Thanks Thanks:  0
Likes Likes:  0
LMAO LMAO:  0
Dislikes Dislikes:  0
Ignorant Ignorant:  0
Moron Moron:  0
Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    Over the years there have been many statements made about Freelancer dot com, lots of complaints on Blogs and websites with rebuttals mainly from automated responses and robotic statements claiming to be from Customer Service. We have several of them posted here in RS. For some unknown reason, Matt Barrie has so far kept away from much, if any, scrutiny by cyberspace authorities who patrol the inky waters of the internet. How does he do it when there are so many complaints from freelancers who have invested their time, money and talent into a solicited project and then have freelancer dot com rob them of it? How does he continue with his robbing others of the money they have been paid in compliance of completion of a project? Does anyone have an answer? Are all these complaints false??

    I have followed many of these stories and felt extremely sorry for the treatment they claim to have received from the CEO of freelancer dot com. I have not personally been involved except when I received a telephone call from the big guy himself all the way from Australia, Matt Barrie. Imagine my surprise at 9 pm in isolated Kansas!! He was nice over the phone after learning and believing that I was not the person he thought he was calling. I cannot imagine how that would have turned had I been the one he was looking for.

    My big reason for continuing to try and publicize this obvious scam is that I do not like seeing others get ripped off. I believe that some government agency, somewhere needs to step in and take a long look at the operations of an Australian based firm, calling itself Freelancer. They need to find out the truth of this matter and if only a few of the complaints are true, this company should be forced to return the money they stole from others. They need to be held accountable for their business and uphold laws that are set in place, whether it be Australia, Africa, UK, Canada, USA or anywhere in the world. Their employees and employers are worldwide.

    I am reposting the links here in RealScam where we have threads relating to this company and the complaints received. You can follow the links to blogs, you can search online and find information for both sides. Facebook has pages relating to freelancer. The information is out there but no action taken against this company that I am aware of, I can only hope there are people who are, at this moment, investigating the shady and unscrupulous dealings of freelancer dot com.

    Matt Barrie, come clean or face the music.


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

    http://www.realscam.com/f10/freelanc...my-money-1281/

    http://www.realscam.com/f11/freelanc...ght=freelancer

    http://www.realscam.com/f10/freelanc...ght=freelancer

    Freelancer.com withholds my money
    freelancer.com took back my money due to employer account problems.
    http://www.realscam.com/f11/matt-bar...y-amount-2126/
    http://www.realscam.com/f11/matt-bar...-my-money.html
    http://www.realscam.com/f11/matt-bar...practices-2053
    Freelancer.com Beware!


    You decide...
    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    Matt Barrie, chief executive of Freelancer.com, in his office at Jones Bay Wharf. Photo: Louie Douvis
    Freelancer founder rejects $430m buy-out offer
    Online jobs portal Freelancer.com has made a strong debut, surging as much as 400 per cent as investors scrambled for a slice of the world's biggest freelancing and outsourcing marketplace by number of users.
    The debut price briefly gave the online focused business a market cap of $1.1 billion.
    By early afternoon the share prices had slipped back to $1.48, valuing the company at $650 million.
    The company is tightly held with just 6.9 per cent of its shares sold on the ASX. Freelancer raised $15 million to boost its overseas expansion plans.
    "On the face, the price is telling us that this float is underpriced," said CMC Markets strategist Michael McCarthy.
    "But because they only sold a small amount of the 436 million shares, that's not a problem for them. What they've essentially done is establish a market value of this company."
    Freelancer is essentially a marketplace that allows people to post a task – whether it's a graphic design task, a legal job, some coding – and have freelancers from around the world bid on it.
    It says it connects more than 9.4 million employers and freelancers in 247 countries, regions and territories.
    Freelancer’s prospectus showed its revenue grew by 64 per cent in 2012, and is expected to grow by 73 per cent to $18.3 million in 2013.
    The company has acquired several online job websites including GetAFreelancer and EUFreelance in the past four years.
    Freelancer.com founder Matt Barrie will retain the lion's share of the company's stock, holding a 46 per cent stake in the firm. At current valuation this gives Mr Barrie’s paper wealth of $300 million.
    "The company plans to continue reinvesting strategically to achieve growth, which may result in a period of minimal operating profits," Mr Barrie said in the prospectus.
    Freelancer has knocked back several attempts to buy it, including a $400 million approach from Japanese recruitment firm Recruit Holdings Co.
    It faces competition from online recruitment company Monster Worldwide, online job marketplace Seek and professional social media LinkedIn.


