Thread: Freelancer.com withholds my money

Originally Posted by Poyol

Freelancer.com Reviews - Legit or Scam?
freelancer-com | Ripoff Report | Complaints Reviews Scams Lawsuits Frauds Reported

Thanks Jason, there are so many complaints yo would think something would have been done by now. Check some more of these out.

Freelancer.com Scam Artist 2012 | Creative Marketing Ideas
The trouble with Freelancer.com « Lisa A. Martin – Freelance science copywriter/editor
freelancer | Ripoff Report | Complaints Reviews Scams Lawsuits Frauds Reported
Freelancer.com Review- Is Suspending Accounts With Money a Good Policy?
Freelancer.com Reviews - Legit or Scam?
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=135356
Freelancer.com Complaints & Reviews
Freelancer.com Website Reviews - Page 1 | SiteJabber
myLot - freelancer.com----scam or legit?
AUTHORS BEWARE!!! Freelance Scam Alert « J.S. Wayne
Freelancer.com is full of scammers, has no support
scam Protection, scam Reports, Email List, Report scam Email, scam News and Information | scamInformer.com | freelancer.com
Victim of freelancer.com account suspension fraud. How can I get my money
Freelancer.com is a SCAM
http://5uperman.com/bitch-moan/freel...than-scammers/

Alaister Low is smart... but not smart enough to discuss the real issues. Or is too busy with his abroad trips.

Proof? Here ya go:
Get a Hindu: FREELANCER.COM, FACEBOOK ...AND SWASTIKAS

It is also possible he doesn't know what are real reasons of bad standards stuck to the company for like 2 years. Neither knows the general public. And those reasons may be pretty... umm... interesting, you know.


The company's representatives use very fine excuse pattern while questioned:



1. Deny everything, copy-paste the premeade, meaningless statements.

Google:
max from freelancer.com
emir from freelancer.com



2. Blame users. Her blog may seem to be criticizing the company, but if you are able to read between the lines, you will notice the girl defends and tries to pretend it is not the company to take the blame for most problems:
The trouble with Freelancer.com « Lisa A. Martin – Freelance science copywriter/editor

...have I mentioned that she has been hired by Freelancer.com at least once (create company's Wikipedia entry)?
The problem with that approach is that when company is criticized so often and with such strong words, it changes its policies (or most of those) immediately. Of course most of corporations will have some issues reported by a few people. In case of Freelancer.com you got a whole catalogue of abuses and a considerable number of complaining people. Confirm it to any other major freelancing website (Elance, oDesk etc.). Apart from totally different numbers, you will notice that usual complaints in case of any other market is the quality of the cooperation with your counterparty (freelancer or customer), not irregularities concerning market's organizer.



3. Tell that all was in the contract with the user anyway. Let me put it this way: those documents look like outsourced to some freelancer agreeing to write them for 50 bucks. No single one (a number of papers scattered around the website), blurry, without any procedure outlined clearly and... company defaulted on them anyway (examples: affiliate program changed unilaterally by the company even for old members ; revealing my personal data from customer database).

And I can tell you why most such contracts allow the corporations to do a lot. It is usually a safety valve for defense against scammers, hackers etc. (especially important for companys dealing with automated money transactions processing). Been preparing the procedures for an escrow company, so I know what's the deal. But those 'valves' are to be used as very last resorts only and with considerable imprications for company's systemic structure. In case of Freelancer.com, the company does whatever it likes.

Apart from that, company's actions cannot be beyond general business rules. With special attention paid to: users' monies, users' privacy and services' quality.



4. Use security as an excuse. Seems legit at first sight. But is very fishy indeed when compared to web entities dealing with money (banks, PayPal, Skrill, other freelancing websites). Producing your own mugshot or resending your documents' scans a few times is nothing like that. Money laundering prevention? Anti-terrorism rules? While are core branches outsourced to Philippines then? Why all information you got about your customer support representative is that his name is "John"? Why isn't the company oficially registered as a bank or hedge fund (it is important while analyzing a few other odd issues there)? Why hasn't it even provided full list of laws and authorities it is subject of? ...and if only it helped to security there. But for a few years we had the most dangerous freelancing market there with no signs of improvement.



