50 customer reviews of upwork.com
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Based on 50 reviews from Upwork customers, company has accumulated an average rating of 1 stars, indicating that majority of customers are not satisfied with its service.
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Description: Find freelancers and freelance jobs on Upwork - the world's largest online workplace where savvy businesses and professional freelancers go to work!
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Most of the bad experiences listed here spawn from people putting way too much faith in a single website with their money. YOU need to learn to take the initiative necessary to keep your work and money as a freelancer safe. Elance is there to help you meet people and take some simple jobs - not to be your mother.
A lot of people also seem bitter about disputes not being in their favor when they very well should not be. If the client specifies you are to do something or use something specific, if you don't do this and don't warn them beforehand, then of course they're not going to pay you. If a professor tells you to type something and you hand it in written, of course he's just going to put it in the trash can next to his desk. You need to follow the directions of the clients to ensure nothing is against you.
You should also go through the ToS with a fine-tooth comb to avoid having your account closed. "But it should be clearer!" The ToS is fairly clear, but let me guess... you haven't read it? You oughta at least do that if you're putting your time and money into a website for freelancing, whether it's Elance or anything else.
Remote Work platforms, especially in the present millennium, have so far proven to be an effective meeting and synergy point for best of talents & skills, and job demands (especially high-skills demanding jobs). The uniqueness of the Remote Work model is highlighted by the fact that its ample and myriad of opportunities are not limited by TIME and geographical factors. Provably, thousands and thousands of told and untold families, individuals, and groups have been cashing in on it, taking due advantage of its beautiful opportunities as either employees and / or employers. The vastness of its market makes it possible for players to collaborate with the best of talents, share experiences and synergies, and ultimately find solutions to problems that possibly could have proven difficult [traditionally], resulting encouragingly in the escalation of business expantions, improvements and successes.
The welfarist conditions of many remote workers have been tremendously improved, their skills and minds honed; while employers across boards and borders are leveraging on the availability of best of talents unlimited by the traditional factors: time and geographical distances, and more importantly in the ICT domain.
Contextually talking about UPWORK here, it a is great opportunity indeed! A room for collaborations and solutions-finding! An added advantage and a big plus to already vast Internet opportunities. To many, it's a goldmine and pretty life-changer! Judging by my 1 month+ activities on it, I can experientially tell that Upwork offers both employers, employees and freelancers across boards and borders a spacious room for growths and successes. I work on it currently as a copywriter, and I can tell with provable facts that many have so far found both their old and new dreams on it: a lot workers have had their financial NEEDS completely met, while employers are not left behind as their jobs NEEDS are critically, friendly, and humanly satisfied in line with Upwork mission to SERVE and not to sell as it was typical of businesses before now!
I can only possibly believe that the future of remote working and collaboration is BRIGHT, while I encourage us to fine tune it on and on, even as this digital age is getting smarter and more digital by the second. People should be enlightened more on its vast opportunities, while every hand should be on deck for its betterment, and mainly technically!
For Upwork, I raise my thumbs for you guys! One thing I admire particularly about you is the aesthetics of your display: the white background, blended with my favourite light green colour! It dazzles me, tickles my fancy, spurs my explorative part, as I always feel fulfilled by only strolling on it like I'm walking on a gold street, relishing its inspirational beauties!
Upwork, Keep pushing for better, my regards to you, and all, whom are making the world smarter, easier to live in, and sweeter! It is my strong belief that there is always room for improvement! So keep upping the games, just like as I had earlier noted among a few others that there should be an option for workers to EDIT their submitted cover letters! I can't feel less respectful for peeps like you folks there whom blaze trails, construct and reconstruct models and solutions, and always look out for better ways for better living!
To our onward successes,
Chimereuche Onwubiko.
I see nothing has gotten better at UpWork since I posted a year ago. If it's any consolation, Upwork are slowly going down in ranking, according to Alexa. They've been in a downturn for well over a year now since they upped their commission to 20%.
I sometimes jump into the "Community" discussion boards and read through the complaints, which are addressed by a small hand-picked group of individuals who lie and make excuses for UpWork. Like how UpWork can't be responsible for phony job postings, it's too much for them to keep up with so they rely on freelancers to figure it out for themselves and then report them. That's freaking incredible. Worst site ever.
April 1,2017 update:
I needed some Google compliance work done on one of my websites so I ran a job on UpWork and found a good guy who did a great job. That was all fine. But I was surprised that at the end of the billing week UpWork just chunked the guy's hours off my credit card without my being able to review and approve the work done.
So I have to leave my review at one star as they do try to automate everything and are control freaks. I wanted my web developer to review some advice from one of my SEO accounts and UW wouldn't allow me to message him the user name and password, as that would be considered paying him off site. What? Creepy site. Very creepy.
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If you scroll down slightly you will see a review by J. M. Everything he says is absolutely true.
UpWork has subsumed Elance and it's the WalMart for freelancers: high volume + low prices + cheap labor = profits for Stephane Kasriel, the %&#@ CEO who sold us out.
And they are trying to automate the site and reduce staff, therefore boosting profits. I have an avatar pic of Queen Elizabeth I on my profile, I listed my hourly rate at $285 to mock them and I've never even bid on a job there, and yet I get an email telling me I am a "Top Rated" freelancer now and I need to jump to the site and starting quoting jobs. It's a scam!
So I sign up another account from my business profile. And after completion of 10-15 hires, which I paid out in full, they still suspend me. What irks is not that they feel something is amiss. That's fine. Gather info and rectify. But what irks is the way they pull the plug. Here is an example:
"I have reviewed all aspects of your account, and unfortunately, you are violating Upwork policies. I regret to inform you that based on that review, it has been determined that your account will not be restored. The policy violation(s) in question lead to this final decision. Please be advised that we may not respond to further requests regarding this issue.
Thank you for your understanding."
The most pathetic of Customer Care Service would find this message repugnant and pompous.
-Does not mention which policy was violated
-Without any communication whatsoever, this is a final termination (not to be restored)
-Informs the client that they will not respond to any request on this issue
-And if that wasnt sufficient birdie in the face, it says thank you for understanding.
People at upwork, understand that you make money from the clients as well as the freelancers. You people live off us, and you do not show a shred of respect. The above message is from 2 days back. The correspondence I had 2 years back was similar. The LEAST you can do in such cases is have a proper correspondence to try and resolve the conflict to re-instate the suspension.
Absolutely putrid! But hey, Thank you for understanding!
I personally have known of individuals who are actually allowing others to pay them money just to give them one or two of these legitimate sites. I am one such person. I actually paid $JA10,000 just for someone to show me one of these sites and navigate me through it, this I could have done myself if only I knew of the website.
I spent many hours, days, months and money seeking legitimate Internet Income opportunities, at one point I almost gave up because it is not a very easy task. It takes a lot of time, effort and energy to search websites to locate legitimate work at home income. I only discontinued my search when I learnt about upwork.com.
