UpWork
Reviews and Complaints

payout done from upworkptr
what do you mind that is a scam?
PM details:

Date : 02/02/2015 05:35
From/To Account : U8889190
Amount : 9650.00
Currency : USD
Batch : [protected]

I work for UPWORKPTR but last 24 Hrs I am not able to open that site getting Error that MySQL server is Offline. What is the issue please help me.

https://www.oyetm.com/account/register?refby=kantharaju

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hi guys pls be aware tht the below PTC is closed and i got this mail from PTC group
6/1/14

Both Clicksia and Incentria are closing. Here is a letter from the owner:

As some of you already know, for a while now my health has been very bad. This combined with the poor site revenue has forced me to a heartbreaking decision of shutting down the sites.

Health: My health has been very bad for the past few years and getting worse. It is very difficult for me to run such time intensive websites (even with help there stuff that only admin can do). Due to health I have not been able to add new features or much needed developments to the sites. I have been working almost 7 years now every single day and I need to take time for myself and work on my self and my health.

Financial: The sites have had very poor sales for a while now, and I have been using my income from affiliates and other earning sources to keep the sites going and pay members ect...

When it comes to disputes I ask that you please have a heart.

Also let me remind of the terms of service you agreed to regarding refunds.

"Refund Policy: All purchases are NON-REFUNDABLE. Aside from this, we will work with you to solve any problems you may have. Any disputes or chargebacks will result in immediate account termination and possible legal action to reclaim any lost funds and damages." ...

end of letter

We have removed them from our list of recommended ptc sites.

hi all pls be aware tht the below PTC is closed I got this msg.
6/1/14

Both Clicksia and Incentria are closing. Here is a letter from the owner:

As some of you already know, for a while now my health has been very bad. This combined with the poor site revenue has forced me to a heartbreaking decision of shutting down the sites.

Health: My health has been very bad for the past few years and getting worse. It is very difficult for me to run such time intensive websites (even with help there stuff that only admin can do). Due to health I have not been able to add new features or much needed developments to the sites. I have been working almost 7 years now every single day and I need to take time for myself and work on my self and my health.

Financial: The sites have had very poor sales for a while now, and I have been using my income from affiliates and other earning sources to keep the sites going and pay members ect...

When it comes to disputes I ask that you please have a heart.

Also let me remind of the terms of service you agreed to regarding refunds.

"Refund Policy: All purchases are NON-REFUNDABLE. Aside from this, we will work with you to solve any problems you may have. Any disputes or chargebacks will result in immediate account termination and possible legal action to reclaim any lost funds and damages." ...

end of letter

We have removed them from our list of recommended ptc sites.

there are any chances to resolve something if i saw the company for deception?

I worked as a standard member and earned the limits.but the payout button is not working asking me to upgrade.but I say u deduct the membership amount from the money I earned and upgrade and pay me the balance and I will continue to work in ur site. since then no answer.then y shd they encourage standard membership? this is purely a scam. pls stay away from such sites. if really interested to put efforts and earn genuine then try this one.

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upworkptr.com is a scam. do not ever upgrade to a premium member or your money will be lost. if you have to transfer money to this website using Paypal. please contact PayPal customer service. maybe the money you can go back and upworkptr paypal account deactivated.

upworkptr.com is a completely scam site. Please don't west your time. I spend 8 months+. No payments no reply.

My situation is the same. I 'm agree with the friends suggestion.

blicker you have right -> they paid me today too.
I have been gold member and cash$ recived today.

greetings to you admin

payout done!

Date: 01.04.15 20:33
Received Payment 5950.00 USD from account U1147453
Batch: [protected].
Memo: Shopping Cart Payment. Withdraw to upworkptr.com.

Thanks to ur reviews I am working on this site but after reading so many reviews, infact negative reviews immediately I had decided not to work on this site.

I had earned from few sites like, Paidverts, Neobux, Clixsense, Cashnhits, Paid to click, etc...

My refferal link is, if you are interested can join me if you are not a member of any of these sites :-
Neobux.com - http://www.neobux.com/?r=creativemanikc
Clixsense.com - http://csl.ink/4H4
Paidtoclick.in -  http://www.PaidToClick.in/index.php?ref=creativemanikch
Cashnhits.com - http://www.cashnhits.com/index.php?view=ptp&ref=creativemanikch
Paidverts.com - https://www.paidverts.com/ref/creativemkch

i am also workprt.com working i have reached for $37, 000.00 but not getting payments.why not come in payment sir

DEAR cHRISTOFFER - put the proof of your payment here please

The same thing is happening with me. I crossed $20, 000.00 limit but not getting payments - This site is a SCAM!

