Elance’s earns a 3.0-star rating from 10 reviews, showing that the majority of freelancers and clients are somewhat satisfied with platform.
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Deceived by Brainstorm Force freelancer from Elance
I hired Brainstorm Force in India who was dishonest with me and deceived me. I hired them to help me gain internet presence and rank higher on search engines but I found out that during the time I hired them, I was never listed with any search engines. No one could find me! I didn't pay this freelancer to have no one find me on the internet! I couldn't believe it. I have proof that I was deceived by this freelancer and had to hire another company outside of Elance to fix this issue which is a big deal. I called Elance and tried to get my money back but their process for refunding my money after funds are released through escrow is nonexistent. Basically, you won't get your money back even if a freelancer deceived you and it was fraud! Even requesting for a refund after a job is closed is pretty much 0%. It is up to the freelancer to refund my money and I'm 100% sure they will not refund my money. Elance has no process for dealing with fraud after escrow is released and since I didn't know much about search engine optimization, I believed the freelancing company I hired. I believed they were doing their job to help me succeed and I believed all their status updates they provided. BIG MISTAKE ON MY PART. I'm just sorry I hired this freelancer and I'm even more sorry that I went through Elance. I want to get my hard earned money back.
Elance verification
Hello ..
Here complaint for Elance service provider. last 2 week my account is suspend due to verification., every day chat support give me excuse like my business partner will be process today like that. but till day he didn't verify the account. every day i was wait for skype call but didnt get ny reply.
So need advise how to take legal process for this company. i have all chat history and mail for it.
Thanks
Scammer alert, caution, beware!
This web development company based out of India does not follow instructions and are quite unprofessional. I didn't mind paying for the work even though we were being overbilled for hours, but I did mind them wasting my time and having me literally project manage their developers for them. They don't listen and follow simple requests for things that need to be changed. It takes hours of back and forth for them to understand simple requests. It was completely exhausting dealing with their developers who don't understand simple web development concepts and have very poor English skills.
It takes them 10 times longer to do any work because they either don't understand or keep asking us the same question over and over again even when we explained it to them already. They communicate extremely poorly and worse, understand us even more poorly.
The worse is their lack of attention to detail for a developer. They don't even pay attention to their work and are sloppy and careless. I would suggest any people looking to hire a web programmer to either find someone from USA or Canada or anyone else than this developer. They wheel you in with the promise of good work and on time for cheap, but it ends up you pay even more than if you hired local programmers. They deliberately drag out the project with changes and the going back and
forth until its too late to hire someone else because you are halfway complete.
Once they have you there, you get stuck in a situation where your somewhat stuck with them or you will have to start from scratch. At this point, they will ask for outrageous amount of hours for changes such as 17 days (8 hours a day) to complete basic things in Drupal. They also blatantly over bill on timesheets and likes to cheat the system by not using ELANCE WORKVIEW despite the job requirement to do so. They will make up excuses and lies to not use it such as them deploying
extra resources or people to your project.
This web development company based out of India does not follow
instructions and are quite unprofessional. I didn't mind paying for the
work even though we were being overbilled for hours, but I did mind them
wasting my time and having me literally project manage their developers
for them. They don't listen and follow simple requests for things that
need to be changed. It takes hours of back and forth for them to
understand simple requests. It was completely exhausting dealing with
their developers who don't understand simple web development concepts
and have very poor English skills.
It takes them 10 times longer to do any work because they either don't
understand or keep asking us the same question over and over again even
when we explained it to them already. They communicate extremely poorly
and worse, understand us even more poorly.
The worse is their lack of attention to detail for a developer. They
don't even pay attention to their work and are sloppy and careless. I
would suggest any people looking to hire a web programmer to either find
someone from USA or Canada or anyone else than this developer. They
wheel you in with the promise of good work and on time for cheap, but it
ends up you pay even more than if you hired local programmers. They
deliberately drag out the project with changes and the going back and
forth until its too late to hire someone else because you are halfway
complete.