It is a Website where you can find Freelancers to do any jobs you want done. These jobs can be done at any time, anywhere. Whereever you are in the world you can be registered on upwork to find available jobs that suits your profile, whether it's Data Entry, Typing, Executive Assistant jobs, Website building, Transcribing, you name it, it's there on upwork. If you want somone to do your job for you or you want to do a job for someone, the site is for all.
I have registered on the site, I am now employed full time so I do not get the chance yet to really actively seek a job, I will soon but I know of invividuals who are making a comfortable income on this site. I will not tell anyone Upwork will get rich if they register on this site but I can tell you if your profile is attractive and you spend quality time reviewing and working this site you will have success.
So all those who are asking you for money to register on a website or to get an application from them that will help you to make thousands per day or week, I say thats an hoax, beware of those sites. Legitimate websites are usually free to sign up and they do not promise anything that sounds too good to be true. You have to work hard on upwork to accomplish your desired goal, that is of making a satisfactory income.IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT IS NOT TRUE.
I have sent them this email Greetings, Trust & Safety Team,
While I understand that pruning the Upwork tree is the only sure-fire way to keep it leech-free, please consider reactivating my account, towards which goal I bring the following reasons:
- I have indeed been very active in the previous month, that being because I plan to work through this website for a long time and I need to build experience on it, as lack of previous worked hours on the platform seriously hinders success with the applications.
- Apart from that, I was aware of the fact that there is a monthly limit, but not that you can use that up in any way that would endanger your account.
- I am also aware that some of my Cover Letters were very similar if not identical, but that seemed normal seeing that the jobs had identical requirements.
- In this time, I have had replies from most of these employers; indeed most preferred to hire people with previously worked hours through Upwork, but at least three of these companies accepted my application, gave me tests already; one let me know Upwork will notify me when there is a vacancy, from another one I am waiting for an answer and I just had an interview last night with the third, who will contact me very soon for starting training, as per their words, that is if I still have a working account with you, since I am not sure that they send payment through any other platform.
I include some screenshots here for verification.
You can also check my profile and verify that, while not being the most experienced yet, I nevertheless am not among the worst here and I should bring no losses to your table. Please reconsider reactivating my account if only with a stricter limit of monthly applications if you consider that fit, but at least help me not to have lost the time and hopes dedicated exclusively to this site lately.
Thank you very much for your time and hope to hear from you soon about it.
Best Regards,
AbdElRahman
And this was their reply: Hello Abdelrahman ElBagoury,
I am writing to let you know that we have carefully reviewed your appeal and determined that your Upwork account will remain suspended.
We know this is not the news you wanted to receive, however at this point the appeal process is exhausted and our decision is final. If you have any open contracts you will be able to complete that work and receive payment through our site. You will not be able to submit proposals for new contracts, however.
We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Please note that it is unlikely that we will respond to any future correspondence regarding this matter.
Regards,
Apple
Upwork Trust & Safety
660 proposals sent in two years, 41 interviews, 28 contacts, 24 closed.
"Top-Rated" status reached and lost, "private" setting by upwork and all other quests been passed.
Previous profile was blocked in case of lack of activities for more than a month, yes, three years ago UpWork just blocking profiles even if you just started.
On the second try in 2017 everything was right, sometimes I had well clients, sometimes Upwork made me nuts, but I earned money and that the main.
In 2017 when I upgrade in my profession a lot of scumming clients and freelancers raised so in several months platform become flooded by clients with no history, strange projects and out of mind requirements. Same I could say about my colleague's whos start the dumping bids and involving such kind of clients.
So nowadays it's kinda challenging to a duel, who shoot proposal first wins, cause instead in several minutes after it will be 50+ and you drown like your voice on a flea market. I had been scummed 4 times, all those cases continue with disputes trough useless support, and only once I got half of my money back from scammed contract. Most of the cases, scammer hires a freelancer and try to work out of platform, or if he risky enough he could hire you and at work process close contract at the middle of night and its "payment verified" will mean nothing, especially when you don't apply milestone before, but even if you do scammer could decline approvement, close contract and bring back his money, so suck it "payment verified" status, UpWork really cares about freelancers. My rating jumped to Top Rated and falls to 40% and then back again and again. As a result, my revenues felt to none almost for a year.
Then UpWork announces the payment proposals I been glad, cause I hoped it will cut off summers freelancers and I be able to highlight my self with same level freelancers like me.
And it becomes true, that really helps for several months but bids already dumped and I don't see really challenging, big projects for a long long time, I even think that that kind of clients with great startups just escaped from the platform, cause at least on local markets services could be more costly but guarantee you will be able to converse on your language with understanding and gets more professional result.
And yes, I middle hand professional, intermediate as UpWork could define me, and someone would say that maybe I worked not enough, maybe I communicate not so well, but damn, 24 hires on 660 proposals for 2 years.
And that happens not only me, it happens with all of my friends who worked on UpWork, some of the good coders, designers, and copywriters.
Most of them been more successful than me, for example, I never had an hourly rated contract for a year and a half, but some of my friends do, and as same as me right after that great experience they felt into the void, no work, no interviews for a several months and first that are reached after is a quick small contract which cloud match their previous experience.
So now after all "major" updated at UpWork for last summer, they find a full-time job, and that's all.
In case if you are from a country where your currency sucks and even small budgets advantageous, I'll recommend it only in case if there are no other options to workaround.
Cause it's not easy money, money never could be easy.
It's not experience that grows you a lot, it's experienced about communications with different.
It's a place there in your profession could be 132000 same as you, and 3000 proposals, it's a 44 person per proposal. Think about it when assuming that it could be your full-time job.
Cheers!
How Is It Misunderstood?
Customers complaining here do not realize what Upwork are getting into. They mostly assume as-if they are out to connect with experts and ought to pay almost 1/10 of their monies. When they find that native experts are actually not so inexpensive, they straightaway hire people from other countries who can match their price. They assume a lot (even though they are not assuming) and enter into agreements, mid-way through the project they are unable to decide and their frustration mounts. Either then end up with a not-so-nice of a deliverable or a failure. On the other hand after gaining a lot of experience, some customers do not want to believe that "What You Pay For Is What You Get" and they try to force in their legal rights, policies and terms which still wouldn't get their job done. If someone in another part of the world is really in dire need of a project, that freelancer will literally ask for any monies that'd work and promise the world in haste. Those jobs where freelancers deliver pretty well, gets unnoticed while those where an error is made gets highlighted.
Upwork is a third party - it neither guarantees terms nor enters into the agreement between client and vendors. It is simply a service to connect two parties, have Escrow and optionally take additional facilitation of disputes and arbitration.
How is Upwork Misrepresented?