The same thing is happening with me. I crossed $20, 000.00 limit but not getting payments - IT´S A SCAM

I have $20000 earned the money for 30 days not come for request payout why tell me

5000+ hours. Life time rating of 4.9+ Suspended. Bam! I kept on asking what's the reason behind suspension but no reason given. They tricked me in closing my opened projects. And then they suspended the account. No reason, no matter how many times I asked. They seriously need to get their **** right. I am not even sure if oDesk CEO Stephane Kasriel is aware of what their amazing "Marketplace Quality Team" is doing. This wasn't end of the world, but extremely disappointing. Company claiming to be leader in freelance market, providing jobs to thousands of people around the world and such behavior? They need to check the quality of their quality team. If they are letting go someone they should show courtesy to let them know what happened, give them a chance. At-least make them feel okay.

Last message:

I really want to help you with your concern but based on our records our working relationship must come to an end.
Our commitment is to maintain a safe and trusting platform for all users. As a private company, we also have the right to determine who can engage in our platform and at this time our Trust and Safety management team has come to the conclusion that your participation can no longer be supported.

This decision is final and there is no appeal process. While we respectfully ask you not to contact us again, we do wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Alina
Freelancer Support Specialist | support.odesk.com

i am also a suspended due to just one mistake i dont know why odesk always suspend contractor always while the mistake is by there own odesk and spam clients why i suspend and i know there are plenty of loyal and strong contractors suspended by odesk and i believe odesk will be no more number one on market soon ..if they continuously behave and rules like this..its truly unjustice .cruelty my profile score is 100 by 99 ..as i alaways dilivery best work to odesk client thats why they love odesk behind the odesk success is just we all of us ..who did grea tworks..guys is there any legal way left for normal our accounts again// i wish odesk CEO will resume all the suspended contractor again..and give one chance to all..i hope one day they will see this..
warm regards:
Ahsan siraj

Odesk Authority and Rules is Realy Unjustice, nonhuman and non Democracy.

Don't put too much of your life on ODESK, they will push you on the edge of the cliff whenever they want.

true check this complaint, an entire blog about someone who made it on oDesk, then made the mistake of filing a complaint about oDesk's poor customer support which resulted in permanent suspension.

http://odeskpinoynewbie.blogspot.com/2010_03_27_archive.html

I was too a victim of Odesk. I have started working on Odesk since March of 2010, and my account was suspended permanently after a year. With a 4.80 star rating and almost 1000 hours.
So here are the reasons and story behind my struggles on Odesk.

1st violation: If you’re an old or started earlier on Odesk, you could notice that the system "You have applied for this job" is a new system that lets you know you have already applied for that job opening. I was job hunting on that time and I was searching on Business related job opening which is my expertise. I was reading the entire job opening which they look the same for they have the same needs. Copy and paste was not my style in writing cover letters for I have read their terms that spam cover letters are not allowed. I was really confused that one day, they had suspended my account and told me I was having spam cover letters. They told me to have an ID with my verification on it, so I passed a postal ID which is I processed a week and 3 days. I have lost all my job interviews, the jobs applications as well as my time to work. This clearly states that it is not my mistake on my first violation and "they only wanted me to make my account verified so they are making up reasons so I would give them something as identification." Verify your account system was not yet available at that time. Account resumed.

Conclusion: Odesk can suspend your account with no further notice, gives you hassles and also blames you a violation you never committed for their own purposes. (Identification)

2nd violation: I had an employer from Israel and we are working on a powerpoint presentation which he needs it in 3 days. This was an urgent project and he needs it to be done quickly. As a freelancer, you also want to get paid after a project is completed. After we had finished the presentation, his account was suspended and he is not able to send funds. At that time, I needed also money urgently for I have a family and bills to pay (life of a freelancer). So he proposed to me that he would pay me outside Odesk which is Paypal directly, so I agreed to his terms. I knew it was a violation on Odesk terms, but can I decline his proposal? My family will starve if I hadn't agreed on his terms and maybe has possibilities he could runaway with the project finished. Odesk suspended my account for the 2nd time and I admit it was my mistake on this violation. Account resumed.

Conclusion: Odesk is serious on having their percentage on buyers’ funds as well as providers’ earnings.

3rd and last violation: There was a time that I had an employer from the US, this man was really great when we were starting on a social media marketing project. He talks like an educated man whenever we discuss about the project. I would like to let you know guys that I had basic pay of $3-5 per hour on my Odesk profile and with this employer; we had a $1 per hour and 2 hours per week contract. (I accepted this job even though I know the rate is not that good, its still money) One day, he accused me of stealing his money which is the time I had worked for his project and I was wondering what I have done to him to act that way. Seriously, I have higher rates on my past projects and campaigns which are double or triple $1 and I would steal a total of $2 per week? I was so mad and disgusted that after I had done for him on his projects he would accuse me that way. So I need to confront my buyer and explain to him. Another day had come that ODESK again suspended my account but this time it was permanently. (Employer reported me of stealing and threatening which I would assure you guys is not true) They will always accept employers' accusations and take their side.