5. Pretend they do improve their processes. Got some promises as old as an year while company deals with specialists able to wonders within weeks (example to put sone hard facts here: "Freelancer have told me that they will be bringing in a compulsory milestone payment “pretty soon” which must be set up in advance of starting the project and will be a minimum of $5 or 10% of the project fee" ; got kicked out due to my articles about 4 months ago - don't remember anything like that existed). Reason? As I wrote... you can be surprised what can they be.



6. Pretend that being scam or legit is a beauty contest, not a matter of law and morality. Example: let's said I have robbed $2M from a local bank. Gave $10,000 to each of my 100 neighbors. Have $1M all for myself. While bank owner complaints, I say "hey, look how many people are happy with me... you must be crazy". Problem is that even ONE offense is enough to put me behind bars. And I can testify in any court that Freelancer.com engaged in about 10 types of actions that have harmed me personally (examples: my name and surname revealed, distributing smear notes among my customes, me thretened illegally from local Penal Code's point of view).



7. Hush it up. At all costs:

- Google.com spammed with results from the domain of freelancer.com (see: freelancer.com scam ; freelancer.com review ; freelancer.com complaint)

- Wikipedia to be looking like company's private ads board ; all proposals to discuss the controversies around the company dismissed as 'vandalism' ; 'controversial' ; 'irrelevant' etc.
Get a Hindu: FREELANCER.COM, PRIVACY POLICY ...AND GERONTOPHILIA

- at least one discussion forum killed the thread about the company due to legal concerns
Google still has it: access world forum freelancer.com

- at least one journalist writing about controversies deletes her article ; next articles of her praise the company and its CEO
Freelancer.com founder dismisses scam claims - Sydney Business Month

- a considerable amount of tweaked reviews created circulating around the web

- independent bloggers (at least Kent Mauresmo and me) threatened with "legal actions" or "informing the local authorities" (basically the company informed me I have engaged in criminal activities but they won't rat me provided that I remove my articles). In case of Kent, we had an attempt to take down his entire large blog due to... copyright matters (used company's logo in article discussing it):
Freelancer.com Scam Artist 2012 | Creative Marketing Ideas



This last thing infuriated me. Copyright? So let me spill some beans here. When I was company's customer, had a conversation with Matt Barrie and been discussing some of my ideas concerning potential amendments of website. Gave no official permission to use them, but saw at least one implemented (only financial part of account is suspended, but the users can keep on looking for jobs and getting them).

The big boss seems to believe that the world is his oyster and is not afraid to use other people's ideas without any specific "thank you" ; "we would like to offer you a compensation since we are for profit legitimate business" ; "would you like to take credit for it?" or even "goodbye":
Get a Hindu: SPEAKING OF COPYRIGHTS...




Congratulations Matt, congratulations Alaister, congratulations 'Danu Davenport', congratulations [put a few generic names here]

If you haven't been harassing me, I wouldn't even learn how rotten this whole scheme is...

6a. If saw that your some of your misbehaviors get exposed, act legit/play stupid and pretend that past does not exist. Responsibility? What is it?
Quite disturbing having in mind that allegedly mature men are in charge there...

1.Avoid Freelancer.com like the Plague! If you’re looking to outsource some work, I recommend using “Elance.com“
2.Customer Service is KING! Treat your customers good and your business will flourish. Treat your customers badly, and someone just might write and SEO optimized article about you that shows up on the first page of Google

-Kent Mauresmo

Freelancer.com Scam Artist 2012 | Creative Marketing Ideas

Read more about Matt Barrie and see the pictures.

http://www.realscam.com/f11/freelanc...736/#post33051

I wonder if the editor for Good Weekend was contacted, would s/he be interested in having one of the reporters do a story on all the issues and problems Freelancer.com is having with so many people? I'm sure if a reporter would do a story, Mr. Barrie would not be able to blow smoke up the reporters skirts, but actually have to resolve all the complaints. I bet he wouldn't threaten to sue the magainze for doing the article based on facts. If he did, it would be fun to see the clash of the titans. Just a thought.

Originally Posted by EagleOne

I wonder if the editor for Good Weekend was contacted, would s/he be interested in having one of the reporters do a story on all the issues and problems Freelancer.com is having with so many people? I'm sure if a reporter would do a story, Mr. Barrie would not be able to blow smoke up the reporters skirts, but actually have to resolve all the complaints. I bet he wouldn't threaten to sue the magainze for doing the article based on facts. If he did, it would be fun to see the clash of the titans. Just a thought.