In many ways! Its fee is actually not 20% for Freelancers but Upwork makes themselves appear as stealing. They have an option for clients to pick from a monthly subscription / flat fee but do not explain as to what is that for. They do not promote a thorough education on what it'd charge Freelancers / Vendors / Clients in doing business directly / locally or getting into a full-time hiring position as opposed getting a freelance hired. Upwork is also misrepresented for its extended services by clients when they need help in hiring and Upwork uses catch- phrases that they'd help in getting their work done which is totally not the case. Upwork also assumes that their terms and policies or Help Center section is the place for people to know what it is all about which is actually absurd.
I've had a decent share on Upwork and Upwork has a decent share in our growth. I have had many customers consulted, the above is just a response to all the negative feedback. On Upwork there are people like us offering services knowing well what the platform does not / cloud not offer while ensuring customers are educated. The platform is by far the best for people looking to get a quality work done and simply cannot be matched with Fiver / Freelancer and others because when clients are looking for exceptional work rather just quality work, only Upwork has such exceptional vendors that can produce such work.
I immediatly encountered issues where despite my applications, no client was interested because of my lack of experience on the site, thus no profile reviews on my part which didn't make me appear like a trustful user. I gave up for a long time until I started receiving invites to interviews not long ago and I decided to give it another try, so I replied, sent applications... nothing.
The most disheartening thing is the very little amount of money clients are willing to offer a freelancer. Upwork want you to deliver a detailed work without paying as much as it's worth and they even "mock" you saying you shouldn't expect that much especially if you are new on the platform and with no feedback at hand. This is very disrespectful and not professional at all.
Other clients are also very vague about what they want the moment you finally find someone interested, sending you references and telling what they need without actually showing you in detail. This will result in a terrible waste of time and again, for a very little amount of money. As if that weren't enough, Upwork apparently likes hiding your profile if you haven't earned money for a while, or used the platform at all even when you're actually in the middle of a contract. You use the site because you want to create a better portfolio and get the needed feedbacks to work more, but how are you supposed to do so if they hide your account from the clients? They don't really offer you the chance to grow unless you're lucky and the small ones are basically treated like slaves most of the time. You want a job well done, you pay as much as the freelancer deserves, simple as that. If you want a cheap job go looking for royalty free stocks and be happy with it. One thing many people fail to consider is that some of us are from Europe and the currency changes depending on your Country. Living in Italy I already face a considerable loss whenever I convert from USD to Euro and if we count the fees Upwork itself takes from the final price offered by the client, you may end up earning HALF if not less of what they are offering you.
If you're considering the platform to begin your freelance career, don't even bother with Upwork, it's a no-go.
The JSS isn't transparent or reliable enough, DownWork thinks clients know what JSS means, the private feedback system is causing freelancers to get penalized without them knowing WHY Upwork were suspended or banned. Just go to the forums and you'll know just how FLAWED the JSS is. It's even known to cause your proposals to be hidden. HIDDEN.
No matter how good you are in writing cover letters or even if your profile is outstanding, if UpWork's biased algorithm goes for the newbie who charges $5/hr then you're dead in the water. DEAD.
The most logical way to escape the wrath of an immature client? 100% refund. That's right, all your hard work is at the mercy of a client's dumb remarks on the freelancer. Heck, if I wanted free quality work I'd sign up as a client, hire the best and expensive freelancer, get the work, then threaten them to refund or they get poor feedback. Some freelancers win disputes, others spend money on arbitration to win (around $250), others they'd rather refund than go to all the trouble and stress of losing their account for no legal reason whatsoever.
The best part of UpWork USED to be the community but Garnor Morantes and Valeria Kochubei (community mods/bots) prefer fascism instead of democracy so that means no one, I repeat, no one can say or mention anything wrong with the website in the forums. Otherwise you get banned. The others are also NOT allowed to speak of the banned members, as if they didn't exist. Do you know how scary that is? Think 1984 except Big Brother is divided into 5 moderators.
The most sensible of the moderators is Lena so if you have anything to ask, go for Lena and NO ONE else. Lena is generous enough to provide human feedback at the very least. She also drops hints on secret stuff sometimes. Hi Lena;)
I used to think UpWork is the end-all but after the JSS mishaps, the bugs, and the sudden influx of cheap/scam clients (some of which are freelancers wanting to reduce other freelancer's connects), I was forced to go for private clients. I'm lucky to have scored two a few weeks back and they're definitely a cut above the rest. One client is paying me $30/hr to write articles and another for $50 per 500 words. On UpWork you're lucky if you get hired for $18/hour. Heck, with the current state, you're lucky if you go past $11!
About the bugs, the site has a tendency to change or reprogram things while it's ONLINE. The engineers don't care about the ramifications of changing the wings of a plane mid-flight but the passengers sure do. They also change things WITHOUT our consent. Like one day everything's fine then the next our message system is changed, our UI is different, our applications interface was overhauled, it's like you go away for two weeks and when you come back you won't recognize the site at all. No announcements, no explanations, 0 transparency with EVERYTHING.
Odesk was great. Really great. I miss it like an old friend and UpWork's like the bully in gradeschool who torments every other kid simply because he's bigger and stronger. The worst part is no one cares. I can't wait for the site to realize their mistakes.
In the meantime, I recommend you go with private clients or search for us on Freelance Portals. Freelance Portals is our stand against UpWork and all freelancers are welcome to take refuge and get their best clients there specially those who've had enough with UpWork's dictatorship.
I had been working successfully on elance since more than 2 years as a full time web developer. I had successfully completed more than 120 projects over elance and I had 5 out of 5 rating.
One day my account was suddenly suspended by elance. I contacted to elance support team about this issue, one of the elance support team guy told me that, It is suspended due to having multiple accounts on elance and he send me a long list of usernames and told me that all these accounts are belonging to me. I shocked by seeing this long list, some of these accounts belong to my friends and relatives.
I requested him humbly with all the necessary information that, I have only one account on elance and I am using it since 2 years, I don't have any other account on elance. I also told him that if you found any account belongs to me please delete all these accounts. But, besides look into the issue he always send me the computer generated replies.
I requested him many times, but he always denied me to reinstate my account. I also requested him that, if you can't reinstate my account, please delete my current account and other such accounts, and allow me to create new account. But he never addressed my request.
I again requested him with few questions but he never addressed these questions and didn't reply back to me. The questions were;
Q) When this suspension will end, is it for specific time period or for lifetime?
Q) If you can't reinstate my account then when I will be able to create new account on elance or am I unable to create new account on elance for lifetime?
Q) If you can't reinstate my account for life time and can't allow me to create new account then please send me the login credential of other account, you believe it belongs to me?
At last, I never heard any positive response from them, I again requested them to at least only enable my elance login. Because I have moved to Dubai from my home country for searching job, and I am unable to show my employer company to my last 2 years work history. My login details are not working it always showing me a message that my account has expired, and my profile is not showing publically. If at least my account login will work then I can show my employer company my previous 2 years work history.
