Saturday 15 March 2014

Pearl Linguistics Ltd. Scam

Pearl Linguistics Ltd. Scam


The biggest scam that is still getting money off the NHS. I have worked for Pearl Linguistics for over a year as a Freelance Interpreter, the company has not paid me once. Pearl Linguistics mainly offers their services to the NHS, but how does the biggest healthcare organisation does not know about this massive fraud.

I loved translating for the doctors and patients. I would always feel so happy after every assignment, knowing that I helped someone is the best feeling you can have after work. However, it would be different if I volunteered to help.

I applied to work for Pear Linguistics online. They called for a short telephone interview and shortly after they emailed me the contract and timesheets. I signed and scanned back the documents they needed, then they called me right away for assignments and mailed me to confirm the time, dates and patient name and hospital number.
The doctor or nurse is required to sign off the timesheet after every assignment, to confirm that the interpreter showed up and to confirm the hours of interpreting. I filled in the invoice/timesheets and scanned it to Pear Linguistics everytime I finish an assignment.

After one month of working I expected them to pay for the hours that I worked, but I did not get paid. I called Pear Linguistics and they told me that they start paying all interpreters from the 2nd month of working with Pearl Linguistics Ltd. Of course I was disappointed, but I loved the job so I accepted it. I continued to work for Pearl Linguistics and by the end of the second month I still did not get paid. I called them again and they told me to give them my bank details and they would transfer is right away. I gave them my bank account details and waited. The next day I checked, I still did not receive anything so I called them again. They told me that transfers normally takes 2 days to go through, I didn't want to argue so I patiently waited and continued with the assignments that they gave me.
One week after I called Pearl Linguistics again, they asked me to give them my account details again and they told me that the money should be in my account within 2 days the most, I waited but of course nothing came through.
I continued to go to the assignments that they gave me after 3 months even though I wasn't paid. I know that its stupid for me to still work for Pearl Linguistics after knowing that they don't pay, but knowing that someone in the hospital really needs your help is more important.

I finally stopped working for Pearl Linguistics Ltd. after 7 months of unpaid assignments. I called them numerous amount of times and I always get the same answer, "give us your bank details and we will transfer the money right away, it normally takes up to 2 working days"
But until now, a year later I still have not received a penny from Pearl Linguistics. They still keep sending me text messages and call me for work, obviously I reject them but there is nothing I can do to make them pay me.

I tried to contact the NHS to offer my translation services as a freelance, and told them Pearl Linguistics does not pay their interpreters. The NHS responded saying "we only book our interpreters through Pearl Linguistics"

I know that I am not the only interpreter working for Pear Linguistics that is having this problem. There are many interpreters out there having the same problem. You can see on Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, it's all over. All you have to do is Google (Pearl Linguistic Fraud/Scam). Someone please stop this scam.

45 comments:

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    1. Hi Magdlaneba , this is my adress email debbykleinn@gmail.com, im do disapointed with Pearl L. they didnt pay me and treaing me like a shit, Im sorry to ask yu but what is MP? tks Debby

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  5. Thank you very much for your help guys. It really paid off, I got paid right away using the methods you gave me.
    I wouldn't have done it without your help. Thank you so much! Finally, after a year of waiting it all paid off ;)

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    1. I too haven't got paid. Which method was used?

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    2. Well, to be honest, I got paid after publishing this blog. I guest they thought I would delete it. I also contacted them non-stop, emails, phone calls, but after the blog they eventually gave me my money.

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  6. Hi i have just started working for Mango spice language solutions and it turned out it was a part of Pearl Linguistics. And NHS didn't even know the name of the company they refused to sign my job sheets and kept going on about Pearl which i had never heard of ..what should i do? I wanna boycott all scammer agencies and convince naive exploitable NHS they they are being constantly robbed..

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  7. i got the same problem they didnt pay me £ 90 was wierd because i did everthing online, and hours later they callme, and i had almsot evert day bookings. Once i couldnt assist the pacient i had a horrible cold, i call the at 9 am, the appointm would be at 3 pm, the lady who booked for me hang up on my face twice in he same day, So i started to read online abou Peal L. Im sorry but i think NHS knows everthng, and they are behind of this .

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  8. Well, *I* have never had any problems and was paid as stipulated in the instructions. I knew that one is paid after the second month, as is clearly stated in the instructions and I have nothing bad to say about them at all. Some 'teething problems' initially but nothing to write home about.

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  9. There is no scam! Do you guys have an agenda or axe to grind? It's perfectly legitimate and I've not had any problems worth mentioning..

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    1. I bet you are one of the thieves owning that company. We will make sure you get done for it.

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    2. It is definitely scam. I am interpreter too. They never pay me. You can find more than 20 review on indeed.com that they never pay. I think we should report them to the legal authority. I need to find a lawyer. They are still hiring people. I don't know how NHS allow that.