The woman-chasing guru of Freelancer.com is a favorite of Good Weekend and it is probably not smoke he blows but money he got from all those contracted people he decided to not pay. They really need to let the world in on the game this company seems to be playing.

The circulation of your host newspaper continues to fall by about 40,000 each audit period and the response from the editorial brains at GW is to put Lara Bingle on the cover? When the boys moved in recently to run the show I thought we might have seen the last of this type of sh*t. But you've jumped the shark. Goodbye GW. What a great read you once were.

A comment from someone on their FB Page
https://www.facebook.com/GoodWeekendMagazine
Deer in the Headlights

As you may have noticed, haven't been publishing anything for like 10 days. Yup, Freelancer.com came up with a great idea for success - just shut the whistleblowers up.

Been running this blog for as long as 4 months and the Freelancer.com people have been reading it since the very beginning.

And the trigger was quite specific.

Dec 1


INSULTS, INJURIES, STATEMENTS...

Just going by some other articles from cover pictures I would say that maybe Matt Barrie's articles fit right in.

Beautiful figures ... Malcolm Day and Bree Maddox have each made millions from businesses ranging from phone sex to online erotica. Photo: Frances Andrijich

Malcolm Day wishes people would stop calling him a porn king. Granted, he has made a fortune selling videos with titles like Deep Lust and Great Big Tits. Yes, he is a mass-marketer of inflatable dolls, fake-fur handcuffs and glow-in-the-dark personal lubricant. But "porn king"? What kind of job description is that? "I believe the most appropriate terminology is 'adult-product retailer',–" he says.

At 46, Day is a fit, sharply dressed man with centre-parted dark hair swept back from his face. In photographs, he can look slick and devil-may-care - like a porn king, in fact - but when I meet him, he has the conscientious air of a hard-working businessman. "I try to distance myself from any likeness to Hugh Hefner or anyone like that," he explains in his vast, Hefneresque apartment overlooking Perth. "That's not me, and it's not the way I'd like to be perceived."


Read more: Malcolm Day & Bree Maddox Article In Good Weekend

Malcolm Day & Bree Maddox Article In Good Weekend

Freelancer.com Scam 2012 website

Freelancer.con Scam 2012 webpage

Freelancer.com - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background

Freelancer.com is a "roll up" of several outsourcing marketplaces including GetAFreelancer.com and EUFreelance.com (founded by Magnus Tibell in 2004, Sweden),[3] LimeExchange (a former business of Lime Labs LLC, USA),[4] Freelancer.co.uk (United Kingdom),[5] Scriptlance.com (founded by Rene Trescases in 2001, Canada)[6]- one of the early pioneers in freelancing, Freelancer.de Booking Center (Germany),[7] Webmaster-talk.com (USA), a forum for webmasters,[8] and vWorker (founded by Ian Ippolito, USA).[9]

Freelancer.com categorizes its users as either employers or freelancers. Employers are individuals or companies who wish to outsource their work.[10] Once registered, users are able to bid for projects, or post their own. To help employers decide which user to select, Freelancer allows providers to take exams and prove their skills.

The major categories of work posted on the site are Websites, IT & Software, Mobile Phones & Computing, Writing & Content, Design, Media & Architecture, Data Entry & Admin, Engineering & Science, Product Sourcing and Manufacturing, as well as Sales & Marketing, Business, Accounting, HR & Legal.

As of 26th October 2012, the company has set up 22 regional marketplaces with local language, customer service and currency support including the United States (Global), United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Philippines[11] and India [12][13]

Other sites that provide similar services are oDesk, Guru, and Elance.