I am not the only or single victim of this situation, you may find many of the peoples over internet facing same difficulties. You may earn money from elance, but you can't rely on them for career building and life longing work. This platform is best for the unemployed person who is not getting jobs for short period work but not for talented peoples. You may also use this platform for part time earning but not for full time.
I may start work on other platform like odesk, freelancer etc. But I will prefer now to get a good job in a good company. At least office admin staff hears you and look after your problems.
Many Thanks,
Regards,
Abdul Samad
You should have told me upfront that total rejection was a possibility. I could have been working on getting real work. There was just no indication of this. I would never have gone forward. I like businesses that are upfront and honest about what Upwork are doing to collect your personal information. My motto is honesty and integrity and that is inconsistent with who you are and what you offer.
Then I got to thinking about it and said: You dont even have {my skill] listed as a skill yet you have enough of those folks? Lets see, you dont list the skill but you already have too much. I am so sorry I gave you my information. I want all of my personal info deleted from your system.
Then they sent mail that they didn't have any need for ANY of my skills. So first they have too much of what I have but now they don't need those skills period because no clients are calling for them. They can't even do simple logic or math.
Then I said: Your clients suffer because you limit the possibilities of who they can get. I have unique skills and approaches. You give your clients the first people who signed up with similar skills. They should know this. They should know they might not be getting the best because you have rejected everyone who might be better.
Then I said: Why did I have to provide a bank account before being accepted? Are you going to try and steal my money?
Now I'm waiting for them to take out the verification deposits. I will flag those as scam charges with the bank.
I also wondered if my picture helped them disqualify me since I do look older than 60 and maybe I really am.
The business lacks substance, integrity, honesty and consistency and I would stay away as a client or worker. Contact me directly if you need a great consultant!
As a client, I have continued to hire freelancers over that period, the most recent being in August this year. I have received 5 star reviews on all of the projects I have been involved with
As a freelancer, I have chosen not to work for since my account was moved to upwork, but on Elance I performed many projects. Of those employers who left reviews all were very positive and almost all were 5 stars - but the work history has now mysteriously disappeared from upwork despite being there yesterday
A few days ago I decided I would try working as a freelancer again. I applied for several projects in a day. Hours later my account was suspended without explanation.
After banging my head against the wall with support I was eventually told that I was not qualified to be applying for these jobs because the number of jobs that I was applying for was too great given my work history - exactly how this is related to my qualifications for the job I have no idea!
When I appealed I was then asked to provide evidence of my qualifications. I sent them evidence of my three applicable degrees which were received from top ranked universities in Australia. Shortly after I was simply sent an email stating that the review had been completed and my account was permenantly closed!
I have an established work history with freelancers - my CLIENT account is also suspended - and now I am unable to engage them again? The ENTIRE purpose of upwork is to provide a fair and safe marketplace. After a business starts hiring people on upwork Upwork are counting on them to maiintain that fairness. Our company has invested in developing relationships and a shared body of knowledge with our freelancers. Suddenly, and only because I decided to start applying for jobs on a single day, I find myself permenantly banned? How?
After repeatedly asking them to refer me to the section of their terms and conditions which I have supposedly violated, I have received no response. Upwork seems to have a grossly warped sense of what it means to have commercial integrity. VERY disappointed.
I'm a freelancer who is unfortunately registered on Elance website. I'm a British citizen, and I'm a native English and Turkish speaker, I'm also fluent in French and Spanish.
Please see my experience below to see how safe (!) Elance is and how much it protects the freelancers.
In December, I was invited by Simi Agarwal from Telematic Solutions from India to submit a proposal to a translation project for a Turkish TV Show. The job description on Elance website was the following:
"We have 50 hours [3000 minutes] of script of TV show which needs to be translated from Turkish to English. The entire script is already written down in word files. You just have to translate it. You dont have to do any time coding or transcription from Audios. We can pay USD 900 for this project. If you are available to start immediately and can write English without mistakes as native English speaker, contact us with your CV."
On Christmas Eve I was contacted by Simi Agarwal who asked me to start working on the project immediately doing the translation of the script attached. However, after completing and sending the translated scripts for 3 episodes, Simi Agarwal asked me to watch all three episodes and arrange the scripts based on the video files, which was clearly not a part of the job description, and it was clearly not communicated to me. On that basis she refused to pay me by relying on Elance website's policy which says "the client does not have to pay if Upwork are not satisfied with the work provided". I replied many times and told them that downloading and watching videos was not a part of the job description and that it was not communicated to me. This person is constantly making false statements and already chose the "Cancel Project" option which froze all the funds for those three episodes.
I would like you to know that this person did not fund Escrow(Elance's payment system for the freelancer's protection in cases similar to this) prior to the start of assignment, so that she can ask to the freelancer to do more work by threatening them with no payment, in my case double work, which was not initially included in the description. And when I refused to do so, she cancelled the payment and kept the scripts I provided.
A google search for "simi agarwal scam" gives a link to translatorscafe dot com website forum where freelancers explain how and when she was banned from posting any jobs on that website as she was on the Wall of Shame with "1″ as rating.
I already contacted the UK police about this person, and also her client in the USA who was very worried to hear about this, I will let everyone know about this process.
I simply would like to warn everyone against Simi Agarwal - Telematic Solutions, who takes advantage of Elance policy and steals others' work by providing an incomplete job description to convince people to accept the assignment and then threatening them with no payment if they refuse to do things that were intentionally hidden from the job description. If you have any doubts, questions or require proof to verify the validity of my email, I will be more than happy to provide you with the screenshots of my Skype and email conversation with Simi Agarwal.
Thanks and Regards,
Kaan
What a shock. My history at elance was improperly transferred. It includes only a tiny fraction of my elance history - and it publicly displays earnings, against my will. I can't find a way to fix these problems. Upwork is balky and crashes my browser. It produces script errors. Sometimes it just hangs - requiring me to fill out a form again. And the job quality is horrendous!
Where have the elance clients gone? The type of jobs and budgets I routinely encountered at elance are nowhere to be seen. Upwork job postings are often incoherent. Budgets are insulting, most of them impossibly low and completely unacceptable. $50 for a five minute animated video (with a link to a Pixar clip and a note that it must 'look like this quality')? $5 for an illustrated children's book? These job postings are insane and I find it hard to believe these projects are ever eventually produced at the stated budgets.
How am I supposed to become a 'rising star' with a 'job completion rating' if every bid I post is ignored? The same type of bids created active engagement and resulted in frequent jobs at elance. What is it with Upwork's bogus "tests" and "certifications"? None of its tests even have anything to do with the services I provide.
The 20% fee per job is beyond the pale. It could be the final nail in Upwork's coffin.
I searched for Upwork in the business press. I see it's failing. One fund which invested $15 million in Upwork last year now values its holdings at $7 million - and it says the current projection is for holdings of Upwork to be "worth nothing" by the end of 2016.
