Pay with Dict8

[juju1507]

I have been working s/e with Dict8 for 3 years now and my payment by cheques are arriving later and later. My last cheque arrived 8 days after it was issued and I noticed they are now sending cheques second class. Does anyone else work for Dict8 on here and, if so, are you finding that your cheque is arriving much later than it used to? I have direct debits set up deliberately for the middle of the month in order that my cheque would have cleared in time but now I am worrying that even by 15th of each month the cheque will not have cleared. Sorry for the ramble but just curious if others have noticed this.

To clarify, when I first started I only had two specialities but even then, it was enough for me to quit work at the local hospital and go full-time for Dict8. That was long before I started proof reading. They're just busy specialities.

No tips for increasing speed I'm afraid, I think it's just years of practice!

@JanSil - yes indeed, I was beginning to think I am being singled out by a certain lady in charge! I actually questioned this with the man in charge once and as I spoke on the phone saying there was nothing in my account other than 5 shocking dictations, which had not budged in 3 hours (this was before the virus by the way), he assured me there were 130 tasks on to type, but none showed in my account. When I mentioned this, he put me on hold and then came back and said log off and log back in which I did and they miraculously appeared minus the horrible five, so yes I am still not convinced. I too average around 85 to 90 wpm, I have been a med sec for 20 years! and an audio-typist before that, so it has got nothing to do with speed, just as you say the lack of tasks unfortunately.

Regarding some people getting all the good tasks and others all the dross - I have noticed a new woman this week I have not typed before, I think from one of the London Hospitals - just about every telephone clinic letter she made a note at the end to say it was a difficult conversation as the patient (and patient's family if there) was hard of hearing. What all of them? Every single one? Perhaps her English is difficult to understand and she makes no effort to speak clearly. This is the kind of dictation task I have been getting this week - just her, no English, easy to understand voice, just her and big gaps - and I have several specialties. I did notice once I was getting all the rubbish and then went on two weeks holiday (I normally only have one week at a time ) - when I came back the quality of the dictations improved for a while.

@carosel2, I think somebody on here unwittingly confirmed what a few have been thinking about the preferential treatment some transcribers get ! I agree with @Miah5 - the rest of us are being drip fed work as it seems strange that we are all roughly averaging the same daily rate (apart from the very few). I have also been getting some appalling dictation as well @Gally123, one doctor who could not pronounce the drug names slurred his way through the few tasks I got the other day !!! How are you supposed to deal with that :))) With regards to that lovely lady, mentioned on this thread quite a lot ! what a nasty piece of work she is.

@JanSil - yes ditto! - I have read the information for the client on their web site and they actually advise them to rate the letters they get back so they can be given that particular transcriber for future tasks. The only thing is if you get bad dictation from certain docs, and can manage to fathom out what is being said, they are going to request you time and time again by the sound of it which seems very unfair. I questioned that too once and was told the same list goes to everyone that types that particular specialty, but I am not so sure now

I have had very little to type this week also. Same thing, a few tasks appear and then whoosh they are gone. I was a bit shocked to hear that there might be preferential treatment for certain people. I am certainly not one of those. Whenever I have to - with a great deal of trepidation - speak to a certain person I certainly seem to get a lot of negativity. I asked a few months ago for some extra specialities but was told in no uncertain terms that was not possible so as to be fair to all transcribers, which I do accept, but to hear that preference is given to some does stick in your throat somewhat.

I do think all tasks are available to all transcribers of that speciality. Even now, with the lack of work, there are still people on the list for extra checking who are typing the few tasks that are available. And along with the nice tasks I also get ones where you have to strain to hear every word, or the doctor has a really strong accent or broken English, or there's music playing or children screaming in the background, or the doctor's holding the mic too close and breathing in it like Darth Vader, or chewing; I'm sure you all know what I mean. Or the ones where they dictate just the patient details then say "copy letter from e-noting" and you've just wasted your time for two lines to add to your count.

@Gally123 thank you for this. Think that is far better idea from now on.

@IamVictoria, there does seem to be quite a few tasks where the dictation is really, really faint, you can't up the volume as the shusshing noise makes it worse. I wonder if that is just how it translates through DICT8 because surely a secretary with such poor quality dictation would flag it up to their consultant/supervisor it is so dangerous to strain and piece together sentences based on the "gist of things".

My pet hate though is a doctor who sniffs hard and then you hear them swallow, its usually over the parts I can't hear so I have to rewind again and again so I hear the schlop - pause - gulp, repeatedly.