Once they have you there, you get stuck in a situation where your
somewhat stuck with them or you will have to start from scratch. At
this point, they will ask for outrageous amount of hours for changes
such as 17 days (8 hours a day) to complete basic things in Drupal.
They also blatantly over bill on timesheets and likes to cheat the
system by not using WORKVIEW despite the job requirement to do so. They
will make up excuses and lies to not use it such as them deploying
extra resources or people to your project.
Fake company, Please dont join it, Bad management, Null increment always tortured their employee
We have been working with client past 1 years and there was no issue in terms of workmanship/Communication skill/professionalism. We have also been working in Drupal since last 05 years and a number of project have been successfully executed by us. In this case, Codes were developed and delivered to the client but client wanted a significant changes in the same. We forwarded him revised cost sheet where 17 man days were required and same was approved on Elance. However, after the work had been finished by us, the client stated that he had misread it as 17 man days work as 17 hours. We showed him all the communication which clearly proved our point was right but client was reluctant. There after the Client approached Elance twice for opening dispute and money return. Both the times, Elance turned down his request since the case was not maintainable. At last client negotiated with us for return of money or not so good feedback. But since we had done the work properly, there was no question of returning money as it sends wrong precedents for others. We have been maintaining best of quality and business practices. We, as policy of company, don't make partial/full refund of money bartering for good feedback. We still stand by the fact that client was communicated regarding all the cost and changes required. Client had earlier agreed on Elance and only after due approval of client, we initiated work. The client never had issue and suddenly erupted when final cost sheet was sent to him; saying that "he did not read cost sheet properly". We were ready to undertake extra work to maintain good relation and holding a client but he insisted on partial refund of funds. We don't, and will never support the TACTICS of getting REFUND of MONEY for GOOD FEEDBACK.
Is Elance Legit?
Elance earns a trustworthiness rating of 71%
Reliable, but always remember to protect your data.
We found clear and detailed contact information for Elance. The company provides a physical address, phone number, and 2 emails, as well as 4 social media accounts. This demonstrates a commitment to customer service and transparency, which is a positive sign for building trust with customers.
Elance.com has a valid SSL certificate, which indicates that the website is secure and trustworthy. Look for the padlock icon in the browser and the "https" prefix in the URL to confirm that the website is using SSL.
Several positive reviews for Elance have been found on various review sites. While this may be a good sign, it is important to approach these reviews with caution and consider the possibility of fake or biased reviews.
We looked up Elance and found that the website is receiving a high amount of traffic. This could be a sign of a popular and trustworthy website, but it is still important to exercise caution and verify the legitimacy of the site before sharing any personal or financial information
However ComplaintsBoard has detected that:
- Elance's website has revealed that it is not properly optimized for search engines. This could be a red flag indicating that the company is attempting to hide its activities from the public.
- Elance protects their ownership data, a common and legal practice. However, from our perspective, this lack of transparency can impede trust and accountability, which are essential for establishing a credible and respected business entity.
Hard Place to Get Paid
Elance.com - A place for freelancer to invest most of their time, and when it is time to get you paid or get the money from Elance they get dumb, or start creating issues. They have even taught or developed their automatic softwares working to create mess only to make it hard to get money from them either if you want to get paid or you are robbed by another freelancer.
They even made a set up of fraudulent even if you and your freelancer are OK to get paid and pay.
Really a big mess for the start ups and a big challange everyday for the regulars. They can do anything after they have money in your hands, even can make you inactive.
Just a gamble place to earn, No safe place for genuine people to earn or get your work done.
Never choose Elance for any requirements if can't play with your time and money.
Sad Bidding - Elance
Suspended My Account without any Notification
Dear Sir Madam
I want to complaint against Elance for suspending my account without any notification.As one of the employer from USA who is the member of Elance gave me a project and I have completed the project and the employeer refused to give the money for the Project.When I complaint to Elance they don't listened to me and they suspend my account with out any Notification.I suggest Every Employeers and Workers for not using elance for thier projects As when you will not get any money in Elance they will suspend ur account without any notification.So please don't use elance for your projects please shift your project to other Freelancing websites.They are wasting your time and your money.Please Beware of Elance they are the biggest cheaters in the world.Thanks
With Regards,
Puneet Pal Singh
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Fraud, Time wasting, Lies -
The ad was clearly posted on Elance saying that I am looking for a professional link builder that can do 20 links a day. Because there are so many keywords, and the "time fraud" levels are very high (doing nothing, and billing for it) the ad clearly stated: "NO FIXED PRICE, ONLY HOURLY BASIS. IF YOU CANNOT DO IT, DO NOT APPLY". See, hourly basis, has this "Work View" feature, which takes 1-2 screen shots within 10 minutes range so that I could monitor if actual work is being done during the hours he is logging- making sure he isnt going to facebook, shopping sites or messaging friends or other employers. Fixed price - does not have this feature.
So he applied, I granted him the job, sent him instructions, and now.. On April 21 he asked for fixed price. I told him that his job is hourly job, and thats what the ad said. Now I asked on April 22 how did the things go - no response, and then I asked again on April 23 - eventually he responded asking for fixed price once again and saying that nothing was done.
The reason he does not like hourly - is "because he doesnt like being monitored". So you can imagine... what he must be doing, if he "does not like" to be monitored..
Stay away from this guy - he wastes the time perfectly without even apologizing.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
wedding pictures
Not only that she is not an professional photographer, she has ruined my only happy moment of my life :my wedding day memories pictures ! The money that I had paid are far away from the services she provides. When I received my wedding pictures and looked thru there was fire alarm sensors, and fire extinguishers that you can see behind myself and my husband, the pictures are far away from being professional. We had to take the pictures back to an professional photographer to make them look like wedding pictures. Do not pay for this service.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I found Jade Alice photography very professional. My wedding photographs were excellent, she put everybody at ease and i would certainly recommend her to anybody who has a special event to be photographed. The prints i received from my day were outstanding and i could not have asked for more. I have already recommended her services to everybody i know.
Jade Alice photography photographed my wedding and I received an excellent service. Not only was she approachable, kind and considerate she was extremely useful at making sure everything ran smoothly and on time for our big day. The photos that were taken on our day were outstanding. I would highly recommend to friends, family and strangers.
Simply horrible
Elance is a joke if you are looking to provide quality work (and get anything close to a fair wage). For buyers it's even worse. The whole site is chalk full of low-quality providers with glowing resumes and feedback. The thing is the providers make multiple accounts and "trade" projects within the accounts for that very feedback.
Elance turns a blind eye so they can collect their service fees.
Their escrow isn't a real escrow system, the website itself has errors all the time and if you are looking for any type of customer service or support you get a phone answering machine and an email support service that never returns emails.
Elance is by far the worst freelancing site I have ever had the misfortune of working with.
If you ever think of checking it out be sure and READ their 800 page terms of service statement. They are not responsible for ANYTHING. They can come back and take money you made months ago if they want (and they have citing problems and fraud)...even though their system is supposed to prevent these things.
Elance is a joke and a horrible affront to decent business practices.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I have been calling and trying to work with Elance for the past five weeks. They have locked my account due to inactivity in my account (I hadnt filled out a status report from one of my clients)
As soon as I was made aware of this I immediately took all the actions that they requested. What followed was radio silence.
You cannot speak to Risk Management (who start at 12:00 EST) and they are the only people that can clear my account. I was told by one of the CS Reps that people have been waiting over a month for their account and there is nothing they can do.
Now I am waiting on payment of over $1000.00 and cannot accept another job from a happy client which is another $1000.00 job.
The customer service reps are not empowered to do ANYTHING and the poor things just have to listen to complaints. When I finally got a manager on the phone he was rude and told me there was nothing he could do either and that they were waiting fro more information from my client. That was the first time I had heard that in FIVE weeks. I should not be held accountable for the lack of action on their side.
I have lost five weeks of work, am unable to pay my bills because they are holding my money and are no help.
Elance took a fee for posting jobs and then cut off my account without explanation. Attempted repeatedly to get them on the phone or to reply to emails. This is a scam
I'm not discounting any problems you've experienced, but I have had nothing but good experiences as both a provider and client. It's unfortunate that people go to lengths to "trade" feedback, but I am just providing a recommendation for the company as someone who enjoys their services, especially compared to alternatives.
