Anyone worked for Transcription Puppy?

Nov 24 '20 Abugan 36209 clicks review

Hi guys! I was just hired as a proofreader in OLJ. Who worked for Transcription Puppy before? Any reviews? Thanks!

21 Replies

It's legit currently working there as TP. How much you earn depends on each file. They pay through paypal.

I worked there before 2016 pa. Baba ng pay samin $10 per audio hour. So I took it for experience na lang.

They pay naman and magaan ung work.

@Souris Thanks po.☺️😊

You may want to know more about Transcription Puppy.

  1. The owner is Chinese. That means, your pay isn't equal to the amount of time and effort you spent with each audio file even though you're just proofreading it.

  2. If ever one file gets rejected, you won't get paid for it. So for example, you got this 60mins long audio. You consumed 10hrs proofreading it and when you submitted the completed file, their system would tell you that you didn't proofread every audio minute of it. Of course, you'd want to check it again but somebody else got a hold of it, you won't get paid at all for it, not a single cent.

  3. Their manager is, I don't know, seems like a bot. He/she lacks sympathy and social skills.

  4. So even if you work 40hrs a week, but you just managed to get 400 audio minutes completed, you'd just get P1k.

Overall, it isn't feasible. The pay rate is so small compared to your internet and electricy consumption.

@labanos Hi, thanks for your reply! Looks like you had worked for Transcription Puppy. I gave up this chance. Are there many orders daily? I mean, if I had accepted, will I be assigned many tasks to do?

@Abugan Hello! I did. :)

They require each proofreader to complete 120mins audio files everyday - that's 8hrs per day. There are many proofreaders, or just that there are few files, I'm not sure. The quota of acquiring 600mins of audio, 40 hours per week isn't achievable and the promise of paying 500php per day isn't really true.

And to answer your question, it depends on how fast you "assign" a file to you. It's like a "first come, first served" basis. You have to wait for the files to come in to their portal and you can only grab one at a time.

When I was with TP before, they had me use this time tracker which's really useless. They didn't care if I worked 40hours.

I would suggest that don't go for them if your goal is to sustain your basic needs.

@labanos Thanks for providing me the information behind the scenes! 👍👍

Not worth it. If you're first timer for home-based online job working, and if you're not sensitive to the payment, you may consider this company.

If you are new to transcription, you will regret it. I have worked for the company for 5 years, and their "anti fraud" algorithm is getting smarter with every update. You literally need to make sure every single word is correct. I have emailed their boss after my rejection rate went up the sky, and their new system even adding the like of "ing" or words and change words to similar sound words. So, I guess when you proodread, you need to concentrate and re-listen to every second of the audio.

I get on average 1 rejection for every 12 or 13 pieces of work I submit, and I still got paid hourly, and I believe they have a threadhold if you exceed it, then they wont pay you.

When I applied a few years back, it was very difficult, the hiring manager told me, I got it 100% correct on a difficult piece of audio full of accent and background noises and to qualify to be proofreader, I needed to get it perfectly correct and had to complete a typing test. I had WPM of around 50, if I remembered correctly. So, its very hard for newbies to get in unless cheated the test. But then, if cheated the test, once you are in, their extremely horrible anti-fraud would pretty much mean you won't get paid.

@Ezer hi. can I ask you about the guidelines?

They said to use words to represent large numbers, decimals, etc. Is that the case in both verbatim and non-verbatim files? And what do they mean by a large number? 100 and up?

I'm sorry if my questions sound stupid 😅

@vifern not sure if I remember, they will give you a copy of guidelines and It's just very basic. Anyways, in my experience I swear nakakatamad maghintay kung kelan may papasok na files to transcribe and i'm telling you it's not worth it. Audio qualities are horrible. Boi masakit sa ulo kase need mo lage i-full ung volume just to hear

@vifern Gano katagal ka nag work? First day ko ngayon and na encounter ko agad yung error sa anti fraud system nila. Anyways, wala kong balak mag stay dahil bukod sa mababa na bayad, and panget pa ng trato nila sa staffs nila. I think mag stay ako for a week then resign but I'm worried baka maapektuhan profile ko sa onlinejobs.ph. How did you quit? Maayos lang ba proseso or nahirapan ka?