Conclusion: Odesk is biased when it comes to decision making between provider and employer. Whatever the provider's nationality is, they will always take employers' side. Come to think of, no employers' is equal to no profit. Employers' funds are their profit so providers are second to their priorities. Notice or try to have a misunderstanding with your employer, you will be treated and experience the way I did.

Message: Don't put too much of your life on ODESK, they will push you on the edge of the cliff whenever they want.

I have been working in ODESK for two years. I had the unfortunate mishap of complaining to their customer service and their Odesk Marketplace of my recent buyer (also known as my employer) and some of my co-workers making fun of my ethnicity and my being a disabled person other than having a hairlip.

If I could draw your attention to their ODESK Marketplace regulations, it bespeaks of two things: GUARANTEED PROTECTION from work and harassment of any form.

When I complained about the buyer's behavior, what happened was that Customer Service referred my case to their Marketplace and I was asked to submit my evidences from pictures (JPEG/PNG) to chat transcripts of any form if available. I have done all of that.

While awaiting the result of the investigation, WITHOUT WARNING, ODESK SUDDENLY PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED MY ACCOUNT.

I was the victim and the complaining party and this is what they do to complainants.

This horrible story just tells you that ODESK is BIASED if you will complain about American Employers and Filipino Co-Workers. I am a Malasian Christian working from home because of my condition but this does not mean I am not useful nor am I a dependent.

ODESK TOLD ME THAT MY SUSPENSION WAS PERMANENT AND I CANNOT ANYMORE COMPLAIN AND THEY WOULD NOT RESPOND TO MY EMAILS ANYMORE.

They claim to have warned me but there was absolutely none and now my account has been permanently suspended and according to their email, it is their prerogative not to reply inspite of the fact that I have a pending complaint lodged against my buyer.

BEWARE! IF YOU ARE A DISABLED PERSON, NOT AN INDIAN, NOT A FILIPINO, THEN PLEASE DO NOT APPLY AT ODESK.

I HAVE LEARNED THAT THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE ARE MOSTLY FILIPINOS BUT THE WAY THEY SPEAK (NOTWITHSTANDING THE POOR GRAMMAR) COMES WITH A RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION OF SORTS AND IT IS AS IF THEY ARE AMERICANS AS WELL TOTALLY FORGETTING THEIR BEAUTIFUL CULTURE.

A very sad situation that ODESK refuses to rectify.

-ODESK PROVIDER VICTIM-

odesk sucks! they suspended my account without any valid reason! one of my employer set a fixed contract for me but i end up ending the contract seeing this employer that i work onto this projects got a load of works to be done where its out for the interview that we had and then he report me to odesk team about not completing the projects well who the hell would like to continue this kind of work where your employer pay you next to nothing! beware of this employer name " Edward Sayers" hes such a money sucker! he didnt even pay me any single cents for that worked that i have done! dont trust to any "fixed priced work" odeskers seems to be unfair they both sucks!

I have been working in ODESK for two years. I had the unfortunate mishap of complaining to their customer service and their Odesk Marketplace of my recent buyer (also known as my employer) and some of my co-workers making fun of my ethnicity and my being a disabled person other than having a hairlip.

If I could draw your attention to their ODESK Marketplace regulations, it bespeaks of two things: GUARANTEED PROTECTION from work and harassment of any form.

When I complained about the buyer's behavior, what happened was that Customer Service referred my case to their Marketplace and I was asked to submit my evidences from pictures (JPEG/PNG) to chat transcripts of any form if available. I have done all of that.

While awaiting the result of the investigation, WITHOUT WARNING, ODESK SUDDENLY PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED MY ACCOUNT.

I was the victim and the complaining party and this is what they do to complainants.

This horrible story just tells you that ODESK is BIASED if you will complain about American Employers and Filipino Co-Workers. I am a Malasian Christian working from home because of my condition but this does not mean I am not useful nor am I a dependent.

ODESK TOLD ME THAT MY SUSPENSION WAS PERMANENT AND I CANNOT ANYMORE COMPLAIN AND THEY WOULD NOT RESPOND TO MY EMAILS ANYMORE.

They claim to have warned me but there was absolutely none and now my account has been permanently suspended and according to their email, it is their prerogative not to reply inspite of the fact that I have a pending complaint lodged against my buyer.

BEWARE! IF YOU ARE A DISABLED PERSON, NOT AN INDIAN, NOT A FILIPINO, THEN PLEASE DO NOT APPLY AT ODESK.

I HAVE LEARNED THAT THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE ARE MOSTLY FILIPINOS BUT THE WAY THEY SPEAK (NOTWITHSTANDING THE POOR GRAMMAR) COMES WITH A RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION OF SORTS AND IT IS AS IF THEY ARE AMERICANS AS WELL TOTALLY FORGETTING THEIR BEAUTIFUL CULTURE.

A very sad situation that ODESK refuses to rectify.

