Pay with Dict8 continued

[Chrissols]

Hi all........

@Lucylizzy123 - did you manage to start with Tpro before they cut the pay rate by about two-thirds? I was due to start with them in March 2020 but then COVID struck and I did not complete the process until October 2020 and by then they had decided to cut the pay rate for VR. I find the pay with the VR can be a bit variable as with my hospital there are several different letter layouts although two main ones and one pays more than the other! Also there are a few poor dictators at present with mumbling etc which means everything has to be retyped from scratch as the VT is just gibberish, but we still only get paid the VR rate for this. I find a combination of DICT8 and TPRO works for me.

Hi, Yes I was lucky to just beat the pay cut. I didnt realise they had reduced payments by two thirds - that makes a huge difference obviously. That makes it slightly less attractive doesnt it.

@Lucylizzy123 - @Gally123 - I questioned this with Tpro about the two different pay rates as they asked me to take on board a speciality to concentrate on with the two I already have that they ask me to concentrate on (which I type with DICT8 and are familiar with) and if I run out of them, I grab any of the others left which I am not familiar with) but I did say no as I said I find it unfair that I can type same amount of work as some and only get pain half the rate they get. I said I can put in same time and effort and say get £400 a month when the other transcriber doing the same will get £800 for doing the same amount of work. They told me the rate will not go up and the incentive is to type a million characters and then they will give a 10% bonus which only equates to £79 extra a month. I actually find this unfair of Tpro but obviously that is the rate I agreed to, as I didn't know there were different rates until one lady on here stated she got double. @Lucylizzy123 - Good luck to you that you have the better pay rate but I just do the DICT8 first (as its more money) and then swap to Tpro when there is nothing on DICT8 now.

@Lucylizzy123 - I would type all day long for Tpro if they gave me the double rate as it is much quicker doing the VR and I would earn so much more with them than it is to type for DICT8 with all the rubbish that comes in. Tpro just said sorry but that is how it is and any work you do is much appreciated whatever the amount. They are lovely, I agree and I have never had any problems at all with them, other than the rate of pay

@Carosel2 - I have managed the 1 millions characters a month at least once but did not get a 10% bonus. Who did you speak to about pay - was it the accounts department or one of your Team Leaders?

I am always being asked to type particular letters or consultants, and last week after being asked to type Urology I was then messaged and asked when I had finished that if I would do Breast Surgery, which annoyed me a little. I rarely say no, but did draw the line when asked to Psychiatry! (Especially when asked if I would do it later that evening).

@Gally123 - I spoke to my Team Lead who said it wasn't her decision and to ask accounts, I then sent a letter to Laura who said the same to voice my concern to accounts and so I did, the same address we sent emails to and I got this reply

""I hope you are keeping well. We have reviewed the pay and want to incentivise employees to do more typing. In that regard, we have agreed a pay rate increase of 10% for any month where the character count is greater than 1M (this will apply for all characters not just the characters > 1M). Of course it goes without saying that the more you type the more you earn, but this is an added incentive"

@carosel2 - think I will email them and see if I can get them to agree to that for me and also possibly back date it. Thanks.

@Gally123 - I dont see why you cant ask for double rate, you do a heck of a lot more typing that I do, perhaps they may reward you because of it, and perhaps I didn't get it because my return for them is low, give it a go for the double rate first, then if they don't agree I am sure they will give you what they suggested for me. My work has never been criticised and every now and again my team lead gives me lovely comments telling me to keep up the good work etc. I would have thought they would have been happy with someone who can produce good work and get the most out of them to crack on with more letters rather than make it more difficult for them to type for them. Sometimes, I really don't know how they work things out, as surely if they gave the better rate I would certainly type more letters and they would get more money, but heyho that's the name of the business but I do think you should try for the top first and state that you know of others who have the double rate, I have, you don't have to mention names and where it came from as we don't know one another. I kept it simple and said that I know that some transcribers are on double the amount that I am on that's all. Good luck!