I reported Transcription Puppy to OnlineJobs.ph and hopefully they will give this the attention it needs. They hired me 2 days ago as a Transcriptionists and Transcription Proofreader , and I've been in front of my computer trying to grab a project since they advised me to keep refreshing my dashboard. Unfortunately, I've been trying and waiting in vain. Suddenly, this evening I tried to log in to my username and it is giving me an error message. Sent a Skype message but the accout manager is a robot and has very vague responses.

The owner insist that there were projects, when in fact, there were NONE. He kept sending me screenshots of my DB, with projects shown, but once I clicked "assign" they would disappear. He did not bother to walk me through it or try to call me via Skype or anything like that. How would I know, that he was not doing something to the system, just to make me shut up since I was constantly complaining,

We need to GRAB the projects as they come, no definite time, it's as if we needed to be in front of the computer 24/7 to get a project since it's on a first come first serve basis. It was impossible to do this. e.g., there is an email notification that a project is assigned to me, I log in to my DB IMMEDIATELY and it's GONE! Like, 2 minutes ago. Ridiculous!

Hi Abugan, and to everyone reading this right now. I'm Ken, and I'm new here to JobOceans.

I saw this post regarding Transcription Puppy (TP), and I created a JobOceans account just so I can reply to this post and share my work experience in this company. I hope my reply will help out those who plan working there, who are currently working there, and those who just stumbled upon this thread as they look for jobs.

I’m the type that usually does a tell-all when I write, so my apologies in advance for the long read. Not to worry, as I’ve put a TL;DR summary at the end of this post.

Starting off. This is actually my first-ever paying job. I got accepted at this company in June of last year as a proofreader after what they said was a near-perfect transcription of the sample work they posted in OnlineJobs (OLJ). Unlike what matt88 has said above, wala naman akong naging typing test - only the one required in my OLJ profile.

Never running out of work - or so it seems. When I entered, there’s plenty of work to be done there. Hindi ako nagbibiro. Apparently kasi, may nag-mass order noon na isang detention facility sa States kaya maraming pagpipilian na work. Yes, most of them were low-quality audio files, and I really have to slow down the audio as recommended and replay them again and again so that the finished work is accurate enough. Mabuti at meron din silang sinubmit na video file transcriptions kung saan pwedeng i-download yung video. Malinaw na ang sound, makikita mo pa yung lip movements ng speaker.

Meron man mga low-quality audio files, meron din namang mga tolerable na medium- and high-quality audios na nagiging available.

The anti-fraud system. Indeed, kapag may naiwan kang system-generated anti-fraud keyword within the document na hindi mo natanggal, your work will be rejected at ilalagay uli siya sa dashboard for you and, yes, other proofreaders, to pick up. I learned that the hard way.

Salary. During my first full working week with them, i.e. working 8 hours a day for 5 days, I received just almost 2k out of a potential 2.5k. Best week ko na yun, actually. It’s because my first working day with them was mid-week, and naka-full working week lang ako the following week na.

The managers. Tingin ko naman, hindi robotic ang mga account managers. They do take time to reply, though. Don’t get me wrong, I do feel for those who had a different experience from mine, and I hope they improve in that aspect.

The time tracker. Just to add a little detail to the time tracker pointed out by Labanos. Besides, well, tracking the time you worked, it also automatically takes a screenshot of your computer screen then sends it to your employer. The employer will notify you if you are not doing your work based on the screenshots sent to them. Been there, done that. So, I suggest having an extra gadget by your side, e.g. smartphone or tablet, if you wish to make a quick research on words or concepts about the file you are proofreading .Another thing, close it completely kapag hindi pa ulit kayo nakakuha ng proofreading work and only open and start it again as you begin proofreading; magpapatuloy pa rin kasi siya sa auto-screenshot if you only stop the timer.

Running out. Remember what I said above na may client na nag-mass order ng mga kailangang ma-transcribe na audio/video files? Alas, as time went by, naubos yung mga projects na iyon. So, during my third week in, i.e. 3rd week of June, there were little to no projects at all to choose from - exactly how Mashenka has described it. And that means, less work, less money coming in. Despite this, kapag may dumaraang projects, I try to get a hold of it before someone else does.

The final straw. The nail in the coffin. Whatever you call it - there was this one thing that kept me from going on: negative customer feedback. Even though it shouldn’t affect me dearly, it did for me. I didn’t know what to do at the time as I was in a state of shock.

First, there was a client that only gave my proofread work a one-star rating, even though I proofread it the best that I could. I was like, okay, moving on.