-ODESK PROVIDER VICTIM-

Odesk is very bias ...

my account has been suspended too

i can be a witness if you want

Odesk is horrible and they are scammers! They charged my credit card $600 for work never done! I opw my credit card reverses the charges.

odesk sucks! they suspended my account without any valid reason! one of my employer set a fixed contract for me but i end up ending the contract seeing this employer that i work onto this projects got a load of works to be done where its out for the interview that we had and then he report me to odesk team about not completing the projects well who the hell would like to continue this kind of work where your employer pay you next to nothing! beware of this employer name " Edward Sayers" hes such a money sucker! he didnt even pay me any single cents for that worked that i have done! dont trust to any "fixed priced work" odeskers seems to be unfair they both sucks!

I hired Omar Edwards from Shabz Design to make 2 pages on my Facebook for $20 and 100 fans on facebook for $4 ($0.04/fan). This was one of my first posts on oDesk so I made this an hourly job instead of fixed because I figured I would get quoted an amount of hours which I can then make a milestone for these certain hours. We agreed on $24 and spoke back and forth on oDesk and skype. He finally messaged me on Odesk on March 3 stating he has completed the job. I reviewed and had a few changes which he complete quickly. So I went into payments to make a milestone and I submitted a $24 bonus on accident instead of closing the job and submitting $24 for this fixed job. He did not mention anything about the hours, and I failed to change this to a fixed job. So I contacted support through live help and told them I made a payment but it is not being released. Here is the conversation which was fairly short since I was on my iPhone:
Allan: Hello, Alex D. Can I help you with anything today?
Alex D: ID [protected]
Allan: hi is that a contract id? please hold as I check that on your account
Alex D: I hired as hourly but I paid worker as fixed price.
Alex D: But it says I paid as bonus
Allan: I see - I'll check your payments as well.
Alex D: And it will not release
Allan: yes when you pay a fixed price it is usually called a bonus payment
Allan: oh ok
Alex D: And I already ended and we left feedback for eachother
Allan: is that the $24 payment?
Alex D: Please release payment
Allan: yes sure I will go ahead and ask finance to charge your card
Allan: one moment pls
Allan: glad to report that your card was charged successfully
Allan: thanks for contacting oDesk today!

After the payment was released, I felt comfortable telling the agent that my job was complete and I wanted to release payment. Keep in mind I work 15 hours a day, and I use oDesk as support to get my work done and depend on oDesk agents to help or catch mistakes if I speak with them. That is what sets apart good customer support from horrible support. So thinking everything was ok, I left very good feedback. After I received the 100 fans from Omar Edwards, I turned on my own Facebook fan account from an external website. This website is where people with fanpages can exchange fans/likes. You can gain anywhere from 30-100 fans in one single day. They just constantly stream in as long as you have enough credits in your account which I had plenty. I had paused it so I can see if Omar's (Shabz Design) fan technique really worked and it did. I received about 120 fans and it slowed down so I un-paused my own fan account to begin exchanging fans on my own and went up another 300 fans in approximately 3 days. So I decided to ask Shabz Design to give me another 400 fans at $0.04/fan and he said I already owed him for 300 fans. He saw my facebook fanpage and claimed it was him that got me 300 more fans and I should pay what I owe. I told Omar Edwards we agreed on 100 fans and that is what I paid you. He disagreed so I took screenshots of my account and showed him 5 pages of fanpage likes that I have received on my facebook fan exchange account on an external site. I have proof of building my own fan base and showed him but he suggested that it was him as if he is the only one who knows how to obtain facebook fans. I used him for additional fans because I like to use different methods of obtaining fanpage likes. After I told him I will not pay him for work I did myself and work that we did not agree on, he told me his charge for fans is $0.12/fan instead of $0.04/fan. He said he will not charge me the same price as before so I told him I will no longer need his service.

After we spoke I begain other work and did not pay much attention to oDesk because I had to attend to other very important matters in my business NOT knowing that the job was still open and the $24 I had paid him was still considered a bonus and not as a final payment. Approximately 8 days later I receive notice from oDesk that I was charged for $35.55! So I logged in to see why this was charged to my account and noticed Omar Edwards from Shabz Design summed up $0.12 x 300 fans = $36 so he logged on oDesk and logged 5.33 hours @ $6.67/hr which = $35.55! Very clever way of taking advantage of someone who just began using oDesk and made an honest mistake of paying him the wrong way. He saw that I was inexperienced with oOesk and deliberately logged on to oDesk to log hours which we never agreed upon. I take this no other way then theft. If you leave your wallet on a table, and turn your head for a second, it may get stolen. Maybe it is a bad idea to put your wallet on the table in the first place, but steeling the wallet is a crime regardless of where it is. IT IS NOT YOURS!