    Read more: Freelancer's short spell as billion dollar company
    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    Matt Barrie, chief executive of Freelancer.com, in his office at Jones Bay Wharf. Photo: Louie Douvis
    Freelancer founder rejects $430m buy-out offer
    Online jobs portal Freelancer.com has made a strong debut, surging as much as 400 per cent as investors scrambled for a slice of the world's biggest freelancing and outsourcing marketplace by number of users.
    The debut price briefly gave the online focused business a market cap of $1.1 billion.
    By early afternoon the share prices had slipped back to $1.48, valuing the company at $650 million.
    The company is tightly held with just 6.9 per cent of its shares sold on the ASX. Freelancer raised $15 million to boost its overseas expansion plans.
    "On the face, the price is telling us that this float is underpriced," said CMC Markets strategist Michael McCarthy.
    "But because they only sold a small amount of the 436 million shares, that's not a problem for them. What they've essentially done is establish a market value of this company."
    Freelancer is essentially a marketplace that allows people to post a task – whether it's a graphic design task, a legal job, some coding – and have freelancers from around the world bid on it.
    It says it connects more than 9.4 million employers and freelancers in 247 countries, regions and territories.
    Freelancer’s prospectus showed its revenue grew by 64 per cent in 2012, and is expected to grow by 73 per cent to $18.3 million in 2013.
    The company has acquired several online job websites including GetAFreelancer and EUFreelance in the past four years.
    Freelancer.com founder Matt Barrie will retain the lion's share of the company's stock, holding a 46 per cent stake in the firm. At current valuation this gives Mr Barrie’s paper wealth of $300 million.
    "The company plans to continue reinvesting strategically to achieve growth, which may result in a period of minimal operating profits," Mr Barrie said in the prospectus.
    Freelancer has knocked back several attempts to buy it, including a $400 million approach from Japanese recruitment firm Recruit Holdings Co.
    It faces competition from online recruitment company Monster Worldwide, online job marketplace Seek and professional social media LinkedIn.


    Forbes feature
    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    You know that feeling of satisfaction you get when you’re really, really, really, really right?

    Matt Barrie, founder and executive chair of Freelancer could have been forgiven for basking in that feeling over the weekend after the company’s impressive debut. He’s already on the BRW Young Rich list, ranked seventh with a fortune of $185 million.

    After listing at just 50c, shares in the company leapt to $2.50 on listing on Friday morning. It was all downhill from there though and the stock closed at $1.60. Still, that’s a 220 per cent rise on day one – Barrie would have surely taken that at the start of the day.

    More importantly, the closing price gave Freelancer a market capitalisation of $697 million, well above the $434 million takeover bid that Barrie rejected in September from Japanese group Recruitco. That’s a $263 million gap.

    Many had questioned why Barrie would knock back the offer and then plan an IPO that valued the business at just $218 million, but the Sydney entrepreneur stood firm in his belief the growth story of the business would eventually be proven.

    His personal stake is now worth $320 million, rocketing him onto the main BRW Rich 200 list, providing the company’s share price holds up.

    And therein lies the next challenge – making good on the growth story.

    Freelancer earned money for the first time in 2012-13, and forecast $18.3 million in revenue this 2013-14, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $1.6 million. Net profit is forecast at just $471,000.

    That means on current prices, Freelancer is on an earnings multiple of 1479 times – which suggests some serious blue sky.