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    3. It is definitely scam. I am interpreter too. They never pay me. You can find more than 20 review on indeed.com that they never pay. I think we should report them to the legal authority. I need to find a lawyer. They are still hiring people. I don't know how NHS allow that.

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  10. Debby - you don't know what an MP is? I'm glad that you're not translating for anyone I know. If you are in the army, it stands for Military Police. If you are not in the army the acronym means Member of Parliament - duh!

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    1. Don't be so arrogant J. These people did not get their money in TIME or at all. Nor did I. Pearl Linguistics is not an interpreting company is a massive SCAM. And tell you what if they don't pay what they owe me I'll sort them out through legal ways big time. Unfortunately NHS hire all these companies like Language Line or Pearl Linguistics without making sure that the interpreters - who actually are the greatest helpers- are paid and treated as they should be (by these companies). Shame on them all. And you, I don't know how qualified you are but stop being so cocky.

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  11. I am in the same situation with many of you. My payment was due 3 weeks ago and I haven't received anything yet. I have sent several emails, called so many times and left voice mail but no response has been given at all. However I still continue to receive job offers and usual mails etc.
    I am glad that I only accepted one assignment from them to try out, otherwise my loss could have been greater than it is now. I just sent them (to all the email addresses I could find of) an email saying that I will contact MP, and take this issue to court etc. Let's see. I am also planning to discuss this issue with my other agencies who can contact NHS about it with better chance than an individual interpreter. I work with many more agencies, and only one of them has paid me late for few days once, there has been no problem at all.
    Pearl Linguistics is really a big scam and you can easily see this if you google it. It is all over the internet. Before I started to work for them I saw the reviews on LinkedIn, this is the reason that I hadn't accepted more than one assignment. I really wanted them to prove my doubts wrong, but no such luck.
    I have 3 different numbers for their finance department and none of them works, no one is picking up or responding to the voice mails and I bet they will ever respond.
    For London there are so many other companies to work for rather than Pearl however I was only interested to work with Pearl because I was about to move out to Midlands, there are not many options in other areas. We need to try to change this situation by spreading out the word and making sure everyone knows what a scam it is.

    Thank you for the advises here, I am sure it is beneficial to many of us.

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  12. I would like to suggest to anyone and everyone who is currently having issues with having their invoices paid by Pearl Linguistics for translation services or interpreting assignments completed on their behalf, to go to proz.com and leave some feedback by providing a description of their dealings with this company. Their blueboard profile can be found here: www.proz.com/blueboard/6231

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  14. Z.B: Working for them for 2 month and never paid on time. I am too old to be a clown so I cancelled all of my bookings for this month and told them that if they don`t pay I will go down the legal route. What I believe would be helpful is a collective court case or news paper article so if anybody wants to do that please email or contact me at osszesszemet@gmail.com. I believe the lowest thing you can do is not to pay someone on time after they worked hard to get there. I got paid a ridiculous 20£ for an hour and I went 50+ miles jut to build my portfolio up with them - only to realize that I have to threaten them each time I want my wage. Was it too easy to get in? THERE IS A REASON!!!

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  15. Yes, happy to help for a newspaper article!

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  16. Same situation here, please do not give up, don't forget to contact the GP or hospital that you interpreted for and ask them for the phone number they use to contact Pearl Linguistics to book an interpreter!

    Also leave a message on their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/PearlLinguistics

    Also call them: 02072537700

    Also post on their twitter page.

    Write to your MP.

    Try the legal route: https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

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  17. Exactly the same....Happy to help with the article. I've been working for them since last January and 've had already delayed payment. Calls, e-mails- to no avail. Just wondering whether to carry on - so much bad publicity on line! You work, you want to earn. So simple. Does anybody know any RELIABLE interpreting company???

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  18. Yes, it's a BIG SCAM! Can someone contact the media? I think this topic is worth for making a TV documentary......

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  19. Janusz, you must be a friend or relative of the Pearl owner then!

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  21. Hi guys, I've worked for Pearl for 6 months now and so far I have got paid just for January assignments. It had been over two months since my next remittance was due, however, I waited patiently - nothing happened. It wasn't till about two weeks ago when I first emailed two bookings coordinators about my payments, there was no answer though. After I had contacted a guy dealing with feedbacks, I was sent an invoice from March and to my account a payment of 18.67. The thing is that in that month I only did two jobs - one of them totaled 20 pounds whereas the other 48 pounds. Not only have they paid me for one assignment but also I got paid much less than I interpreted for. They are insolent enough to still ask me to attend other jobs. Altogether I am owed about 200 pounds - I will get this money there's no doubt about it. However, I want to make aware the NHS and all the others I interpreted for of Pear Linguistics not paying the money to interpreters. Moreover, I consider going to the newspaper or Employment Tribunal. At the end I want to add that I work with numerous agencies and Pearl is the only one not paying the money (on time).