Pero heto talaga ang hindi ako maka-get over for quite some time: there was this one client that sent me a private message, which was also read and replied to by one of the higher-ups**. Basically an unfavorable review**. From what I understand, parang ang sabi niya yata na ang final transcript version na binigay sa kanila ay para bang hindi na-proofread, although I believe na na-proofread ko naman ito to the best of my ability. Parang mas maganda pa raw yung automated transcription nung kanyang file kaysa sa human-made transcription, although I don’t really blame them for that. I didn’t know that I had to reply pala para ma-explain ko yung side ko, and I still didn’t. As a result, naipasa yung failed file to another transcriber and proofreader. Ang ending, na-penalize ako at yung isang co-worker ko na unang nag-transcribe ng file na iyon. That incident, kung saan sobrang napaghinaan ako ng loob, kasama na yung kakulangan ng pwedeng ma-proofread, ang mga reasons kung bakit hindi na ako nag-take ng projects sa kanila since September of last year. And after six months of not logging in, my account was automatically deactivated in March this year. So bale, four months lang ako naging active doon sa TP (June-Sept 2019).

**Am I going back? **Maybe, kasi kailangan ko na ng work again. Maybe not, dahil sa naging bad experience ko. Pero dahil sinabi ng iba nating ka-JobOcean na mababa ang kanilang pay, I think kailangan ko ng fallback plan and also have a job at another company if ever na allowed (meaning no strict contracts, parang ganun) para may dagdag na income na rin. Too bad nawala yung kanilang job ad sa OLJ, and their recent ones had the link to the sample transcription test blocked out (which I think is a false positive), but I found what I think is their job ad sa VirtualStaff.ph - I mean, parehas lang ang pagkakasulat ng ad, except they will send to you the sample test file imbis na nasa job ad post na mismo.

**Final piece of advice. **No harm in applying, but be prepared for the lower-than-expected pay, and worse, if projects are not immediately available. You can gain some transcription or proofreading experience while working here. As I said above, if you can or if the situation allows, please supplement it with another work so that you have a stable and manageable income. Oh, I almost forgot, you may want to filter (read: archive and/or mark as read) incoming automated emails from the TP server whenever new projects come in so that your personal email inbox doesn’t look too messy and that you won't get too bombarded by auto emails constantly coming in.

TL;DR. I enjoyed my first-ever paying job experience in TP when it lasted, especially nung maraming work na pwedeng kunin. I only got disappointed and left nung naubos na at madalang na lang yung work, pati na yung epekto sa akin ng mga negative customer feedback. I may return again - but I still have my doubts because of my fear of rejection.

@Ray_Ken_A14 Well said po.. Thank God may naka-relate din sa work experience ko.. hehe.. Actually, transcriptionist (typist) po ako sa transcription puppy for almost 2 years na.. same po tayo.. first paying job ko din to.. na-experience ko na yung sinabi mo pong may nag-mass order na detention facility.. and I can say na isa yun sa mahihirap na files.. Yung job, I don't know kung anu mas mahirap yung typist or proofreader.. I mean, wala nmng madaling trabaho.. given na magbabayad ang mga amerikano para ipa-transcribe audio for sure may mga issues kaya gusto nila i-clarify diba? Nasa probinsya kasi ako kaya okay lang na ang sweldo per month is like 6k-8k.. maliit lng nmn gastos dito compared sa nasa city ka.. It have ups and downs.. masasabi ko na nasa lowest point ng trabaho sa trascription puppy is nung nagstart ang COVID.. grabe.. for like 3 months parang down and website.. I don't know kung nagkasakit ang naghahandle ng website.. and like chinese ata ang may-ari kaya most likely may nangyari pero right now, bumabalik na ang work..

Why not apply ulit? hehe.. Ako, I only work mostly 4 days a week,, and like half-day minsan kaya cguro nagtagal ako..

It's legit.. It's paying.. Wala nmn madaling trabaho diba? Maski siguro humiga ka magdamag sa kwarto masasabi mong ang "Hirap" Hehe I have my ups and downs in the company but at the end of the day, people need cash.. hehe Best advice ko lang is every audio work mo is do your best but yung expectation mo is wag maxadong mataas kasi walang perfect.. Especially ngayon na pandemic, try mo lng po

DO NOT WORK FOR THIS COMPANY! NOT WORTH IT!

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