    Of course, massive earnings multiples aren’t unusual in the tech sector, and the other ASX-listed tech group that has received amazing support this year – cloud accounting software group Xero, which has seen it’s share price rise more than six-fold in the past 12 months – isn’t even profitable yet.

    What Freelancer does have going for it is a global outlook and an opportunity – and a reasonable one – to build a dominant position in the outsourcing sector, which remains very much in its infancy.

    If it can do that, the financials should improve and, Barrie will be hoping, relatively quickly.

    He and Freelancer are off to a great start, with the momentum at their backs. He’s been vindicated for rejecting a juicy takeover bid, he’s got big-name shareholders such as SEEK founders Paul and Andrew Bassat on board and he’s worth $320 million.

    The hard work doesn’t exactly begin now – Barrie’s been building this company since 2009.

    But being listed is a whole new kettle of fish and a big adventure is under way.

    UPDATE: Shares in Freelancer were up 28 per cent to $1.95 in trade on Monday morning.

    November 2013
    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    Attachment 7538

    Matt Barrie’s decision to reject Recruitco’s takeover offer and list Freelancer on the ASX has been entirely vindicated. Photo: Christopher Pearce
    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    London UK
    Posts
    3,608
    Post Thanks / Like

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    I have not spent much time online this month as I have been trying to adjust my thinking to a new laptop and a new operating system.

    I got my tower back from the shop yesterday and the first thing that struck me was an e-mail saying that Warrior Forum had taken over freelancer or vica versa.

    I did not pay much attention Is this a marriage made in heaven?

    Is this announcement fact or fiction?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    Quote Originally Posted by path2prosperity View Post
    I have not spent much time online this month as I have been trying to adjust my thinking to a new laptop and a new operating system.

    I got my tower back from the shop yesterday and the first thing that struck me was an e-mail saying that Warrior Forum had taken over freelancer or vica versa.

    I did not pay much attention Is this a marriage made in heaven?

    Is this announcement fact or fiction?
    Learning a new OS can be painful and I still do not like Win 8. Don't see why they had to 'fix' what was not broken with Win 7.

    Yes, it seems to be a marriage but not sure it qualifies for the realms of any higher deity, maybe some lower echelon... It still amazes me that these people can continue to rip off others and not be prosecuted by some legal authority.


    mattbarrie2013.jpg

    Matt Barrie’s decision to reject Recruitco’s takeover offer and list Freelancer on the ASX has been entirely vindicated. Photo: Christopher Pearce

    I have no idea what happened in the above post where this picture was supposed to appear... #5
    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    Quote Originally Posted by scratchycat View Post
    Over the years there have been many statements made about Freelancer dot com, lots of complaints on Blogs and websites with rebuttals mainly from automated responses and robotic statements claiming to be from Customer Service. We have several of them posted here in RS. For some unknown reason, Matt Barrie has so far kept away from much, if any, scrutiny by cyberspace authorities who patrol the inky waters of the internet. How does he do it when there are so many complaints from freelancers who have invested their time, money and talent into a solicited project and then have freelancer dot com rob them of it? How does he continue with his robbing others of the money they have been paid in compliance of completion of a project? Does anyone have an answer? Are all these complaints false??

    I have followed many of these stories and felt extremely sorry for the treatment they claim to have received from the CEO of freelancer dot com. I have not personally been involved except when I received a telephone call from the big guy himself all the way from Australia, Matt Barrie. Imagine my surprise at 9 pm in isolated Kansas!! He was nice over the phone after learning and believing that I was not the person he thought he was calling. I cannot imagine how that would have turned had I been the one he was looking for.

    My big reason for continuing to try and publicize this obvious scam is that I do not like seeing others get ripped off. I believe that some government agency, somewhere needs to step in and take a long look at the operations of an Australian based firm, calling itself Freelancer. They need to find out the truth of this matter and if only a few of the complaints are true, this company should be forced to return the money they stole from others. They need to be held accountable for their business and uphold laws that are set in place, whether it be Australia, Africa, UK, Canada, USA or anywhere in the world. Their employees and employers are worldwide.