If any company deserves to fail and die, it's Upwork. It's a contemptible, sloppy disgrace and its abominable level of service gives the impression that something shady & odd has happened behind the scenes.
The big question is: What will freelancers do once the final large job-posting site is gone? Of course, Upwork is so bad it's as if that's already happened. I hate what Upwork has done to my income and the online freelance job market.
However, today, out of the blue, I receive this below message that my account has been suspended:
"Im writing to let you know that your profile appeared to contain misleading information about your skills and/or experience, so it was flagged for review. I have carefully reviewed all aspects of your account and concluded you are in violation of the Upwork Terms of Service (for more details, please see the Upwork User Agreement, Section 3.2).
Based on this review, your account will be closed. Unfortunately, given the violation in question, our decision is final and cannot be reversed.
Please note that it is unlikely that we will respond to any future correspondence regarding this matter"
Now, reading other reviews, I realize that they have actually improved their pathetic and frankly, offensive Customer Care Service message. At least they are stating the policy, of which, I have listed here:
3.2 Account Registration; Profile
By registering for an account, you must complete a User profile (Profile), which you consent to be shown to other Users and, unless you change your privacy settings, the public. If you are a Freelancer, unless you use the Site solely as an employee and Agency Member of a registered Agency Account, you represent and warrant that you use your Profile to market your business to others for the purpose of entering into independent contractor relationships with other Users. You agree to provide true, accurate, and complete information on your Profile and all registration and other forms you access on the Site or provide to us and to update your information to maintain its truthfulness, accuracy, and completeness. You agree not to provide and to correct any information about your location, your business, your skills, or the services your business provides that is or becomes false or misleading. You agree not to register for more than one Client Account and one Freelancer Account without express written permission from us (except that you may register as an Agency Member of other Accounts as provided below). You agree not to ask or allow another person to create an Account on your behalf, for your use, or for your benefit.
However, it my case, this "violation" is completely unfounded. There is nothing inaccurate about my profile.
In a response that I suspect will also go unanswered, I suggested that UpWork revise their email response and consider providing an option for appeal. Stating that their random and completely unfounded decision is final, cannot be reversed and that they are unlikely to respond to any correspondence leads me to believe that UpWork does not value the basic foundation in which this nation was founded (think 14th amendment).
To not even engage in proper correspondence to try and resolve the conflict to re-instate the suspension is a first class act of bad business.
I will not be requiring their services in the future.
I used Upwork and lost $1150 + arbitrary cost $300 so total i lost by abuse and fraud of Upwork is $1450 and waste 3 months time.
It started when I post a job with detail description by Fixed Price
You can see the job desc on this link https://fileholic.com/share/Upwork-job-desc.png
As you see it show $1000 at the beginning but after Frelancer ask more, we agreed on $1150, with bold point it need work on Framework React/Angular for frontend.
Upwork has a great support during the progress and i don't have any bad impression about them.
Upwork also recommend a Freelancer to me (he is High Rate Freelancer with Good Reputation) and after Freelancer agreed, he start work on it and i already paid to Upwork $1150.
2 weeks later, He show me the sample via link to see the admin page and front page style, but he not work on it via Framework for frontend like we agreed before, so i ask he to not waste time anymore and do like we agreed with framework Frontend via React.
After 3 months later, he promised that he will deliver the same design frontend and admin like file that i already send to him 2 months before, but after i wait 2 months he show link the same page and same admin page like when he show on the first time without React.
So i felt i just fraud by this Freelancer, he not do any progress since 2 months ago, he just smart to explain but no work at all, also the fact that he never send any files to me that make me decide to stop waste my time with this Freelancer and plan to try find other freelancer that far better rather this one.
So i ask to Upwork how can i end of this with this Freelancer, and i already explain my issue to Upwork, and Upwork said "according to TOS etc" i must click cancel from job page, and it can't done without confirm from Freelancer side, i really surprise with this funny rule, if Freelancer already send the files or do the work close with the requirement that will make more sense that Freelancer has rights to confirm my dispute, but this one, he never send me any files and never do the work closely with my requirements.
So Upwork not give me any choice to waiting confirmation from Freelancer, and like i thought 100% is correct that freelancer refuse to it and demand payment 50% from agreement, and it shocked me that this Freelancer use his chance to against my dispute and demand payment for nothing.
I reject it and explain i offer this job as Fixed Price mean i only able to pay that i want based on my description.
Do you want pay something that you already describe but you get nothing or see the item is not closely with you want?
So i ask Upwork as middle man / protection as side who held my money from fraud Freelancer like him, and again i shocked that Upwork state they not able to as middle man and there is other party that able to make decision on each issue on Upwork platform, and that party is not even you aware, that party is Arbitrary.
When you have issue with bad Freelancer and want to help to solve your issue, you must pay $300 more for fee Arbitrary, again, i felt Upwork abuse and fraud me since they only want my money but dont want take any responsibility if there is bad Freelancer or bad Client on they Platform.
So I pay Arbitrary and finally Arbitrary decide to pay Freelancer 100%, shocked by this Arbitrary decison, and i want to ask to Arbitrary what is the reason i must pay 100% to Freelancer and they have rule to not have to explain everything to anyone.
So here i am, Fraud and Abuse on the first time with famous platform Freelancer like Upwork, before this i never get this experience with other Freelancer marketplace because other is responsible and they will do action directly for Bad Freelancer and Bad Client so as long you stay good and clear, you will be safe, but not on Upwork.
I want make a point or advice from my experienced and you must knew this before you use Upwork:
1) Upwork not responsible with your money as client, from any issue you experience from job or from any Freelancer.
They only want your money, once you pay to Upwork, you no longer has rights and Upwork doesn't care if you get fraud by Freelancer.
2) Upwork will not give you any support/help and he will throw your issue to other party that completely outside of between you and Upwork, and remember, Arbitrary fee is $300 upfront.
This Arbitrary also doesn't care with your money and you must explain all things from beginning to them, and they can make any decision they like, and they don't have responsibility with their decisions (It's like dreaming job when you can do anything and you don't need do responsible with your action).
3) Upwork Community and Support is not a support, it build from them to build image they have great platform and support (which they are not), you will not get any help or proper support like on other Platform Freelancer Marketplace.
4) Rather you risk your precious money to Upwork, you better use on other Platform that want to take responsibility as middle man between Client and Freelancer and will not lap their hands to other party plus you not need to pay more for other party like Upwork.
While this is the rights of Upwork to lap their hands from any issue inside their platform, we as client especially need careful with their TOS, better you use other like F*verr or other like Freelancer.com
This Upwork or former is Elance (probably one of the reason they change brand is to avoid bad testimonial and try to rebrand new to give customers better company but, they really worse)
No files, no work you get and you lost $1450, that happen on Upwork for real.
After Freelancer win, he contact me by skype for laugh and mock me and it just give my day more worse.