Unauthorized charges
I wish I had seen all the reports on here and on all these other websites talking about the Elance escrow scam.
Figure I might as well warn people with my example. I see people have posted reports on here already. My story is pretty much the same.
I put a job out on Elance for workers to bid on. I awarded the job to someone I thought was a good bet. They had good feedback, had 4 of what Elance calls 'verified' credentials, and had good test scores.
Well it was horrible. I notice on one test score they scored top 5% on English Spelling and also on vocabulary. Well, their bid was perfect English. After I gave them the job you could barely understand what they were saying.
I put the $750 project cost into Elance Escrow because it said I would be protected.
The provider was horrible. They couldn't follow the project details or even simple instructions. They drug the whole thing out for like 3 weeks before they finally just said they didn't have the expertise to do it.
So it takes me a week and a half to get ahold of Elance before they tell me I have to download this huge word document and fill it in and upload it to the system. Then the worker is supposed to fill out his portion and upload it.
So I do my part. A few days later the worker does his part and he says the same thing I do in the file - agree to refund the escrow money.
After waiting about a week I start calling Elance wondering where my money is. I called for 4 days straight. One day I think I called 14 or 15 times. They never answer and never return my messages. They finally sent me an automated reply to one of my emails about a week or so after I sent it to them.
I was originally told that if the worker agreed to a refund in his report that I would be refunded immediately.
That was now 41 days ago. The money is still in Elance escrow and I have had to file a report with my credit card company for fraud.
And this is the kicker (why I say they lie). I was able to check on 2 of the references he had that Elance said were VERIFIED. They had never heard of the worker.
I've never had this kind of problem with places like Odesk or rentacoder. Problems with a project every now and then but never the company ignoring emails and stealing escrow money.
Wish I had done some research on Elance and their scam before trying them out.
But if one buyer saves himself from being a victim of the Elance scam then I guess this post is worth it.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Elance abuses Privacy! I have just been informed by a 3rd party (who fully disclosed he was a 3rd party) that elance released my transaction history!
This 3rd party is not a registered user of elacne, there was no subpoena, no warrant and no request from any law enforcement agency but this 3rd party was able to send several well crated emails to elance inquiring about my account, acting as a 3rd party and was able to get access to my transactional history.
Be warned of elance they do NOT protect your privacy.
They will release your personal data and release your financial records to anyone...
Hi I'm evaluating Elance and I came across this message board.
I'm just curious to know about the ESCROW system at Elance. Is there a way to identify whether the employer has put the money to the ESCROW account? And how do we request half the money upfront? Does that condition has to be an outcome of a negotiation with the employer?
Thanks
Chats
I am so sorry that you didn't receive your money but you should never ever start a project until it has been funded. In fact, what I do is request half upfront and released before I even start the project and the remainder within 3 days after final draft is delivered. If it is not granted then I keep all rights to the work and will use it elsewhere. I make all buyers sign a contract agreeing to this before I begin any projects and haven't had any issues whatsoever getting my money. Again I am sorry but maybe you can implement a similar policy in the future as I do think Elance is a great way for buyers and providers to connect and for providers to make money.
I am a provider on Elance. I was awarded a project by a buyer who apparently has a good track record on Elance. It was an Escrow funded project but even sending two reminders, the buyer did not fund the project. I completed the project, it has been two weeks since then, Elance confirmed the job as being complete since there was no response from the buyer and still I have not been paid. The buyer sent me an email saying he was very happy with my work, said he is using a new credit card and that needs to be authenticated which takes only 3 days, it has been almost a month and till date the project remains unpaid.
Elance states that if a buyer does not fund an escrow project, it is not their responsibility. I don't understand what policies they have for safeguarding the interests of the providers.
Poor service
Elance
www.elance.com
I have hired a programmers/web designers through Elance, online outsourcing company. I made my choice based on their rating system and the bid received from indian group Synapseindia.