    I am reposting the links here in RealScam where we have threads relating to this company and the complaints received. You can follow the links to blogs, you can search online and find information for both sides. Facebook has pages relating to freelancer. The information is out there but no action taken against this company that I am aware of, I can only hope there are people who are, at this moment, investigating the shady and unscrupulous dealings of freelancer dot com.

    Matt Barrie, come clean or face the music.


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

    http://www.realscam.com/f10/freelanc...my-money-1281/

    (I apologize that some of those links posted above in #1 do not work. I am posting the ones that do still go to the pages.)

    You decide...
    http://www.realscam.com/f10/freelanc...my-money-1281/

    http://www.realscam.com/f10/freelanc...problems-1584/

    http://www.realscam.com/f11/freelanc...g-ripoff-1736/

    http://www.realscam.com/f8/freelancer-com-beware-2057/

    At least at the moment, they are working for me.
    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3,481
    Post Thanks / Like
    Blog Entries
    2

    Re: Matt Barrie of Freelancer - Does He Fit Here??

    Read what it took to accomplish the below quote:

    And that is why I have written this long post explaining my situation, and freelancer.com’s role in it. Why I am so frustrated with them.

    My wife and I have suffered unimaginable circumstances for two years, and this was our chance for it all to come to an end, and get our lives back.

    We could not have asked for a better client. I was very fortunate to have been hired by a client with a project that was so interesting to me.

    We could have had payments on the way and assured that we would finally be fixing everything.

    Instead, we are facing homelessness for the second time this year, because freelancer.com won’t release our payment to us.
    https://medium.com/p/3a2af69cf977

    Update #2: The CEO has called me and notified me that the first wire was held up at an intermediary bank in California, and has been resent. They have also refunded the $ 1,000.00 project fee back to the client so that he can pay that to me as well.

    After numerous emails and support tickets and live chat conversations that didn't provide any answers, Matt Barrie finally gave me an explanation at 10:30 pm when he called me.

    The explanation given for why my driver’s license was rejected was because their manual states that potential counterfeit ID’s would have a brown background in the photo section of the driver’s license instead of a white background. When I renewed my license a few months ago the DMV gave me the option of using my recent license photo or take a new one. I opted to use the old photo. It’s a black and white photo as far as I can tell, but according to Matt Barrie the background of my driver’s license photo appeared to be “brown.” I think it’s a rather ridiculous reason for why they rejected my ID, it clearly does not look like a brown background photo and is in fact my valid New York ID issued from the state. Regardless, they should have told me this immediately instead of giving me the runaround for days and holding up my payment. They also should have done this verification process before I began working on the project and before I waited for 2 weeks for the first wire. They also never requested that I do a keycode verification where I hold a sign using the unique keycode they give me and holding up my ID. I am displeased with their handling of this, but thankful that my client is dependable and professional and has opted to continue this project off of freelancer.com.

    I regret that these are the actions I had to take in order to get freelancer.com to clarify why they were holding my payment and rejecting my ID. I am lucky enough to be working with an understanding and motivated client who has gone out of his way to help clear up this situation. He was gracious enough to advance me a payment this evening even though he is still awaiting his returned funds from freelancer.com

    In the future, I hope that freelancer.com will be more direct with their customers when issues like this arise. I also hope that everyone who is having a similar issue gets it resolved ASAP without it having to come to this ugliness.

    My wife and I cannot thank all of you enough for your support. When companies won’t do the right thing, it’s good to know that the power of social media can help keep them accountable.

    Update: Freelancer has returned the funds to the client and I will be working directly with the client, outside of freelancer.

    As of now, freelancer still has not given a reason why my drivers license was rejected as a valid form of identity verification.

    I want to thank everybody for pressing this issue and helping to get it resolved. It was unfortunate that this is what it took. I wish luck to everyone else in a similar situation.
    This is the discussion held in Reddit:

    Freelancer.com is destroying my life : webdev
    Don't get ripped off!! Stay informed!

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •