Transcription Express Reviews [$1.39/Hr Job?!]

What Is Transcription Express?

Transcription Express sounds like a decent company, to begin with. Established in 1995, the office is based in Arizona and is owned by a man named Darren Hurst and currently under the leadership of Terry Hurst as the president.

According to their official website, it stated that they exclusively serve clients who want to have audio files in various types related to legal, government, insurance, and corporate only. Other than these subjects are obviously won’t be entertained.

From there, you’d expect that once you get into the company you get the vibe of its decent management, especially the way they handle transcribers working for these files and accomplished without problems. 

Which made me turn my attention to Glassdoor and Indeed, both serve as the biggest sources for employees’ feedback for companies they worked for.

Based on the ratings, Transcription Express receive pretty good reviews from them with an average of 4.5 out of 5-star ratings.

If you want to learn more about the company, watch the video below and see yourself what they adhere and how they work for their clients as seamlessly as they could for the past 23 years in the industry. 

Who Is Transcription Express For?

As I mentioned earlier, Transcription Express is for clients who are interested in having their files related to government, corporate, legal, and insurance-related fields. Otherwise, they won’t entertain it. 

On the other hand, if you are someone who’s into these fields of expertise, perhaps joining the team would serve best for you. This is because they will solely concentrate on these areas and get paid for transcribing files you like. 

The downturn is the payment, though, as the company didn’t disclose the exact payment process or the cost of the work upfront. This took me aback while analyzing all the pieces of information I gathered about Transcription Express.

As curious as I am, I hovered through different forums and see if I could get a hint of how much they are paying their workers. Little did I know that it’s less than I expected. 

AccuTran Global pays out approximately $21 per audio hour, for instance. CrowdSurf pays out $0.10 per 25 audio seconds, which means you get around $14.40 per audio hour. 

In comparison to these numbers, Transcription Express pays $1.39 per transcribed pages. Hence, they don't care how long have you worked on each page. If you worked for an hour for each page, they will only pay you $1.39. That’s it. 

No additional costs nor bonuses. Nothing. 

Pros & Cons of Transcription Express

1. Decent Company, To Begin With

Although it doesn’t make that much impact, having known the fact that Transcription Express serves clients from the areas like government, corporate, insurance, and legal fields makes an implied assurance on your part. 

You already have an idea of who your clients are and what kinds of people you’re going to deal with all the time versus random people demanding seamless work from crappy audio files they submitted.

That makes a difference, right?

2. Work-At-Home Opportunity As Freelancer

Transcription Express won’t acknowledge you as an employee. Rather a freelancer working with the projects they have on hand. 

Because of that, you can get more opportunities to make money online without worrying about losing a job in the company. The label alone makes a difference. A big one, actually.

Michelle Goldsmith, one of the transcriptionists, mentioned that Transcription Company is recommendable if you're willing to get trained.

Further, you're allowed to have a flexible schedule when to work which is helpful for busy people like those with kids at home. 

"You can make your schedule which is helpful for people with busy families and people that are doing this for a second job," she said.

3. High Ratings From Employees

Both Indeed and Glassdoor have great ratings for Transcription Express, which is a good proof for the high-quality services they do for their stakeholders. 

When I say stakeholders, it comprises the clients they serve and the workers they have who are working hard to accomplish seamless pieces of work for them.

4. BBB Accreditation Status + High Rating

This is a big plus for any company I review. The fact Transcription Express has an existing record on the Better Business Bureau (BBB), it cements the doubts of people whether they are a legitimate company or not. 

Since BBB conducts reviews among themselves, too, they guarantee the safety of the people across the world with the company we’re reviewing now. Even an international client (anyone outside the United States) can feel assured as well.

1. Low-Income Potential

Other transcription companies I reviewed have their workers paid per audio minute or audio hour depending on the terms and conditions set between the company and the worker. 

Unfortunately, Transcription Express pays only $1.39 per transcribed page regardless of how long have you finished the work you received from them. 

Thus, you have to strive to finish more pages per day if you want to guarantee more payment from them. Otherwise, you’d get paid very low per month.

2. $70 Upfront Fee + $250 For Breached Contract

This surprises me when a former transcriptionist revealed on Glassdoor about this concern. When she applied for a transcription job for the company, she’s asked to pay $70 simply for having her a thorough background check of herself. 

That’s not all. A man named Clark Howard told her that if she ever breached any terms of the contract, she could end up paying $250. 

“They have it in the job description that if you are hired and you quit or are discharged from the position that you will owe them a $250.00 fee,” she said. 

3. Too Low Number Of Projects

Based on the statements of one of the former transcriptionists, Transcription Express won’t give you a lot of projects to work on for the first two weeks since you get into the company. 

She stated that you'll only get the 15-minutes worth of audio to transcribe for the first 2 weeks working for Transcription Express. The work would be good for an hour ($1.09 per page).

Is Transcription Express A Scam?

Although I suggest you stay away from the companies asking you any amount upon job application, Transcription Express is not a scam. Probably, you’d get the feel because of the overwhelming amount they’re asking you. 

I remember Tigerfish Transcription, one of the giants in the transcription companies serving world-renowned media companies around the world, asks for $200 worth of the application they require. 

Why? 

It’s a necessary option (actually a reprimand of some sort) to have a seamless work with the clients you’re handling in the long run. It’s a one-time purchase, yet, for any beginner transcriptionist, is a big amount of money to shell out. 

Nonetheless, Transcription Express is a decent company. It’s not a scam either. Though it is, it’s not a recommendable money-making opportunity for you if this is what you’re searching for. 

If you want to make more money online without the hassle of paying large amounts of money or worrying about getting paid or not, we have a better suggestion. Click here.

Conclusion - Is Transcription Express Worth It?