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.

doesn't help on days like today when work is practically non-existent. I have normally found it to pick up a bit in the afternoons, but haven't seen a single task for two hours.....

Today has been the worst day with no tasks appearing since midday. I too feel we have been thrown under the bus a bit here by DICT8. They are probably in a difficult situation now asking trusts to stop using their software, and I don't think clinics are going to return to normal until the end of the summer at the soonest. Surely their income must be falling with less work coming in. It would be interesting to see if other companies such as Tpro did a similar thing? Didn't seem like a smart move at all to me.

When this awful situation started and the advice was to stay at home and work from home if you can, I genuinely thought thank god I am self-employed and do work for DICT8. At least I will still be able to work.

I just don’t understand why DICT8 have done what they have. I am sure there are many factors in DICT8 success, but surely the transcribers have played a very large part in them becoming successful. Yet they go and offer a ‘service’ free (which in theory really, is the same said ‘service’ that we have been providing over many years, albeit through DICT8), but unfortunately the way this has been dealt with has also taken away our income. It is very sad the way we have been overlooked here. We are people who have families and bills to pay too and there are many reasons why a lot of medical transcribers work from home, some of us have no choice

And here was me thinking yesterday was a bad day.

Absolutely nothing so far today.

It would be helpful if DICT8 gave us an update, perhaps if we all keep putting messages up regarding this they might answer us, after all we all know they read this page.

I'm so fed up today [sad). Had two jobs all morning so have earnt a grand sum of 34p. I think I'll go finish painting the kitchen wall. "Hello wall, how are you today??" - Boredom is setting in ….. ZZZzzzzzzzzz

Yep, me too, worst day so far, just a handful of very small jobs. Not good.

I suspect that offering Trusts DICT8's software is a marketing tactic to prevent losing accounts during and after the pandemic. I.e. keeping them sweet.

Should it be half term? there seems to be a lot of the usual voices missing this week

@whitestar5: I think you are right about the marketing tactic, I think there was a definite ploy there to hold onto the accounts they have.
@Chrissols: I think 1/2 term was last week.
I have not had enough jobs to calculate of the usual voices are missing this week! The ones I have had I recognised.

@whitestar5 - I also think you are right, and now that the hospitals have had a taste of how it works and its benefits for them there is nothing to stop DICT8 offering its continued use, for a small fee, of course, to ensure DICT8 has some revenue coming in. We always knew that as typists we did not matter; they more or less implied that in their first email outlining the situation. With this in mind I am not expecting the situation to change any time soon, probably why DICT8 have remained quiet, possibly a slight guilty conscience regarding what they have done to us.

Still waiting for first task of the day.....been sat here since 8.00am. Trying to remain optimistic and hoping things will start getting busier in month or so.......

@chrissols: I have had 4 tasks - all small. I started at 9 am. Trying to be optimistic too

@danblack87 on the plus side, my cheques seem to be being processed very quickly, albeit quite a bit less than I would like

@Chrissols, @carousel2 - the HMRC webinar did mention that for people who do not qualify for the SEIS grant that they can claim Universal Credit and it did outline how to go about claiming this.

The second part of the SEIS grant will be paid in August and if you qualified for the first grant you can claim the second, which is at a reduced level. You can still work at some level and also claim the grant, however they do check for fraudulent claims and as the grant needs to be included in the next tax return, they will notice people whose tax returns feature a high level of income such that they claimed when their work was not affected.

I did ask my question in the webinar regarding contract workers not knowing when work would pick up and received their standard reply, you can claim for the grant.

@Gally123 thank you for the information, sadly I do not think I qualify for either......well not for the first month+ as was still being paid at that time from the NHS. Hopefully things will pick up with DICT8 soon as this is my only income now and in the future as I need to be a home full time now (having said that, I do prefer being at home), and actually really enjoy working for DICT8. Fingers crossed for more work soon.........

@Chrissols - you need to check the information they give - they have extended Universal Credit to include self-employed people not eligible for the grant, ie like yourself who were working elsewhere as well.

@Gally123 - will have a look, thanks

Thanks very much for sharing that. That is some good news as I do not see working picking up drastically in the immediate future do you?

It's clear from this thread that many have given quite a few years service to DICT8 and in all that time the pay/way your are paid has not changed, the attitude of their staff to the self-employed secretaries hasn't changed, the way their behaviour regarding feedback hasn't changed (IMHO this verges on bullying in some cases), so it comes as no surprise that they don't give a stuff about keeping us informed at this point. It seems that working from home is to be encouraged so I think I will start looking for alternatives.

This morning has been my worst so far.......strange when last Wednesday was my best

Yes there never seems to be any consistency does there.

I feel tied to my screen as I think the moment I move away a load of work will come through and I will miss that. Paranoia is starting to set in I fear!!!

I like working for Dict8, the work was always there as and when (whatever the day or time of night) with no restrictions on how much or how little you typed. + when it was good you could delay invoicing; hence, retrospectively, saving money for holiday's/special occasion/Christmas (without being able to dip into money at hand as usually happens - a safety bar if you like). At the moment we are in the 'lap of the God's' here due to COVID but there MUST be some improvement soon. I really love working from home and the independence that brings with it. I certainly will not be looking for alternative employment outside of the house yet (COVID says 'no, no' to that) … I dread to think those days are pending. I live on my own, work on my own, I am here for my grandchild as and when needed as a carer and that is the way I like it. I have my finger's xxx'd that things will get better soon; just got to hang on in there I guess, ride it out?

It hasn't picked up at all today....

@Chrissols: Work available today has not been too Gr8, but had a few at least. I am giving up for the day now as I just can't sit here refreshing any more … 'it is doing my head in' !
I shall wake up in the morning hoping for a good day but will, no doubt be disappointed