Contractors Disappearing Mid Project

Nir S · Apr 8, 2013 07:41:04 PM

I have been a loyal Odesk client for years, I have spent tens of thousands of dollars towards contractors. As of late, contractors have been so unreliable it is difficult to get anything done. Out of my last 10 contractors I can honestly say that six of them completely disappeared mid project then come back in a week or two with some excuse that they can never actually validate. There needs to be some sort of penalty for doing this because we then have to start all over and the money we save from outsourcing is sucked into our opportunity costs. I no longer feel confident even using another contractor at this point. The contractors I hire all have over 4.5 stars so if I can't trust them who can I trust. Anyone else seeing this issue out there? is your contractor's dad's brother's uncle's dog get sick all the time??

Seth S · Jun 25, 2014 03:59:00 PM

I had a stable contractor, who mid-project just disappeared. When I say disappeared, however, I mean he left an ambiguous message about he couldn't complete the job and, then, his profile was completely gone. I don't know if odesk is hiding it from me or whether it genuinely does not exist anymore. And, the last few contractors I've had have been awful. There needs to be some better way to verify the integrity of the people appearing on odesk as freelancers. This is ridiculous.

Valeria K · Jun 26, 2014 02:39:01 AM

Hi Seth The best way to notify us and steer others away from a freelancer (if no payment has been made so you are unable to leave any feedback) is to report them to our team. Please, contact Customer Support in order to do so. Our team does review all reports and will take the appropriate action.

~ Valeria

Zenon H · Nov 15, 2016 06:47:07 AM

How can Upwork steer us from Employers who post projects who have no intention of leting. But are only fishing for free advice?

Simon P · Jun 28, 2014 09:05:00 PM

Hi.. We are not new to odesk but is my first post here. We had similar problem.. disappeared half way.. didnt meet deadlines as promised.. We left detailed feedback (bad) but he blocked it. However he was allowed to leave a visible (false)feedback (Bad)about us. He had taken $400USD from us. Not much considering the scale of the project but thats not the point. We were so frustrated that i didnt come back to odesk for over a year now. We are back now because company is growing and i just need more contractors but this time we are more prepared by factoring in contingency plan which is added to the budget. We have learnt that whether through odesk or locals it still happens.. just so hard to find good contractors.

Morita B · Jul 22, 2014 09:43:37 AM

Dear all CLIENTS who have problems with contractors, All of us have the responsibility to heed potential problems especially here in odesk where we do not know fully whom are we dealing with. For my part as a contractor, I also experienced dealing with terrible clients. But I don't have any problem with that. Why, because I use my thinking ability, we have the ability to justify between good and bad, during the first week of the project, you can sense the attitude of the contractor. If you sense that the contractor is a bad nut, you have the power to terminate the project. You don't need to spend a lot of dollars and then Categorized all contractors as unreliable. That insults those honest contractors.

Zenon H · Nov 15, 2016 06:51:10 AM

If you are TRULY working to a deadline how about offering a bonus for. Or simply put that in the job spec.

I NEED THIS DONE BY FRIDAY. iF YOU CAN'T DO THAT PLEASE DON'T WASTE MY TIME WITH USELESS BIDS!!!!!

Zenon H · Nov 15, 2016 06:45:35 AM

Simply award the project. Make sure you have milestone payments. Failing compliance by the Conteactor, cancel the project. Don't make the milestone payment, then move on.

When you expect to get good work done cheap, you must factor in that the project will not get done. Itf you can't afford the time to do that then make two awards, Surely one will come through!

In the real world tier one contractors like IBM, et al deliver projects on budget, on time only 20% pf the time and that's in a good year. And they charge full rates! And their lawyers make sure they get paid for scope changes. In fact that is where tier one suppliers make their profits!

Remember the **Edited for Community Guidelines**

Sangeeta K · Jun 29, 2014 01:09:33 PM

Hi Nir, I have been working on odesk since last 5 years and almost completed more than 600+ contracts. Now days odesk put me in "not to fit for clients" category and make my all application hidden I also had few clients who didnot pay after work done so not sure how get money and more work Thanks Vivek

Morita B · Jul 22, 2014 09:23:56 AM

Hi Nir S., I am a contractor but I did not disappear, but the clients did. hehehe I have a clients who failed to answer my question about the project. He was just simply out of reach, off line and did not answer my emails and then one day he sent me one word... just one word for all of my messages, he sent me "Hello". I am happy that he's still alive. No explanation and I asked no question. Seriously speaking, Not all contractors are the same... Remember that. The same as not all clients are horrible. Do you agree if I will count you as one of them?