I then contacted oDesk to file a dispute and they told me my time for dispute was over!? Here is the ticket conversation:

Ionie: Hello, Alex D. Can I help you with anything today?
Alex D: Hello I have a feeling the worker I hired has manipulated odesk to charge me $35 today but I already paid him $24 for the work he did. Unfortunately it was done as a bonus since I am very unfamiliar with odesk. So we left eachother feedback and that was it. Now I have a new charge for hours that we did not agree on
Ionie: One moment let me check
Ionie: May I have the Contract ID please?
Alex D: His name is Omar Edwards from Shabz Design. He made 2 pages for my Facebook page for $10 each and he got me 100 fans for $4. Each fan was $0.04
Alex D: I am on my iPhone. I am not sure if this chat will end if I try and go to another page
Ionie: No need
Ionie: one moment please
Ionie: So the agreed amount you had with him is just $24 is that correct?
Alex D: Yes only $24. I asked for more fans but he wanted to charge me $0.12/fan and I said no I will not pay more. So I deleted him from skype because I did not appreciate the price spike. He claims he gave me more fans then 100 which is not true so he probably thinks I should pay. We only agreed on 100 fans for $4
Alex D: And 2 pages for $20. I would also like to take back my feedback if possible because this is not professional to do.
Ionie: unfortunately you hired him under an hourly contract which is a guaranteed payment it means everytime a contractors log in they will get paid per hour
Ionie: you will need to speak with your contract to process a refund
Ionie: as employers review period for the week he worked for was already ended yesterday
Alex D: Well can you see screen shots? He didn't do any work. The job ended a while ago before I left feedback
Ionie: Unfortunately time given to you to dispute charges for the week he worked for already ended yesterday so we cannot file a dispute any more
Ionie: it is the emcccccccbpnffketrrhinglugccnkcrinvnuounjjtfnfvjf
Ionie: employers responsibility to check the work diary during the review period and file a dispute between that time as well incase there are issues on the work diary
Alex D: I have all logs of skype messages. I will try and ask this thief to refund but if he says no, I am calling my bank to file for a charge back and I have all conversation logs to prove the work ended before I paid him $24
Ionie: What you can only do now is to contact him and ask for a refund
Ionie: Problem alex is you hired him under an hourly contract it is stated on our policy that hourly contracts are a guaranteed payment. So what ever agreement you have with him if you hire him under an hourly contract and contractor logged in he will still be paid
Ionie: Contract that you should have offered shoukld be fixed price if it will be a task something like a commission basis'
Alex D: Yes and I will also call my bank to file a charge back and I'll discontinue using odesk. This is not fair. I will not participate with a company that does not help claims such as mine regardless of the dispute time. I was unaware and did not receive any notification that I was being charged. I thought once you pay and leave feedback the work is done. I did not make a milestone or agree more hours.
Alex D: I asked to change to fixed but this is not possible. You can see our conversations in inbox. I don't understand why odesk cannot investigate this. There is proof.
Alex D: You understand that I will not be robbed like this. I will not let someone just take my money because of a loophole in that I failed to understand. You should not protect someone who takes advantage of people like me
Ionie: he cannot change it to a fixed price as you have to do it on your end
Alex D: So now he will continue to login and take my money. I want this job closed now please.
Ionie: Also, if you both just agreed to make a bonus payment on this you should have set the weekly limit to 0
Ionie: The logged in he made was made when the contract he had with you was still active
Ionie: How it works was posted on our odesk User Agreement which we asked user to accept
Alex D: I don't know how to do that! I submitted a ticket explaining this and I said job is complete please release payment. Then I left feedback and I thought job was closed. He logged in and did not work!
Ionie: The charges on your account was for the log in he made March 1
Ionie: as I see here contract was ended march4
Ionie: You were just charge yester as employers review periods end Sunday 23:59 UTC
Ionie: Your contractor can refund these funds
Ionie: please speak with him and ask for a refund
Alex D: I know about user agreements as I own a business and I also like to protect myself from refunds but I hope you understand that regardless of what accepted, I did not accept to be robbed or to have odesk not take my claim into consideration and investigate. You guys are not robots. You can clearly see that I have been taken advantage of. But if you want to be defensive and protect a thief then I will protect myself too. I'll discontinue using odesk and submit a charge back since you don't seem to realize that im just an honest person who is just asking for my money back which was not earned buy this crook! I work too hard for me to sit back and let this happen.
Alex D: Please close this job to prevent this a**hole from charging me again. Have a good night.
Ionie: Time period given to you to file a dispute was already ended
Ionie: and it is your obligation to check their work diary'
Ionie: Ionie exited session.