[edit] Criticism

Some reviewers have classified the site as a (partial) scam, [14] [15] [16]

Some users also report that they do not receive remuneration as agreed [17] [18]


Type
Australian Proprietary Limited Company (Private)

Foundation date
Australia
2009

Headquarters
Sydney, New South Wales,

Area served
Worldwide

Founder(s)
Matt Barrie

Key people
Matt Barrie, CEO
Darren Williams, CTO
Neil Katz, CFO
David Harrison, Vice President of Engineering
Willix Halim, Vice President of Growth


Industry
Freelance Marketplace
Online Jobs


Employees
200 (October 2012)

Website
Freelancer.com

Users
6.6 million[1]

Available in
English, German, French, Indonesian, Italian,


Of course Freelancer.com representative came and killed the edit.
Problem is that this time the fellow Wikipedians came and recovered
it... and again... and again...:

History shows how much they have edited:
Freelancer.com: Revision history - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://getsatisfaction.com/freelancercom/topics

One very upset freelancer writes: Profanity bleeped by me!

Freelancer S**KS Now


I bid on a project and client paid me and projects finishes successfully, then i withdraw funds on sunday but freelancer cancelled my withdrawal and when i contact Sh*t Freelancer Support they said" there is problem with your employer account ask him to resolve this issue then they will resolve my account withdrawal..

What the (bleep) is this?? they are Blackmailing Freelancer (providers) your should (bleep) the employer whose had problem with you.. why you stopped my withdrawal.. Hey Matt are you Blackmailing freelancers??

update your Mind and change these terms and stop blackmailing freelnacers..

and chage your sh*t support workers they su*ks too ..

Here is Emir of CS replying to one of the 36 comments!

Emir (Employee) 2 months ago


Hi Allen. We appreciate the feedback. Unfortunately, we can't stop users from making chargeback claims. Once the employer does so, we limit his account and withhold all payments made to the freelancers that he worked with.

Our Support Team will immediately conduct an investigation into the reason for the chargeback and ask them how we can help in resolving this particular issue.

Most of the time, these concerns are resolved quickly with the freelancer getting the payment. But in certain cases, we have no recourse but to reverse the payments made to the freelancer. At this point, we will ask the freelancer to settle directly with his/her employer. But be assured that we will help the affected user in informing the employer about their project payments.

I hope I've addressed your concerns. As always, we've taken note of your feedback about our site's services. We will continue to improve on the work that we do to serve you better. Thank you.

P63XJ.jpg

Has anyone else been losing money like this to Freelancer.com?? We welcome you to come to RS and comment on this??

http://www.realscam.com/f11/freelanc...html#post36941

If you go back to the first page of this thread you will see other comments from Emir@freelancer.com. Much the same as what they respond to all who complain of not getting paid.

So, freelancers are paying fees for be scammed

These people should form an alliance and start a major campaign against this company before many others are ripped off!!!

http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=135356

They had this one going but nothing since November 2012.


http://i.imgur.com/P63XJ.png (same as picture in #55)

Freelancer is a big Fraud and not professional and responsible for our money, every client can easily reverse his amount after work done and take source code.

this is my profile over freelancer sunztech | Freelancer.com - Web Develpement PHP Asp net Data

we were developing a very complex desktop application and freelancer suddenly grab out my $4500 :S, saying its been reversed to client CC, and closed client account too, this was for my paid work, how come we can say client to resend us, and if they don't settle their issue with client, why my money was been reversed without any intimation, where we are not responsible to verify Client credit card, rather Freelancer, what type of objection it is, how i can work with it any more, i am an old user i have more then 40 reviews over there, my clients are there, how come they can do it with me HOW THIS CAN BE DONE TO ANYONE ????


We should ask those people in Scam.com to come over to RealScam and give us more information.

That just what I thought LRM!! They are all robots in the CS department according to what I have been reading. Here is one copied conversation with their CS:

Freelancer.com Scam Artist 2012 | Creative Marketing Ideas
Artinearth

December 15, 2012 at 1:28 pm

Hi everybody, I’m a freelancer victim as well. I’m an illustrator, worked about a year with freelancer, won MANY contests and some good projects, had no problems at all, all money was in my bank account in time UNTIL YESTERDAY! I won’t say more. Just read my conversation with help desk. It’s hilarious!

