language industry-focussed website and my membership enabled me to secure several successful client connections and what I judge to be a good reputation on the site. The KudoZ facility, despite a few shortcomings, was useful and it encouraged healthy debate about the “best” way to translate complex terms (linguists often disagree of course). Sadly this has all changed now, firstly (and not through any fault of ProZ) because the human freelance translation market has been almost killed off by AI. However, the site has over the past 3 or 4 years become virtually dysfunctional – by allowing advertisements on its job board by extremely dubious actors. Many of these have already been exposed as scammers. Others offer work for “AI training”, often at bottom feeder rates, and some of these require participants to provide material containing personal data, such as multiple emails, images, voice data and even asking for the participation of young children. I and others have alerted ProZ to the potential dangers of such work, but the site staff consistently maintain that ProZ is only a marketplace, whilst also claiming to have a moderation policy to bar advertising that is not truly of interest to language professionals. The reality is that our cries for ProZ to clean up its site and to permanently remove suspicious advertising have been ignored. Added to that, the site has been undergoing “improvements” but these have been rolled out in a completely haphazard fashion, sometimes changing members’ data without their permission and not – as they should be – in a sand box environment. Many of the former site staff have left the company and the CEO no longer appears to care as the site sinks deeper and deeper into the murk. As another commenter on here has put it, ProZ is no longer a safe place for a linguist.

25 years of profitable association with ProZ. Now everything has changed. Can't log in. Don't receive reset mails. Can't ask for service (you need to log in first to get service. Really!!!!!). Have tried various means to contact you but seems you're quite happy to take our money and provide no worthwhile service in return. If it does not improve within the next few days and I cannot get answers to my difficulties, I will be cancelling my subscription. Get real, people. This can only cost you customers, not boost your profits.

I am saddened by the declined quality in customer service. The old staff is no longer working with Proz and the head of payments, Yana Dovgopol, is very difficult to work with, not flexible at all and or will completely ignore you if she is in the wrong.

It was useful and safe 10 years ago. Now, Proz is just another useless website for translators. Their support is inefficient and unwilling to help, even when you're paying for their (expensive) membership. I reached out to them because my personal data saved on Proz.com was exposed on the Internet, even though I selected all the options to make them private. For example, your name will always be visible on Google searches. Even after I removed mine from Proz, it took at least two years to be de-indexed (which was Proz.com's fault, not Google’s). The interface is outdated, difficult to navigate, and poorly designed. On top of that, most of the offers I received were scams.

ProZ was a big deal and a great website for translators more than 10 years ago when I started my career. I found several great clients there, back in 2012 and 2013. But since then, they literally became the ENEMY to hard-working skilled and experienced translators. Something happened, and I cannot explain what. As if an evil entity possessed it and wouldn't let go. As a translator, you must pay a membership fee which isn't cheap at all. This is the first BIG mistake. The second big mistake is that translators who pay the membership fee receive ZERO support from the website. The clients are protected as white bears, even when they are scammers who refuse to pay for hard work. One would expect that for the membership fee paid, one should be protected from such clients, or that the website would moderate and/or refuse to collaborate with the clients who exploit hard-working linguists. But no, ProZ is now protecting such clients and literally takes advantage of the linguists who paid the membership fee. It's no longer safe for translators. Even the Blue Board (the so-called Hall of Fame and Shame), where the translators share their experience with various clients, is now biased, and translators who PAY THEIR MEMBERSHIP FEE may not leave an honest review and warn their colleagues of bad and dishonest clients. ProZ has turned to a scammer.

muito caro. podia ser mais acessível, cobrar em dólar tá bem fora da casinha

Proz used to be a reference site for translators, but since it has partnered with agencies exploiting freelancers, it is NO longer a safe place for any linguist.