I agree that there are policies to follow but you cannot write a policy for all issues. It is not possible. I was in the military and there are issues that still happen to this date that there is not a policy in place for. We are all humans, and we have to treat each case differently. I tried to contact Omar Edwards from Shabz Design on skype and he blocked me right away so I then knew this was not a mistake. He deliberately took advantage of me. I contacted oDesk one more time and pleaded that they look at my case and forward it to a manager for review and Odesk refused to help me. I am an honest man and I explained to odesk that I have proof of our agreement and him saying the job is $24 and he has completed it on March 3. Odesk will realize Shabz Design obviously took advantage of my open project to log hours which he did not work if they just reviewed the evidence! I will be damned if I just let some jackwagon steel my money. How are you going to ask a thief to give you your money back? I understand policies but this is a very clear case of abuse. Odesk should set all hourly jobs to 0 by default, NOT unlimited incase things like this happen! Once the job has been awarded, it should be up to us to set the hours we agree upon and have the provider agree and accept. If you set as unlimited as default, the provider can begin logging any hours he wants! This is ridiculous! There are no checks and balances here. Mistakes happen! I am getting no protection here. I am going to try once more to get help from odesk. If it fails, I will file a chargeback and I could care less if my account is closed because I will not support a company who does not have the capacity to investigate claims of abuse. If I would make suggestions to odesk I'd say to set all new hourly jobs to 0 by default so if people like me are new to odesk and do not know that the job starts off as unlimited, the provider will be forced to remind them to add hours just like milestones which we both can agree and accept! But if people like me accidentally do not change the hours from unlimited to whatever hours that we both agree upon, the provider can stay quiet and log as many hours as he wants which is a ridiculous loophole in favor of any dishonest person or company like Shabz Designz. Wake up oDesk! I have read countless complaints about the same issue! Don't you think it's time to take a closer look at your policies?! You give little time and notice to file disputes! Now that I have been charged, I cannot dispute?! I literally contacted oDesk with in one hour after I received notification that I was charged. I will do my research and find out if I can file a BBB complaint. I will also post this on /link removed/ sitepoint.com, etc... I do not care if this takes 30 hours out of my work time. I will gladly do this so I can warn people of Omar Edward's scam tactics from Shabz Designz www.shabzdesignsinc.com, and oDesk's lack of protection for employers!

I have been a trustworthy provider who has some reputation among odesk community but odesk suspended my profile, account, job applications, job offers and contracts in order to force me to provide privacy including date birth, photo, address proof etc. They simply cut off my income.
Long time ago before this incident, my profile was secretly hidden by odesk from search, and I did not know this until someday a buyer told me he could not find me! And it happened a few times!
I have heard a lot of cases that buyers were scammed by providers at odesk, but odesk did nothing to help. I was honest and reliable and I never scammed anyone, but my account was suspended! This is very unfair! Maybe because odesk feel they cannot earn a lot from my working, so they just throw me out?
I feel this crossed the line. Provider should also have certain privacy. I asked around, but other buyers and providers did not have to provide such information!
Odesk also suspended my access to forums, so that they can cover this issue! Because I submitted many tickets to customer support, odesk even blocked me from their customer support! Later they permanently suspended my account.

Hi, this is Nicole from Rent a Coder.

I empathize with the unfortunate experience you've encountered. One of the unfortunate facts about this type of problem is that oDesk arbitration is limited to before the buyer releases escrow (3 days after the timecard completes). After the money is gone, you can no longer exercise arbitration. This is what makes choosing a safe service extremely important.

I recommend in the future, not to set up a recurring timecard if you know you will be out of the office. Set a limit on the weekly amount instead, so that if you forget, your losses are limited.

Why not give Rentacoder a try? At Rentacoder, we protect your money with free escrowing so your money isn't given to a worker until the work is complete and satisfactory. We additionally allow you to verify the time worked on a project with an 'in and out' real-time card application. This application records the worker's desktop and webcam so that you can witness your project's development.

We also offer full arbitration on all projects free of charge.

You can compare the 7 major services through this link to learn even more: http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/DotNet/misc/CompetitorInformation/WhyRentACoder_ForBuyers.aspx

If you have any questions, please let me know. You can also call in to talk to a facilitator 7 days a week, or email us (see http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACoder/misc/Feedback.asp).

Nicole
www.rentacoder.com

I am sorry that you had difficulties with one of Elance's providers. I personally have used Elance as a provider and a buyer and just like anywhere, there are some good and bad ones in the bunch. However, I don't necessarily blame Elance but myself for choosing the way that I did.

What I have learned is to use Elance's system to your advantage and to never base one's decision on the feedback system alone. Instead, you should interview the provider or buyer thoroughly and make them sign a contract before you do any work. As a provider, I also request half down and half upon completion.

In your instance, I would not have rendered the work until it was completely paid for and if it wasn't paid for, I would use it elsewhere as stated in my contract. Instead, I would give them an non editable pdf file. For instance, let's say I wrote some articles that were not paid for in full. I would then inform the buyer that if they didn't pay the remainder that the articles would be used elsewhere. If they didn't pay, I would "spin" them and sell them somewhere else so that all my efforts were not in vain. Perhaps you could do something like this with the technical work you did. Then, all hope wouldn't be loss.

