Background of the issue:
I recently used WPML’s Auto Translation feature to translate a large number of texts. I expected the feature to preserve the HTML structure in the translated content.
Symptoms:
The Auto Translation feature did not preserve any HTML structure in the translated content. It only translated the inner text, ignoring and stripping the HTML tags entirely. This requires me to manually reformat and reinsert HTML code.
Questions:
Can the $100 charge be waived since the feature did not function properly?
Based on the screenshot, it looks like you're translating the taxonomies. Could you check the frontend to see if the HTML tags are still showing? Also, please share the URL of the page in question so that I can inspect the translated taxonomy description.
Actually, I used automatic translation to translate taxonomies (e.g., Categories), as well as pages like the Home Page, Privacy Policy, and others. However, I later realized that the HTML content I had added for SEO purposes was not properly included in the translated text.
As a result, I had to manually correct the translations, which was a time-consuming process. Currently, there are no pages displaying this issue because I have already modified them myself.
Thanks for your reply. Could you try replicating the taxonomy issue on this staging site? hidden link
I created a category and added a < p> tag in the description. However, after saving, the < p> tag gets stripped. When I translate the taxonomy, there are no HTML tags present in either the primary or secondary language.
I followed the link you provided, but unfortunately it led to unrelated content, so I was unable to find the information I needed. Please allow me to explain the situation more clearly.
I hired an SEO expert to create optimized content for my product and category descriptions, which included proper headings to enhance my website’s SEO performance. However, when I used WPML’s automatic translation to translate this content into 11 languages, the formatting — specifically the headings — was lost, and the translated content appeared as plain text without any structure.
As a result, I had to invest a significant amount of time manually reviewing and editing the translated texts, re-adding the appropriate heading tags and improving the sentence structure to maintain consistency and readability.
Given this extra effort and the limitations in the automatic translation output, I feel that the $100 charge for using WPML does not reflect fair value in my case.
I hope you can understand my point of view, and I’d appreciate it if you could kindly reconsider this matter.
Thank you for your message and for sharing the details.
I understand the effort you’ve put into optimizing your content and the frustration caused when the formatting, especially heading tags, was not retained during the automatic translation process.
However, please note that once translation credits have been used, we are unable to issue a refund. The credits were already spent on translating content into 11 languages, and this usage is non-reversible.
That said, I want to help ensure this issue does not continue affecting your workflow. I'm currently trying to replicate the missing tags issue on the staging site I've provided here hidden link . If I’m able to reproduce the problem, I’ll escalate it to our 2nd Tier Support team for further investigation. If they can identify and resolve the cause, you won’t need to manually correct the formatting for future translations. Please let me know how would you like to proceed.
Thank you for your response and for investigating the issue.
However, I must express my disappointment with the outcome. I’m being asked to pay $100 for translation credits used in good faith, based on WPML’s advertised functionality. Because I trusted the plugin, I didn’t feel the need to test each feature beforehand. I assumed translation and formatting — including heading tags — would be preserved, as expected from a professional-grade tool.
Now I’m told the issue may be fixed in the future, but the credits used on incomplete translations can’t be refunded. This is unacceptable. The responsibility lies with your plugin, not with me as the user.
Essentially, I’m expected to pay for a broken result, while being told I should have tested more carefully — despite following your system as intended. This shifts the burden unfairly onto the customer.
I ask that you reconsider this not only from a technical view, but as a customer service issue. I trusted your platform and invested time and effort. I believe it’s only fair to request either:
• Cancellation of the pending $100 charge, or
• Restoration of an equivalent amount of credits to my account
I hope you understand my frustration and respond with a more customer-focused resolution.
Thank you for your reply. I understand your frustration and appreciate the effort you've put into this.
As mentioned, I’m trying to replicate the issue on our sandbox site hidden link so I can escalate it to our top management. If we can confirm the issue on our end, we will consider restoring some credits as a goodwill gesture.
At the moment, credits already spent cannot be refunded since they were used through our translation provider. That said, your case is not closed. Could you please share access to your staging site so I can check your setup and try to replicate the issue on our sandbox site?
Hello,
Thank you for your reply.
Actually, I don't have any information about the Sandbox. Would you like me to share the username and password for the website? If so, I couldn’t find an option to share it privately.
Thanks for your reply. I’ve checked your taxonomy translation settings here: hidden link
Just to clarify, are you saying that the HTML tags in your product category descriptions are removed after running automatic translation? And you are manually correcting them afterwards, as shown in the attached screenshot?
Yes, I am referring to both the taxonomies and the homepage content in 11 languages. After using WPML's automatic translation service, the tags and headings were not preserved as in the original version.
Best regards,
Thanks for your patience. I can replicate the issue here hidden link on our sandbox site as shown in the attached screenshot and I will escalate this to our 2nd Tier Support for further assistance.