Be Careful Guys.
Last One:
For Proof that i'm not boast, here is the more proof that you might interest to check
https://fileholic.com/share/Decision-Arbitrary.png (this the proof Arbitrary that win the Freelancer)
https://fileholic.com/share/Upwork-denied-responsible.png (this the One of the proof Upwork don't want responsible with your case even it happen on their platform)
Probably after this some Upwork team will try to defend their rights by TOS and blame that Arbitrary decision is final decision that everyone should accept, even the fact freelancer do fraud is the winner.
Also If you a Freelancer you can get free money like this Freelancer by abuse TOS Upwork, like you just need show link to your client that which seems to show you are already working, no need send any files, you can also can use any link you found from google, and make your client upset, and once your client dispute, challenge him, and prepare win on Arbitrary level for free money (some good Freelancer will not do this, but this method will use by bad freelancer person, and on the end, Client must pay that when they got trap)
I hope i already give you a point and warn you before you got "trap" on Upwork.
Seriously, use other freelancer marketplace, there are a lot alternative out there.
1. The 20% comission UNTILL you reach 500$, which then turn into 10%. That would be fair and good if it didn't only count for ONE client. As of now, I've made almost 1000$ on upwork and, which Menas I've generated upwork atleast 200$ in commissions and even more in connects. Sadly, most of the projects people get on upwork are a one time deal and you almost never get the chance to reach that 500$ mark with just one client. I believe the 10% comission should be applied to anyone who has already earned 500 or 1000$ via upwork IN TOTAL.
Why? Because that would encourage people to really keep all the gigs and payments inside upwork, where reaching a "total earned" would actually benefit them. And of course, once you reach that 10% commission rate, the people would feel "appreciated" by the site and actually be more involved in trying to make more money via upwork (because no they make 10% more, technically). And that would go both ways, maybe it would be less comission, but it would result in more gigs, balancing it out if not exceeding the profits for upwork themselves.
Especially if you're from Europe, the 20% comission + the VAT that I have to pay from my own pocket ends up to turn into 30+% comission flat! And that is before taxes in my own country. The 10% comission also REALLY benifits your workers over seas like myself.
2. Im not quite sure why, because I haven't seen the page from a "Buyers" point of view, but atleast half of the time I feel like the clients never even see my gig application even when I've written a killer application, a lot of people tend to not respond at all (NEVER have been denied), which leads me to believe they never even get to see my application. I don't know if it's because their end gets flooded by people offering to do the gig for under what the minimum is (I saw that when I bought the upwork Plus account). But that should really get checked out.
Best regards,
Dāvis Paugurs
To start off the person who I originally spoke to was a male from India. I Decided to hire him and he says you have to work with my other account. This account has reached its maximum amount of customers. I will message you from my other account and you can hire me through that account.
This should have been my first red flag... I get a message from a female that he he is pretending to be. However having had some experiences on eBay and Amazon and how much they manipulate and control you... I give him the benefit of the doubt and I continued on. I had to give him some passwords and access to some accounts. Since he's on the other side of the world the two step authentication kicked in. He sends me a screen shot of the second question it was asking. The screen shot also said which I caught "someone from Afghanistan is trying to login to this account". I thought that's odd. He said he's from India. Red flag #2... again I look past this red flag because I just wanted to become visible in google. I didn't care where the person was from I just wanted to be visible yesterday.
After I think it was 15 hours of paid "work" I still could not find my site in google. So he said that I had needed to do link building which was very time consuming and that would run me $100 a week for 6-7 months. I had said at that point if it's necessary I want to do it but give me a couple of weeks to make some money as well as iI want to research it and we can discuss it then. I don't have any conversation with the guy and a week later I see $100 charge on my credit card. This goes on for 3 weeks until I finally cancel the card. Not happy since we didn't discuss it like I had said I wanted to. I just swept it under the rug and was just going to move on. I didn't want go dwell on $300 when I had so much to do to launch this business that worrying about it would just bring me down potentially costing me more.
I then started to learn google. It turns out all he did was make an AdWords account with 15-20 irrelevant keywords and post the google analytics code in the section in on Shopify. 20 minutes worth of work tops. L Again not pleased but I don't dwell on it. It had been about 6 weeks at this point since I had been trolled out of money and I just wanted to continue to go forward...
Here's what pushed me over the edge and is now prompting this review.
TODAY I GET AN EMAIL FROM UPWORK THREATENING TO SEND ME TO COLLECTIONS FOR WORK I NEVER AUTHORIZED. THEY ARE ENABLING THESE PEOPLE TO SCAM AMERICANS.
THEY DIDNT REACH OUT TO ME TO SEE IF THERE IS A PROBLEM. THEY JUST THREATEN TO RUIN MY CREDIT.
GENERALLY WE PAY CONTRACTORS WHEN THE WORK IS DONE. ALL THE THINGS I ASKED FOR THAT I DIDNT MENTION STILL ARE NOT CONPLETED EXCEPT FOR THE TASKS IVE DONE MYSELF.
WORST COMPANY EVER DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH UPWORK.
UPDATE TO THIS REVIEW: They never replied to my questions on the legitimacy of my bill and have sent me to COLLECTIONS... PLEASE DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY.
FOR THE RECORD I HAVE HAD POOR EXPERIENCES WITH FIVERR AND FREELANCER AS WELL. THE PEOPLE YOUR DEALING WITH ON THESE SITES KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE GAME WITH THESE WEBSITES. SO THEY WILL INSTRUCT YOU TO DO CERTAIN THINGS ALONG THE WAY THAT LEAVE YOU NO RECOURSE. ALL OF THESE SITES ARE BAD. IN THE LONG RUN IT HAS COST ME LESS TO HIRE A LOCAL PERSON. I HAVE HAD BETTER LUCK POSTING A GIG ON CRAIGSLIST. ACTUALLY I HAVE BEEN VERY PLEASED WITH THE HELP I HAVE FOUND THERE.
No what Upwork did was terrible and hard to believe.
They asked us to complete the pending stuff (which we said was extra and not in job scope). They said some bonus was paid to us (for different stuff and not this) and hence you have to complete the job now and they also suspended us from accepting any further jobs.
Fine working hard within 3 days we did complete what was pending. Client happy. She went away with her project. Now here comes the trouble. We now asked them to restore our account. They simply refused and said our behaviour had problems and this is not the way to treat a customer.
We simply don't understand having worked 3 years with more than 200,000 USD business and over 300 positive reviews and only 1-2 negative reviews how come we had behaviour problems all of a sudden. And also why not have the dispute process properly complete and why intervene in between and suspend our account.
I thought dispute process was real and Elance is only a third party. But now you sound more of a biased business.
Alright so our profile now closed our regular customers we shifted to a newly formed Elance account.