Again I am sorry for your situation and hope that you don't give up on Elance as they can be great.

Before determining if an individual is privy to any fringe benefits (sick leave, vacation leave, health, etc.) one must first establish if an employer or employee relationship exists. Such relationships are determined by common law. This mean does an employer have the right to control the individual, such as: when and where to work, control lunches and breaks, request and individual to attend mandatory meetings, train the individual, etc. On the other hand an independent contractor is one who has the freedom to choose when and where to work, make their services available to the public, able to incur a profit or loss (e.g. Form 1040 Schedule C expenses). An employment agency normally has a contractual relationship with a company. An agreement is reached who will be the employer of record for "payment of wages" or the employer of record for "common law" purposes. Most employment agencies are the employer of record for payment; therefore, they are required to withhold the applicable payroll taxes. For further information regarding employer-employee relationships please refer to the Internal Revenue website, irs.gov and do a search on independent contractor vs employee. It should help you understand the payroll tax situation.

Elance is a business that works like any other. You can choose to use it or not. very simple! LOL " I hope the justice department looks into it" you really have some screws loose my friend.

I can understand you not liking them taken money from both ends but thats up to them and its there business model, ( a very successful one) I cant see how any nut would say elance is TAXING you, they set up a price, they could offer it to you for free with no montly fee then charge 15% on any projects but it really doesn't matter and you would still pay. I think your logic is flawed and better spend your time doing something more productive then complaining with zero ground to imply there business is not lawful, go pay for ads in newspapers for your service and see how that works out for you :). If you dont like it go start an elance that charges no fee's, see how that works out for you as well.

I agree that it can be frustrating to pay a fee and would love if Elance were free but the way that I look at it is this, if you had to market your services somewhere else, like via online or offline advertising, you would be paying way more than 6%. or whatever fee Elance charges.

I personally get many projects via Elance and don't even miss those fees. In some ways, I actually prefer Elance to other ways of traditional marketing and just consider this meager amount the cost of doing business online. Plus, Elance saves so much time with the feedback system and the ability to scrutinize your buyers before you even bid on their project that it can't be beat. Just my two cents.

I totally agree, they take 8.75% of any transaction (wich is a lot considering that most projects are milestone based) and they Do Not take the percetage of your Gross Income, they take 8.75% of Every Single Transaction you make!, Plus 2.75% in Payment Proccessing fees.

And you still need to pay for the membership, a while ago if you was a member they only took 4.75% per transaction and 1.4% in payment processing fees, now regardless your membership type they take 8.75% and 2.75% of every transaction.

Hope some company makes a site like that one (professional enough to get clients like we do on elance), cause right now there are not any other freelance sites like this one.

I do hear what you're saying and am sorry that you had a difficult time. I am not employed by Ealnce but I have used Elance as a buyer and a provider and I have not had any problems with the issues you mention. I've made a lot of money as a provider and have paired up with some great quality providers and was able to leverage their talents to my benefit. The thing about Elance is that you have to do your homework. They are a good company and provide great leads but it is up to you to choose the right provider as a buyer and the right buyer as a provider. The feedback system helps a lot and so does the private message board. Also, you have to protect yourself with contracts and clear descriptions of what is expected.

As for customer service, I have sometimes gotten a machine, when I called during non business hours, but when I left a message or called again I talked to a live person that was always ready to help. And, when I used the contact form I always got a reply back.

I am sorry that you had issues and hope that you will give Elance another chance.

Hi

My upwork account is suspended. I am not able to send the new proposal on new job post on upwork. Kindly resolve my account suspended issue as soon as possible, so i will continue my work on upwork.

My email id is : jigarmrd24@gmail.com

Please help me. Looking forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Good afternoon,
i mistakenly closed my account. I want it back i regret of doing it. Help me restore it.

I cant contact customer service

thanks

myza p . Bangcore

Like so many similar sites, all the jobs posted pay absolute peanuts. If you are a western artist you will probably end up living in poverty. All the work is aimed at artists from the developing world who can work for weeks on end earning 10 dollars a day.

I totally agree.
Elance suspend people after people. And I have good facts in that matter from many.
Without warning they put freelancers off and suspend. Then give a very odd explanation about nothing. Just a lot of words with no explanation at all in reality. It is a scam to all freelancers over the world. How they are like a dictator scene..where no one can look in.
If you are out..you are out. With no more explanation.
It could be a good freelancer and honest .
Beware all clients to use such a platform ever !
They treat freelancers so bad. Its hard to even believe how something like this can excist 2015 in a modern world.

things did not go well with this freelancer. after agreeing to the cost, he allegedly said we were adding more to what we originally agreed upon which was 200 dollars. then he asked for an additional 50 dollars. so we decided to to re establish the terms, and asked how much it would take to finish the project. he said he needs an additional 2000 dollars! we were getting ready to file a dispute but he filed one himself after we refused his offer to return 100 dollars. ultimately elance decided to split the cost. even though we could have gotten more if we accepted his refund, we want everyone to know that this project was disputed because the elancer was just asking for more money wihout any result for 4 weeks. we posted the same project and the new elancer quoted 300 dollars and took him 2 days to finish. so please be careful when getting the services of this scammer elancer. https://www.elance.com/s/aman619aggarwal/

Hello,

Elance is the biggest scam I have come across, my account had loads of connects which came with my membership.
I was accumulating them for few months, they suddenly suspended my account. This came wthout any warning or notification to me.There is no appeal process as well. I have lost connects worth months of membership money which they charged to my
card. Biggest scammers, shameful company, I would never register in their workplace again.

