"Translation samples demonstrate quality."

To demonstrate their quality, some translation agencies put translation samples on their websites. However, good samples do NOT ensure the quality of real jobs. The reason is simple. Samples are usually done by selected top translators with additional reviews. But the real quality depends on the process, translators and time for the real jobs. If they don’t let the same translators follow the same process and allocate the same amount of time for your projects as they did for the samples, it’s impossible for you to get the same quality. The translation samples don’t necessarily prove anything.

"Trial jobs are the best evidence for quality."

For the reasons above, trial jobs do NOT work well either. If you receive a bad outcome for a trial job, you know their quality is really poor. Even if you receive a good outcome, the question is still there. You do not know who will translate your project or by what process. Can the service providers work with your projects exactly the same as they did for trial jobs? The most likely answer is No. Finally, no translation agency would agree to take a trial job for free unless you promise to give them big projects.

"Our translations are perfect!"

No translation is perfect, if “perfect” means “zero error”. First, there is no objective or clear standard in judging language or translation issues. Human languages are complex, flexible, and ambiguous. Second, none can ensure s/he won't make any mistakes in translating. Translation involves two languages, the conversion between both, and subject knowledge. Translation is such a complex task that it's inevitable translators of any level will have some errors in their translations. That's why COT offers money back guarantee - we have achieved a very high quality level but it's not perfect yet.