21:45Monica P.: Hi, this is Monica. How can I help you?
21:46ME: Hi Monica, my account was charged with a reversal of awarded prize on a contest !
21:47Monica P.: Can I have your username?
21:47ME: xxx
21:49Monica P.: Thank you for providing that information. I will be checking your account. Please hold on.
21:49ME: Ok
21:52Monica P.: Kindly give me more time to check your account. Hold on.
21:53ME: Ok!
21:55Monica P.: Thank you for waiting.
21:55Monica P.: Can I have the contest ID?
21:56ME: Yes, hold on please.
21:56Monica P.: Thank you for waiting.
21:57ME: “Illustration Design for Staff Pencil Drawings” created by xxx
21:59Monica P.: Thank you for providing that information. I will be checking your account again. Please hold on.
21:59ME: Ok!
22:00Monica P.: Thank you for waiting.
22:02Monica P.: Your account shows that the prize money of $ 190 USD on the contest “Illustration Design for Staff Pencil Drawings (ID xxx)” was returned to your employer, xxx’ account because they are currently facing an account issue.
22:03ME: What does that mean?
22:03Monica P.: We have no option but to reverse the payment that they have made.
22:03Monica P.: Your contest holder has an account issue with us that they need to settle first.
22:03ME: Why? What do you mean? They have a problem and you take my money????
22:03Monica P.: The funds will become available again once the issue is settled.
22:04ME: Please explain to me how I’m involved to their problem.
22:05Monica P.: As previously mentioned, we have no option but to return your contest holder’s funds until they settle their account issue.
22:05Monica P.: At this point, we highly encourage you to keep communicating with your contest holder to inform them about your concern and their account issue.
22:06ME: Please explain to me what kind of problem they have and why dio I have to pay for that!
22:06Monica P.: I am unable to disclose further information about this matter to preserve the security and privacy of the other party.
22:07Monica P.: As mentioned in my previous response, I am unable to disclose further information about this matter to preserve the security and privacy of the other party.
22:07ME: Why do I suspect that you just took my money?
22:07Monica P.: Your contest holder is currently coordinating with the proper department to settle their account issue.
22:08Monica P.: Rest assured that your funds will be returned to your account once they have already settled their account issue.
22:08ME: Look, Monica, I’m not an idiot! I want you to explain to me WHY don’t you solve your problem with his account without taking my money! This is crazy!!!
22:10Monica P.: We have to return their payments made to undergo in a validation process and we have no option but to return your fudns from them.
22:10Monica P.: Your understanding on this matter will be much appreciated.
22:11ME: Are you a robot? Don’t you understand what I’m asking? I don’t want your appreciation, I want my money!
22:12Monica P.: As already mentioned, your earned funds will be returned to your account after your employer has settled their account issue.
22:12ME: Ok. If the problem is not settled?
22:13Monica P.: Your employer is currently coordinating with the proper department to settle their account issue.]
22:13ME: How much do I have to wait?
22:13Monica P.: If they fail to settle it, it is possible that your funds will remain to their account.
22:14ME: Do you find this fair or logic? I’m sorry but I still believe that freelancer just stole my money.
22:14Monica P.: I cannot give you an exact time frame because the proper department handling this kind of concern has their own proceedings.
22:15ME: Do you find this fair or logic? I’m sorry but I still believe that freelancer just stole my money.
22:17Monica P.: Freelancer.com does not steal your money because those funds were on your employer’s account.
22:17Monica P.: It is our protocol to return funds to the sender if they have an account issue that they need to settle.
22:18ME: How is that possible since I was paid and I withdrew this amount to my paypal account?
22:19ME: If this is your protocol, return YOUR money to the sender, not mine!
22:21Monica P.: Your earned funds were from your employer who has an account issue with us; therefore, we have to put on on their funds and transactions temporarily.
22:22ME: Do you think that I’m stupid?
22:24Monica P.: Please do understand that we have to do that to ensure that all transactions are legitimate.
22:25Monica P.: Meanwhile, kindly contact your employer about your concern.
22:25Monica P.: Is there anything else I can help you with?
22:26ME: I understand all these. What I don’t understand is why do I have to pay for other peoples’ mistakes or problems. If my employer is not legitimate, go after him. Not after me!!!
22:31Monica P.: We have no option but to return your earned funds from them, and they will be returned once they have already settled their account issue.
22:34ME: You’ve told me that about 10 times. It would be more honest from your part to accept that you’re stealing users’ money. I’m sorry but this is what you make me believe.
22:34Monica P.: Again, we do not steal any funds of our users and we have no privilege to do that.
22:35Monica P.: Your funds are only returned your employer’s account and will be available again after the settlement of their account issue.
22:37ME: Again, appcreators has a problem with his account and you return to him my money! If you return money to someone that means that you owe him money. So you should return him YOUR money, not mine!
22:38Monica P.: I’m sorry, but I have to end this chat with you as you’re refusing to follow the rules which have been explained to you. Please feel free to email support@freelancer.com if you’d like to discuss this matter further.
¬¬¬

Don't you just love conversations like this when you report a problem?!!!