With Regards,
Kscoped

Elance is a team of cheater who grab money form users. ### they are.

I used to be someone who endorsed Elance for the ease of finding jobs and hiring contractors. However, I was also scammed by a contractor on Elance who had a 5 star rating and a good portfolio. I will admit to fault when I make a mistake. I know I was far too trusting with the rating system on Elance. But you would think that Elance would support the individuals who actually help generate revunue for their company rather than side with the fraudulent members on the site.

I made the mistake of trusting an Elancer with a good rating and prepaid him, Daiki Miyamoto, a good sum of money to start. We had agreed on a deadline which he did not meet. In fact, during the 3 week period, he didn't do any work! I stressed to him that the deadline cannot be missed and he reassured me that I would get something. However, all I got were excuses and he even had the nerve to ask me for more money! I decided to cut ties and see if I can get a refund for the amount I paid him.

I provided Elance a chat log with my contractor that clearly shows that he will not pay the refund hoping this would convince Elance that I was frauded by this contractor. Unfortunately, they have decided to side with him instead. I am totally disappointed and now I'm down a large sum of money and a deadline that is at risk of being missed.

Rey Samonte

I've used Elance for over a year now (both as a provider and client) and have had very few complaints. Yes, their customer support is horrid and unapologetic. It is extremely hard to get any kind of non-scripted response out of them. The only time I've ever felt an actual human being looked at a trouble ticket was when I had an issue escalated to a higher tier of support.

A lot of people on here are complaining about being scammed, but that's you're own doing. Elance has many features in place to avoid being scammed. As a client - set up your milestones where you only release payments when the work you receive is complete and satisfactory - SIMPLE! As a freelancer - never start or complete a milestone without seeing that it is funded already - SIMPLE! Doing these simple steps ensures Elance will be on your side if a problem arises. These steps are clearly written in tooltips never to all the features I just mentioned - seems like you guys just aren't reading.

I've had several clients try to skip out on final payments, but because I made sure the milestone was pre-funded, Elance ensures it's release. They also have a built-in time card feature of hourly jobs that ensures your hours worked. If you choose not to use the program, why would Elance guarantee you payment when they can't prove you were doing anything?

These are simple ideals that apply to real world freelance jobs outside of Elance. When I take on a client outside of an escrow system, I always (as in EVERY SINGLE TIME) require a deposit up-front before starting work. Then you don't release the final work files until you receive the final payment. SIMPLE! Any client that doesn't agree to these terms was trying to scam you anyway.

Asking work outside elance - WebsiteDesignz Kansas City, Missouri, United StatesHello Friends, I have been working with this client for last few months and he usually ask us to work outside elance and promise to pay without funding elance escrow. But he do never pays for work.Please guys beware from this fu*k*ng person, he always ask for work and whenever you want your money he makes fake promises and never get serious for money.He only asks work on time and sometimes force us to work on weekends.Please Please guys never do trust on this person, He has 2 profiles in Elance one is for Job Posting and other one is for Freelancer, I am sharing his both Public urls below.Public url as a Employer-https://www.elance.com/e/public/Dcu0sviArBAgigyj3ZBQyChzz1Bli0CKgiGLTjVL5Iw-/Public url as a Job Seeker- https://www.elance.com/s/websitedesignz/Generally he puts the job with the below content-"If you are a company please do not apply.All project details are discussed during the time of the interview.At least ** years exp.Able to work with a team, Monday to Friday from 4AM to 1PM Chicago time.Looking to advance in your skills and careerLooking to learn from others "And these are the job url that he has posted-https://www.elance.com/j/ios-developer-individuals-only/57661984/?backurl=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZWxhbmNlLmNvbS9yL2pvYnMvcS13ZWJzaXRlZGVzaWdueg==https://www.elance.com/j/ios-developer/57517906/?backurl=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZWxhbmNlLmNvbS9yL2pvYnMvcS13ZWJzaXRlZGVzaWdueg==https://www.elance.com/j/virtual-assistant-proposal-bidder-account-management/57662238/?backurl=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZWxhbmNlLmNvbS9yL2pvYnMvcS13ZWJzaXRlZGVzaWdueg==Thank You