We initially just accepted only their work. But as work kept on flowing in and reviews and earnings increased we got more new clients and then again we started bidding. Our profile became again as awesome as the previous one in 2 years and we were starting to think we can rely on Elance now.
Sorry here comes the bummer! We did 1 job 3 months back for which the client chargeback and Elance sent us message that we have to refund back $1500.
But hey Elance.com has Escrow system and you are supposed to protect us from all this. But they simply put the charge on us and said this job doesn't qualify for Escrow protection. In normal circumstances any freelance is protected for upto $2500.
But what is normal? Working for 1 month, getting paid and reviewed and then Elance won't protect is it normal?
Again account gets closed!
Long story Short: Avoid them if you can and have other options. Never ever rely your business on Elance.com
This is a real story. Our account ids were: shrikrishnatech and skiltd
Our website is shrikrishnatechnologies.com
What all this really means is that freelancers are now paying WAY MORE for the privilege of bidding on jobs. On top of this, Upwork charges 20% commission to the freelancers for the agreed contract price. This is DOUBLE what Freelancer.com and some other freelance websites charge!
Upwork pushed a video explaining the price increases, saying that the new system would decrease the number of freelancers bidding on jobs and therefore increase a freelancer's chances of getting a job. THAT WAS TOTAL BS! The exact opposite has turned out to be true. Many freelancers are now only applying for low value jobs in order to only be charged two connects rather than 4 or 6 connects.
Bottom line: Many of us are paying way more to work on Upwork and we are getting fewer and fewer jobs. WHATEVER YOU DO, STAY AWAY FROM UPWORK! HORRIBLE! GREEDY! AND THE WEBSITE IS ALWAYS HAVING PROBLEMS!
I should add that many of the clients who post jobs on Upwork are looking to have work done at RIDICULOUSLY LOW PRICES. Some ask to have designs submitted before hiring the freelancer. Be VERY careful and try to judge the client before you bid on a job!
'YOU', people being placed at the top most position, would treat this mail / message like any other junk mail and be if ignored by. But still would be taking out my frustration and pass on this message to you.
As per what happened recently, we are all incapable of earnings, who received the irregularities in our account. We landed up to your site of upwork in a hope that we might get into a life changing deal one day.
We also know, these things come up from the higher management to reduce number of people ( freelancer -who are of no use to your company).
You are throwing us out of your system like we have committed serious crimes and are held responsible for imaginary fraud activities. It gives us a feeling like we don't belong to your cream layer and we are just the corner dirt lying on the road.
The day when I saw that my account is getting closed without prior intimation, it was like I was being punished for serious offence, and I did cross check too that did I really cross any line while searching job. But hey! It took me 3-4 days to accept it that I am not a valuable person on this Earth, not because I committed some fraud, but as not being a consistent earner.
I have purchased the connects, still half of it unused. Yes 12$ it is which I spent to buy connects to see your robotic mail chain that ' irregularities in your account', "cross check, and found hard core evidence against you, " ' we may not be able to reply to your message', ' once closed you would be kicked out of the system even when you are a genuine user.
I have earned around 30+ $ till date and spent 12$ to take your services to search job. This is how you build trust in the company? Are the job providers going to believe your commitment to provide same freelancer who are in project, whom Upwork trust?
Being a multi-million or billion company doesn't mean you have the right to blame people for what they didn't do, it's the guts in which you say it right on the face that ' you are just tiny piece of electron in my universe and are not capable of earning till date', not that we are hard core criminals. Just such filthy feeling I got out of those robotic mail chain. It's being fooled even after paying for the services.
I asked for reimbursement of my payment for services, for which they reply the ticket is closed and give you feedback about upwork. So this mail is my feedback.
Current situation might be favoring you, but one day when clients trust break, you all would be standing behind us in this queue of jerks..
Experienced freelancers are dying on this platform.
Too many freelancers and not enough clients.
Clients are often scammers so be very careful.
Their ranking system will punish you and your Job Success score if you make "ANY" mistake. Once you are below 90% you will never get work again.
Their ranking system punishes freelancers if the client does not leave feedback - Your fault.
Their ranking system will punish you if there are any problems with a job.
Bad clients only need complain and Upwork will give them all your money back. Even if you did a good job and can prove it. You'll also be punished again.
Feedback from Elance jobs from 1-2 years ago will go against you if none was left. You have no control over this and you are punished.
The system crashes 3-5 times a week.
The message system constantly breaking down and if you miss a job offer, you are punished.
Wording on the site is done by non English speaking people.
English language - Masterful is considered the same as Native English?
New jobs are listed as Recency?
The CEO does not seem to have any idea what his people are doing to ruin this site.
Odesk used to be a good place to work. Upwork is very scary with all the hundreds of rules you MUST know.
Great freelancers with 5 years + experience cannot get jobs unless their rates are really low.
Clients are very cheap. $5 jobs are everywhere and mostly scammers.
Customer support people are not English speakers for the most part and can only copy and past canned answers.
There is no help for freelancers.
Clients do not know how to use this complicated platform.
Never work for a new client. It will cost you Job Success points.
The overall experience is awful and very stressful and very difficult for new people.
I would never recommend this site to anyone.
Or at least Upwork were. Recent policy changes in client/freelancer communications insist that Upwork is the sole platform to discuss projects with prospective clients. Which wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing If their conferencing and messaging options were in the least bit reliable. Their time tracker is notorious for inaccurate captures and crashing every two weeks, forcing reinstallation I've had several instances where a contract has been suspended due to unresolved payment resolutions with clients I haven't interacted with for YEARS (who indeed paid in full) only to find those suspensions negatively impacted my job rating. And Upwork's new policy of rewarding "badges" to top earners doesn't just encourage underhanded competition. It encourages an atmosphere based on financial incentives solely; not the quality of your work
But scammers continue to abound on Upwork. As do abusive, insulting and downright exploitative clients. Upwork can control that to some degree, but they've shown a whole sale lack of standards when vetting contractors in comparison to freelancers (who typically need to jump through hoops to optimize their listed services.)
While Upwork isn't the only game in town, they're the most reliable. They're also the most secure. But their policy changes and customer service are positively abysmal. In most cases, you won't be able to feed your family off of Upwork. But if you're looking for an additional source of income or are willing to adjust your lifestyle to fairly austere standards in order to freelance full time, it can be one of many solutions. A flowed solution, but a solution none the less. Just make sure you know what to look out for.
I needed a freelancer to translate some documents for me, and tried to find one on Upwork.com
After uploading the money for the job to Upwork's escrow, my account got "disabled", while I started to receive numerous and insistent requests from Upwork to send copies of my personal IDs.
I knew from before, that almost all employees at Upwork are hired from India, Pakistan and other South Asian countries (most of the programming work and customer support takes place in those countries; this corresponds well to the fact that at least 95% of all the freelancers in Upwork are also from South Asia).
