If you are looking to make some money from home with a transcription job then Go Transcript is one of the options that you have. The question is… Is this a good option? There are many different transcription companies out there that you can potentially work for, some better than others. So is this place any good? Or is Go Transcript a scam that you should avoid?
Since you are reading my review I am guessing that you are a bit skeptical of this particular transcription company in the opportunity that they provide. Maybe you have read someone calling them a scam online, or maybe you are just skeptical of any online income opportunity. In my review here I will be going over how the transcription jobs at Go Transcript work, the application process in case you are going to apply, how much money you can realistically make as a transcriptionist here, complaints and more.
Go Transcript Review
Go Transcript was founded back in 2005. In 2006 they only had 37 transcriptionists and if you fast forward to now, they have over 20,000 transcriptionists, proofreaders, and customer support specialists, the majority being transcriptionists.
Of course the purpose of Go Transcript these to provide transcription services for clients. I’m sure you’re already familiar with how it all works, but basically clients submit audio or video files to them and they then have their transcribers listen to this audio and type it out in printed form, which is what transcribing is all about.
Overall there are some upsides to this particular transcription company, but also some downsides. I would say that Go Transcript is best for new be transcriptionists looking to get started and gain some experience.
Overview Of The Job
As a transcriber you are able to work as little or as much as you want to. As long as you get the transcriptions done on time, then you are good to go. And you should have no problem with this because they give you around six hours to transcribe 10 minutes of audio, which is plenty. In fact, if you have trouble transcribing this amount of audio in this amount of time, then transcription is definitely not going to be worth it for you.
You will be able to choose the projects that you want to work on, whenever you want. Pretty much you select a project, transcribe it, and submit it… Simple as that.
There aren’t any requirements but of course a headset and footpedal are recommended. A headset will allow you to hear the audio more clearly and a footpedal allows you to start/stop the audio or fast-forward/rewind it with your foot, which makes the process of transcribing much easier because your hands can be completely dedicated to typing on the keyboard.
As for his pay goes, you will get paid every Friday via PayPal or Payoneer.
The Application Process
The application process is a bit different from most other transcription companies. Overall it is a very simple process, which is why I say that this is a better opportunity for complete newbies looking to get some experience in the industry.
The only real requirement is that you be good English, and of course you’re going to need a computer with some decent Internet connection.
The application process consists of a transcription test that you must pass. There is no uploading your resume or anything of that nature. As long as you can transcribe your good to go.
The transcription test they give you is not the best quality of audio. They do this on purpose because when working as a transcriptionist you’re going to come up against bad quality audio, audio that has speakers with accents, etc., so they want to make sure you have what it takes to do the job.
Make sure you read over the guidelines thoroughly before you try the test. They have some strict guidelines and if you just go and without reading them and complete the test you are pretty much guaranteed to fail.
The good thing is that, if you do fail, you will be able to retake the test again in a few days. I am not sure how long you have to wait because on their website they just say “a few days”.
How Much Can You Make?
As far as I know the most that you can make is $0.60 per audio minute that you transcribe. That said, they tell you “up to $0.60 per audio minute”… Meaning that this is the most you will be able to earn and you will likely earn much less than this.
This is a bit on the lower side compared to other transcription sites I would say. Many of the other ones out there paid per word, instead of per minute, but as far as ones that do pay per minute go… It’s a bit on the lower side. For example REV Transcription pays up to $0.65 per minute.
Besides getting paid per minute, there are other factors that come into play when looking at earning potential, such as how much work is actually available to transcribe.
One their website they state that the average transcriptionist only earns $150 per month, while there are some top earners earning as much as $1215 per month, which still really is and all that much. However, they tell you nothing about how many hours these transcriptionists are putting in to make this much, so these numbers really don’t mean much of anything.
Complaints
Whenever I look into different transcription opportunities like this I always make sure to read a bunch of reviews from people have been doing the job for a while and have experience with it. Glassdoor is a great place to find independent reviews from real workers, which I found a fair number of complaints on.
Some of the more common complaints that I came across that you should be aware of include…
Bad Audio Quality
Bad quality audio is just a part of the job. You will find this complaint with just about any transcription opportunity out there. However, I have reviewed a lot of different transcription opportunities and it seems that there are a fairly high number of complaints about horrible quality audio compared to others I have reviewed, such as AccuTran Global and Transcribe Me.
Audio quality makes all the difference in the world. If you have a nice crisp clean audio with good English speakers then you might be able to transcribe in no time. But if you have audio that is full of static and has a fuzzy background, then it is going to be a hassle.
On top of this, there is no leeway for mistakes… Or at least not much. If you transcribe something that has a correctness score of less than 3.5, then you don’t get paid.
Low Pay
Low pay is another very common complaint you will find with many different transcription opportunities. That said… This place pays a bit on the lower side as I mentioned. Some people are claiming to be making only around one dollar per hour that they put in as a transcriptionist.
However, this greatly depends on how good you actually are at transcribing. Transcribing a 30 minute audio file for some people may only take 45 minutes, while for others it may take two hours… This is obviously a very big difference and greatly affects the amount you will make per hour of time you put in.
This is another reason why having a footpedal is important, because your pay depends on how fast you transcribe.
Vague Guidelines
There are a fair number of complaints from people claiming that their work has been disapproved for no good reason. Go Transcript has some pretty strict guidelines when it comes to transcribing you and, as I mentioned earlier, it is very important to read this over thoroughly so you know exactly what you are supposed to do in certain situations.
That said, apparently some people are doing what they believe is correct and their work is still being disapproved, which obviously would be very frustrating and a complete waste of time.
Not Very Supportive Support Team
I wouldn’t think anything of it if I saw one or two complaints, but I have seen multiple about the support team being rude and disrespectful.
Lack of Work
There seem to be people saying opposite things when it comes to the amount of work provided. I have read some reviews of transcriptionists claiming that there are times when there isn’t any work available to transcribe, yet others are saying that there is always plenty of work to be done.
It seems to me that there is a lack of work here. I mean just think about… The top earners are earning just over $1200 per month… That is not much at all and I am guessing the reason is because there just isn’t enough work available.
This is likely due to there being too many transcriptionists on board, which would be due to the extremely easy application process.
Final Thoughts – Good Opportunity or Not?
Is Go Transcript a scam? No… It definitely is not. However, there are definitely a lot of downsides to this particular transcription opportunity and in my opinion there are much better out there.
The only people I would really recommend this opportunity to would be those that are newbies looking to get some experience under their belt. Other transcription companies have a much more difficult application process and is a good idea to have experience in order to attempt to get the better transcription jobs out there.
PS: If you want some guidance on becoming a transcriptionist then I highly recommend this free 7 day ecourse. In this course you will learn how to perform the job as a transcriptionist, how to get a good transcription position, and ultimately how to get paid the amount you deserve.
Something else you may be interested in if you are just looking to make money online is how I do so. You can read my post on how I went from $0 to over $6,000 per month online where I go over what exactly I do and how others can get started doing the same.
Please feel free to leave any questions, comments, or concerns below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂
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