What scum! They can't scam you like that and withhold hard earned money!!

Originally Posted by melissamac

What scum! They can't scam you like that and withhold hard earned money!!

Welcome melissamac, but they do!

Indeed, the HIDDEN CLAUSES in their user agreement which have no base or rationale are the main causes of concern for this pathetic site.

Clearly, all they want to do is exploit people much like the situation in some nations with high population density.

What surprises me to no extent is the fact that the Australian Government is quiet even though there is not a single review which is in favor of this site. The number of complaints, going by the sheer number of posts on the scam sites should be enough of a red flag for any government to start investigations.

However, the ill gotten gains are put to use in getting pro Matt Barrie articles printed in various media.

I am in fact thinking of starting an online petition for launching investigations into this scam website.

Freelancer.com Scam – Part I : How $10 cost me $14000 – Among other misgivings and apathy of Freelancer.com Staff | Jumbled Mumbling & Fumbled Rumbling

For everyone wanting to actually get something done about this company, here is your chance!!!

http://www.change.org/en-IN/petition...freelancer-com

Originally Posted by scratchycat

For everyone wanting to actually get something done about this company, here is your chance!!!

http://www.change.org/en-IN/petition...freelancer-com

You are correct Chaim and it is just going to sit there unless more people take the time to do something about it.

Thanks for updates in here. Everybody is fighting 'investments and ponzis, etc.' so we have little attention to a 'company' scamming millions from its users!

Free market at work... pardon its dust:

pic.jpg

freelancer.com UVs for January 2013 | Compete



In my opinion the whole diversification of domains (launching Freelancer.com under alternative addresses like Freelancer.in , Freelancer.de etc.) is a sad attempt to cover the fact that the customers and potential customers are just fleeing from this company.

How it works?

Basically the most popular tool to assess website's popularity is Alexa's traffic rank (position a website has among all most popular websites in the world).

What will it tell you about Freelancer.com?

graph3.png

Freelancer.com Site Info


Horrible, huh? But there is an important fact. As I have mentioned, Freelancer.com launched itself under like 20 or 30 regional domains. And if an uncaring visitor them, he would say "not bad, while Freelancer.com is declining, its regional addresses get a huge spike in popularity":

graph1.jpg


Well... problem is that the display is of a logarithmic scale. This produces a kind of optical illusion. But let's see data presented with linear scale. It shows that the increases for associated domains are just kinds of pimples compared to fall on the main one:

graph.png


As you can see, this is something more than ripoff/salami slicing type of scam. This is an audacious and self spinning hoax presented to the media and general public. By blowing own trumpet and causing all the media buzz, the John Doe has a problem with understanding how mislead he is while signing up ("Hey, 7 million people couldn't be wrong"). Check out the "Wag the dog" movie, it tells the whole story of dumbing down the general public.


What's the funniest thing of all? If they hadn't abused me in such aggressive manner, I just wouldn't care to investigate this company...


=========

Thank you for all your ongoing support. Please don't forget about us:

Get a Hindu: HOW (F*CKING) DARE YOU?
Freelancer.com Scam Artist 2012 | Build a Website | WordPress


Chaim

Thank god there is still people who cares!
So here is my situation: Have worked for 2 month on freelancer and made about 2000$ ... 20 days ago I've requested to withdraw 200$ of my money, and then there was a 17 days of request pending (due to it was my first withdraw! they said) at the day "16" I've received an email saying that my account has been limited... security reasons!!! They have asked me to pass 3 steps of id verification:
1.Government Issued Document
2.Proof of residential address
3.Mugshot of me holding my ID Card and the Verification Code they gave me.
I've sent them the documents today and hopefully I should receive their reply by next few hours.

I hope they solve it in most peaceful way, otherwise I will join to massive amount of unhappy people against them! and help to make Matt's nightmare comes true sooner than he thinks. -_-

Will let you guys know about the result by the next hours. ;)