Therefore, for me it was out of the question to send copies of my ID to a private company, where it could be accessed and misused by the frequently rotating staff, consisting of hundreds Indian, Pakistani and other nationals. Nobody would want to have their IDs copied, forged, and then used in human trafficking, illegal immigration, financial frauds or scams, other types of crimes or even in terrorism.
After I refused to send copies of my IDs, and asked them to either release the money to my freelancer for the job done, or to refund the money back to the credit card, Upwork's so-called "Customer Support" did not do that. Each of my emails with a request either to pay the freelancer, or to return the money, Upwork replied to by pasting in the same canned request to send copies of my ID, together with false statements that "I must" send my ID when requested.
I don't know much about laws in US, but the legislation of my country Sweden, as well as of EU (which Sweden is a part of), says that no private company can demand private persons to send copies of their private, sensitive IDs. Private companies can ask, but they have no legal right to demand. The only thing private companies can do, is to refuse to sell services or products.
However, for me, living in Sweden/EU, and being subject of Sweden's and EU jurisdictions, Upwork's third-world employees (all disguised by western names, but still writing in the typical "Indian/Pakistani English"), stated that "I must" send my ID to them. Such falsely statements are a subject for legal suit against this company.
As per today, my money (a few hundred dollars) have not been refunded, despite my numerous requests and demands. People behind Upwork clearly have a policy of keeping the money to themselves on the excuse of "routinely control" and "freezing" users' accounts, hoping that the users will get tired and leave their money to Upwork.
By now I am quite sure that I will never see the money again. However, I do intend to draw these scammers into the daylight. The next Monday a police report will be filed on the grounds of money scam, and a legal suit will follow.
Furthermore - one could be a little confused, seeing this many positive ratings of Upwork on Trustpilot. However, there is a simple explanation of it. Since I work with IT, I have had experience with many other freelancing and other businesses, many of which, just like Upwork, too have outsourced their operations to India, Pakistan and other poor South Asian countries. Such companies, in order to battle with the high number negative reviews, engage their own employees to put in positive reviews. In this case, Upwork has done a remarkable job.
But this only can fool someone, who doesn't know how these scam-based "companies" operate. What is the real ratio of positive/negative reviews of Upwork, one can see on Yelp dot com, and here on ReviewFeeder (I do understand it's difficult for Upwork to hold track of, and try to fake the positive reviews on all the websites full of their victims' complaints).
Now, at least, you now a little bit more about the company with a notable name "Upwork Global Inc.", and that you will think twice before uploading your money to this scam company. To be continued.
I think the reason my account was shut down is ludicrous. Because my jobs haven't led to activity? I posted 10 private jobs of which only 2 people applied for after I invited over 100? I don't understand why my account was suspended? If my jobs are private, it's not like others are out there trying to apply for them. Of the two people I hired, one completely flaked out on me mid-job, and the other completed the job and was paid upon completion. As far as I'm concerned Upwork system failed me, which Is why I don't understand why my account was closed? What's the point of private listings, if you have to have them fulfilled? That's what I had understood one of the comforts of posting a private listing, as that I didn't have people applying for a job without me not issuing it. I had a strict criteria of candidates, of which none applied. I wasn't low-balling either, I agreed to pay their market rate. Was I supposed to withdraw my jobs after nobody qualified for them? Or should I have loosened up my requirements and given the work to someone who was unqualified? Or should I just not post requirements which might not find a qualified candidate and hire a proper firm? You've left me in the dark here with no reasonable explanation. The fact that I am expected to commission unqualified candidates is sheer lunacy. Perhaps I set the bar too high in hoping to use elance. Perhaps it's more for hobbyist programmers? I will be happy to take my business to any of the competing freelance companies.
-claims that it's there to help freelancers and clients hook up with each other, and offers escrow protection to make sure payments are fair.
However:
- if a client gives you a bad review, it doesn't matter who's in the right or the wrong; your account will be damaged, and your business will look bad, for months. Again, all it takes is one upset client. Do you really want to pay 20% of all you earn in order to work on a website that has rated you terribly in the public eye? I mean, who hasn't gotten one or two grumpy, impossible-to-work-with clients at one time or another?
- scammers galore use this site, and Upwork does little to nothing to filter them out from the real clients. Moreover, if you accidently get scammed, it's you that Upwork threatens to sue, not the scammer. You could get ruined by this site.
- their site is CONSTANTLY being "fixed". The technical difficulties Upwork experience as a matter of course are huge and never-ending. My computer is sometimes unusable due to messages from Upwork that won't disappear from the screen and cover one third of the screen, no matter how often I shut down and restart my computer.
- payments are grossly, unfairly, low. You're competing with people who can, and do, work for $5 a day. That's not Upwork's fault, but it is what happens when a site is global, and unfortunately, finding fair work on Upwork is just about impossible from a freelancer's point of view.
- Clients have you over a fire, and Upwork won't protect you from it. Say a client wants you to write 5 articles for them, but only wants to pay you for 1. The client simply "changes his mind" about the template and the topic each time you submit the article, saying that what you wrote wasn't good enough, but that he'll give you another chance if you actually write about this totally different topic instead. What do you do? To refuse means to get a 1 star rating and a bad review that you can do nothing about, but which will harm your business for the next 6 months. You HAVE to comply with this dishonest client, working for 5 days for him for the price of 1 day. Otherwise down goes your Upwork rating and your future potential business vanishes!
- Unfortunately, I found the other freelancers are sometimes dishonest too. This means that clients can be extremely jumpy, ready to give you 1 star ratings that actually the freelancer who worked before you deserves. That means that your advertising, online image, and profile can get damaged because of another freelancer's dishonesty.
I wish that I had never worked on Upwork. The longer I worked on it, the lower and lower it went down in my opinion.
Beginning of April, Upwork sent an email to both I and my main client to say that Upwork were "reviewing" our contract. Now, mind you, that contract has been into place for a year and we never had any issues with it. They have asked us for a ton of papers and both me and the client provided them with everything. It was a painful process and then a few days later Upwork suddenly sent us an email (me and the client) saying that our accounts have been suspended.
This came as a big surprise, especially since they even wanted to disclose the reason behind it was. Both I and the client were honest, payment was being done timely and I always had 100% job success rate. Moreover, any other active contracts that I had were also cancelled, meaning there is no way to collect the money now from those clients nor from my biggest client either.
I have messages Upwork a few times and tried to understand why my account has been suspended, which again, they just ignored. It is a very frustrating experience when you pay over $3000 in commission to Upwork for a year and then you receive an automated email and then nobody can even explain to you what is happening. I know that I was very honest and transparent in the whole process and have not done anything wrong yet Upwork has closed my "Top Rated" freelancer account and nobody bothered to contact me or discuss this issue with me directly.
This clearly shows that Upwork only cares about the money and not about their freelancers since no communication or effort was done in my case, all this after they charged me $3000 commission for the last one year. Well done, Upwork!