I have a few specialities too that have long dictations. I sometimes have psychiatric tribunal reports that can be up to 30-40 minutes long. They are the big earners definitely. I also do ADHD community reports which again can be big earners. It is very much swings and roundabouts though because I can have days when I earn over £50-55 per day and other days barely £10, it all depends. However, until the COVID crisis I was earning so much more with T-Pro as they allow you to do all specialities. In first two weeks I earned 700 euros but nothing now, unfortunately. You just have to get your head around really strong Irish accents and they talk really really quickly but you can slow them down a bit!
I am hoping that when things settle and outpatient appointments are reinstated we will be snowed under and have a chance to make some money. Stay safe everyone xx

How do you get more specialities? I have 20+ years experience with several specialities but have only been given one?

@Chrissols

If you want more specialities email and ask them, although in the current situation that may not be feasible. Good luck.

I do paediatrics and I have not seen any 10 - 15 minute tasks for over two weeks - only tasks that last seconds ! So I can only assume if someone has been able to do 5 - 6 tasks in one day, that last as long as 15 minutes, it is because those tasks are sitting in their account and not others. If DICT8 said they would be giving the bulk of their work to their more established typists at this time then I would understand this. I could then take the appropriate measures needed for my finances and not waste days on end staring at a computer screen. Sadly, as usual, DICT8 show little or no concern about anything but their bank balance.

@flutterby18 yes I thought the same, bad timing. Will ask once we get back going a bit

@JanSil they weren't all Paeds tasks, I think two of them were - I also saw some others that had gone before I had a chance to click on them. At the moment we're all scraping for work. I was very lucky that day.

@IamVictoria - that is not what you posted on Friday when you said "As for the long tasks, one of my specialities is Paediatrics which includes health assessments for looked-after children and autism assessment reports, which are usually the long ones"

I am not against people getting work (as per my last post) - good luck to everyone, but I do not believe we are all being treated the same by DICT8.

Yes, that was an example of one speciality that in general has the longest tasks, all of which were available to everybody who types Paeds. As I said, I saw other long ones which other transcribers took. Another one of those tasks was in another speciality which I found when randomly checking the list at 11pm at night.

@Chrissols I think over the years working in the NHS part-time and for Dict8 I gained a few more specialities, eg, Psychiatry as I worked at one of the Priory Hospital's for a while, I've worked in a GP Practice, Cardiology Department, etc. I asked if they could be added a couple of years back and I was fortunate enough to be given them. I appreciate I am lucky to have more especially at this time. I have noticed as well that under Cardiology they have now put in cardiothoracic surgery which I have never typed in my life, I'm sure that was a specific speciality at one stage. Veterinary just appeared in my specialities!! I didn't ask for it. I think everyone gets Office tasks don't they? I've come and had a look today as there isn't anything there at the moment. I hope all of us get some work this month. Take care everyone x

Just a quickie, how do you register with T-pro? I'd like to give them a go. I have worked for Dict8 for over 2 years now but cannot seem to earn much and the transcriptions now are diabolical!

T-pro aren't taking new transcribers at the moment, I was half way through my joining up when the pandemic started and it was put on hold. Think work has dried up everywhere at the moment.

@juju1507 I just have the one speciality assigned to me, not office though. I have 20+ years experience working full time for the NHS and thereafter part time for GP's so have worked for 10+ specialities in my time. I will ask once things get back to some sort of normality, in the not too distant future hopefully.

@Chrissols, I had 5 years in dermatology but the person in charge, with just over 3 years medical secretarial experience in NHS, decided that was not enough experience to have this added to my list - what a joke !!!!

@JanSil - how do you know that the person in charge only has three years medical secretarial experience? I do realise that managers only need to have "people" skills and not relevant work experience as from my time in the NHS the manager who came into Oncology had no oncology experience and the outgoing manager moved to gynaecology with no experience of that either; although I would add that I have seen no evidence of that woman's "people" skills either.

I have typed 3 letters today with Dict8, so even though I have a few specialities I still don't have any work to speak of. This is not good. T-Pro have had no work at all this week when I've looked either even though they did email to say that they hoped things would improve a little this week...they haven't!

@Gally123 - I had the misfortune of having to deal with her when I queried what a proofreader had sent back to me, for some strange reason she felt the need to let me know just how intelligent she was and what she had done before DICT8, which in her eyes made her more superior than anyone else !

1 task for me today