I considered applying to TPRO, but after reading all the comments about them I've changed my mind. It's pure exploitation - the transcriptionists are heading for burnout by the sound of it.

@Whitestar5 - I don't see why you cant still apply, you never know they may give you a better rate. Perhaps the rate fell because of the workload falling off due to Covid as there wasn't as much coming in for the existing transcribers, but it is now growing again fast, so really to me the rates for the transcribers that were set on at the lower rate should be brought in line with the others that type for them now. If I applied to DICT8 now as a newbie, I would feel very put out if I was on about 4p per line when everyone else is on 8p. If you do get accepted even on the low rate there is always work on Tpro so when there is nothing on DICT8 at least it gives you a little advantage in earning a bit extra with them, I suppose its better than nothing and there is always work on at the weekends, but I certainly wont concentrate on them first now if DICT8 has the work coming in. Good luck!

@carosel2 Thanks for your encouragement, I hope it's working out well for you, but I'm reluctant to bow down to more of these companies and accept their awful rates and conditions. They have their glossy websites explaining how successful they are, but hide the fact that the transcribers are purely exploited and worked to bits.

@carosel2 @Whitestar5 - the reason Tpro dropped their rate of pay was their move away from transcription to voice recognition.

Those who type receive the higher rate, those people who do VR only are given the lower rate of pay. They do not take anyone on for typing now, only VR.

It is unfortunate that many people on the higher rate who type also have access to the VR, which makes it unfair.

It does make sense, as VR in theory should be quicker and easier, however VR does not recognise some people with strong accents and so I think the pay rate has been set too low.

@Gally123 - well that does make sense then but as you say it is unfair as the the ones who type still have access to the VR and will pick that up first as it will be easier, still as I said its better than nothing when there is nothing else available. Have you queried your count and bonus yet with them?

@carosel2 - no as I need to think carefully as how to phrase my request, as it is something I can probably only ask once, and I am sure they are one of the companies (like DICT8 but no-one takes much notice) that say in their contract that people will not discuss their rate of pay!

Hi all I think I registered with them ages ago...is the work frequent and do you need to be particularly great at typing and doing all the particular lines and structure etc?

@Gally123 Good luck! Hope you get what you deserve, you've worked hard enough for it!

amiafreakofnature: That is a strange comment ... of course you need to be great at typing (in the medical arena with areas of expertise in certain Specialitie), and have a modicum of expertise in sentence construction, punctuation paragraphing, etc. Yes, you have to type what you hear but also you will 'be pulled' if you can't do basic sentence construction, paragraphing etc. They would halt at filling in all the extra bits for you if that is what you mean. Non-plussed by this comment .. maybe I did not understand totally the meaning of your request??

When you get a message to say you should date all letters??? Well that is odd 'cos I always do ... the only thing I can think of is a letter which was a 'notes box msg' in actual fact with a PS !!?? ... hahahahaha - Oh dear!!! Now, that is ridiculous in My opinion.

@danblack Don't you just get sick of typing what constitutes memos basically, for free in the 'notes box' and being told to do it? As a self employed contractor I honestly feel like invoicing them for my time and efforts regarding this.

@Whitestar5: Yes it grates a lot it was dictated as an addendum to a previous letter for the notes box - forgot to put date at top of letter!!!! FFS

@danblack87 - I block copy and paste the date plus other info bits like Dear Dr, Re: Hospital Number, yours sincerely so that I have them on every letter. The only problem comes when - as has happened on a couple of occasions - I have a senior moment and put the wrong date and copy and paste that for a few letters until I realise!

@Gally123: I do that too but on this occasion it was not applicable. So typed in the notes box to add addendum - typed in the PS (paragraph in the body of the text) forgot to add the date. There was no patient ID!!

@danblack87 Did you type the addendum in the notes box? I would have typed it as part of another letter in the letter field, but with the separator, added the date and just put in the notes box that there were xx amount of letters on the transcript for xx amount of patients. I think that would be acceptable to DICT8.

I typed the addendum (PS) in the body of the letter!!! Just forgot to date the letter!!!!