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  23. ...and one more thing, I've contacted my local newspaper and they're very keen on writing an article about it - I got a phone call from them this morning but I'm going on holiday in few days time and told them I'd be happy to provide some detailed info once I'm back. Also this morning Pearl rang me promising that they'd pay me the money (after I had emailed them that I'll be going to Employment Tribunal). I checked my bank account and they did pay it. Nonetheless, they are scumbags and I'm not letting it go just like this. If anyone wants to contact me here's my email: nohavica123@gmail.com

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  24. Is there anyway we could all carry out a protest outside the head office of Pearl Linguistics and get some Media attention involved ??? I have a feeling this would work as they do not want their reputation to go down the drain, and once media gets involved they have to take action and pay all their interpreters. We all know where their office is so once the date and time is fixed every one can gather there and start protesting!!

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  25. I am so gutted myself I didn't check their reputation before I accepted their offer to do the NHS interpretation for them. I hadn't had a thought that Pearl Linguistics would be such a SCAM as NHS is their client. I started work for them since this July and only got one assignment in that month. I attended on time and had my time sheet scanned and emailed it back the following day. I chased the payment early August and they told me the payment would be paid in the end of following month. I checked the contract and it does say so, so I just waited patiently. I had second assignment on 14th of August. I did the same: went for it on time and sent the time sheet to them. After that I heard nothing, if it is money related, I would rather to have a confirmation email back as a reassurance, which Pearl Linguistics never did. Then a few days after, I got an email from their time sheet address saying they hadn't got my August invoice. I re-sent it again. as I thought sometime it could happened. But a few days later, on 28th August, I got an email from them again saying they were still waiting for my invoice. I was so confused, but anyway, I re-sent it again, with mentioning the situation and requiring a confirmation response would be much appreciated, which I got nothing back. According to the email title and time of send, I am pretty sure those are just a machine operated emails. At the same time, I was expecting the payment from my July invoice on Friday 28th August, which was the last working of August. However, they didn't pay me. Until the time I posted this comment here, I have sent emails to all their email addresses, and I have called them too. Of course, no one pick up the phone, I left a voice mail instead.

    I personally won't let it go like this, even though they paid me in the end. I totally agree that we should shout this out to the public media and submit a collective court case. I am so glad Inflamatio and kraver mager have stood up, I will send them my case and are willing to provider further information needed. I hope every one having this situation do the same. Not only is this a simple money disruption, also it shows a bigger problem of the NHS system, the government scandal having assigned this fraud company to do jobs for them.

    TIME TO SHOUT IT OUT! DON'T SUFFER IN SILENCE!

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  26. I had same issue as you MagicMAN. I started in July and still no payments. I am writing an email to the owner of Pearl who, I am told is called Zeynep (zeynep@pearllinguistics.com) and also sending copy of the email to my MP.

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  28. Just tell Mo you'll contact ACAS - they pay at once.

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  29. wow I am rather disturbed by this blog , they contacted me too, they asked me if I can work for them so I wrote them an email stating that they reputation is really disturbing therefore I stated my condition as well as condition of payment should be no longer than 7 days from submitting assignment sheets, never got a reply, well I am done on this field! Well guys I believe that we should get together and do something about this.

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  30. wow I am rather disturbed by this blog , they contacted me too, they asked me if I can work for them so I wrote them an email stating that they reputation is really disturbing therefore I stated my condition as well as condition of payment should be no longer than 7 days from submitting assignment sheets, never got a reply, well I am done on this field! Well guys I believe that we should get together and do something about this.

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  31. I am going to their office tomorrow and If they don't pay me , I am going to put an end to their fraud activities by contacting NHS and other contractors.

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  32. Im also having the same issue and using the same methods as described here. Thank you very much for sharing. Its a shame i didnt checked your blog before. My suggestion is that we bring this to the media. Im sure BBC, Guardian and others are going to find interesting that a company who works with NHS is such a scam. As for me, I give them until tomorrow to pay me. If the money doesnt pop in my account until the afternoon I will make a claim at the Employment Tribunal and at ACAS. Im also willing to contact a lawyer and to spread the story as far as possible to show their real face to the world. Lets get together and make them pay and respect us.

    Gabriel

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  33. Omg , I am having the same problem with them to. They are so rude on the phone and they keep making promises to pay me and it never happens. Did you get paid yet? they own me £300 !!!

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  34. Let's coordnate our actions with Perls. Sharing legal ways we can get money and stop them.

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  35. I just find out that they had paid my money. Delayed for more that 2 weeks but paid at last. I was getting ready for small court claim. They still owe me money due for payment next months. I will never work for them again. Delay payment is not a joke.

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  36. my gf started to work for them in October.she did not see a penny yet and nobody in their financial department answered her calls.

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  37. can anybody tell me please what they have done to force their hands and pay.tnx

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  38. Hi, I have worked for them for few months but they never paid on time and now they do not want to pay for October 15 (part of the money) and total of earned money for November 15. Do you have any advice. Of course I can file at Small Claims Court but how long it will take? Pearl Linguistics is a scam and what kind of set up is this to get such contracts from NHS? Liza

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