The project is 2 months past due and Synapseindia is unable to correct the functionality although a full payment was made.
Elance investigating team was contacted in order to arbitrate but they have no system of protection for the customers and are less than willing to argue with their "select" providers who provide part of their online fees.
I had a tech team to review an existing site and they immediately pointed out to several issues including security; Synapseindia corrected them only on our request, ignoring the fact that as a "select" provider they are expected to maintain at least basic expertise.
Company kahti h ki smart work karo meri marji mera jitna dimaag hai me usi hisaab se kaam karunga. Sare log 1 jaise nhi hote
This company is a total SCAM. I am sure they will do everything to delete this review from yelp! Elance promotes FREE LABOR!
Even though Elance guarantees the payment for jobs to its providers, it actually does nothing to protect its providers.
We had a client whom we designed a website and at the end he canceled the job on us, refused to pay us, and Elance has done nothing to protect us. We haven't even been paid for the hours we spent on this project. I want a justice and I 'll do everything to get my money back!
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.
I have every proof to show and prove everything I said here. I have no idea why none tries to sue this company. PLEASE if anyone is interested I really want to sue this SCAM company.
Elance abuses Privacy! I have just been informed by a 3rd party (who fully disclosed he was a 3rd party) that elance released my transaction history!
This 3rd party is not a registered user of elacne, there was no subpoena, no warrant and no request from any law enforcement agency but this 3rd party was able to send several well crated emails to elance inquiring about my account, acting as a 3rd party and was able to get access to my transactional history.
Be warned of elance they do NOT protect your privacy.
They will release your personal data and release your financial records to anyone...
I am very sorry that you had such a difficult time with Synapseindia. It seems to me however that your complaint should be directly with them and not Elance as I can't for the life of me, figure out why you are mad at them. I don't work for Elance but I have used Elance in the past to find all sorts of providers, writers, lawyers, graphic designers, and programmers and have not had any issues whatsoever.
Like you, I not only use review the feedback and reviews of each provider I choose but I thoroughly interview each provider using the PMB board and I also make each one sign a contract before any money is paid. In your instance, it seems as if you did use the feedback system but still had issues.
Perhaps you need to take advantage of a mediation service or hire an attorney to assist you as I am a bit unclear as to why you aren't happy with Elance. Perhaps you wanted them to do more? But honestly what could they have done in this instance as your beef is with one of their providers, not them directly.
hi,
I am a freelance translator, i was a member with www.net4manpower.com freelance website .I am getting some projects from this site, but also i joined with elance for earn more money and projects.There also i am getting projects but finally for some projects i got get immediate payment and for everything it ask money...so i am come back to www. net4manpower.com this is provide free registration and bid and payment security...
But i didn't tell elance fully poor service...but it have some lacking...
Elance case: http://www.equay.com/artologi.htm
He is still a memeber on Elance after so many years, even after death threats and insults.
I am neither related to Elance nor Synapseindia. While I had been trying to know all negative, fishy and hidden things about Elance, I stumbled upon this: http://630usd.blogspot.com/. I was about to sign up for Elance, but changed my mindset after being enlightened here.
Sorry to say, but you have a huge job on hand. I wish you best.
Elance Reviews 0
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Overview of Elance complaint handling
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Elance Contacts
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Elance phone numbers+1 (650) 316-7500+1 (650) 316-7500Click up if you have successfully reached Elance by calling +1 (650) 316-7500 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have successfully reached Elance by calling +1 (650) 316-7500 phone number Click down if you have unsuccessfully reached Elance by calling +1 (650) 316-7500 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached Elance by calling +1 (650) 316-7500 phone number
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Elance emailsfabio.rosati@elance.com89%Confidence score: 89%executivesupport@elance.com79%Confidence score: 79%supportjobs@elance.com77%Confidence score: 77%hr
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Elance address441 Logue Avenue, Mountain View, California, 94043, United States
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Elance social media
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Checked and verified by Laura This contact information is personally checked and verified by the ComplaintsBoard representative. Learn moreJun 13, 2024 - View all Elance contacts
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