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fd627b83
Community Member

Finding shady work in the work diary?

Curious what people's experience here is on how often they find someone they hired is not what they seem to be. Hired a consultant with great reviews and seemed to be a good independent worker. Was very knowledgable at first, but became very unresponsive days later, and only sent meaningless messages for days after getting started.

 

They only billed a day's work, so I checked what was going on in the work diary. I could see a Skype conversation where I could see them sharing credentials we gave them to others. The person's name was also not the name on their profile.

 

The only logged time showed them trying to figure out extremely basic tasks. They obviously have one person who knows a little, and subs the work out to freshers.

 

Fortunately I didn't give them access to anything sensitive (dodged a huge bullet), but curious how often this happens to other people here?

10 REPLIES 10
JoanneP
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Elliot,

 

Could you please send me a PM with more information, including the contract ID so I can check? You can PM me by clicking on my name. Thanks!

~ Joanne
Upwork
fd627b83
Community Member

Thanks for the offer, but there isn't much to "check" here. I'm just curious how often this happens to others. Lately I've found it nearly impossible to find contractors that are honest about their identities. We've probably burned 15k the last few years in just wasted fees on consultants who have switched out behind the scenes, and then needed weeks to catch up and learn our projects.

 

Time after time we've only found this out after seeing suspicous error logs or reviewing the work diary. I have no idea what the policy is about this, but if there is, nobody seems to take it seriously. It definitely erodes the little trust I had in the platform.

 

 

Hi Elliot, 

 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with the freelancers you have hired. I understand that this is a disappointing experience, especially when freelancers are not valuing the trust you have put in them to help you in completing your project. If your freelancer logs hours not related to your project you can file a dispute for the previous week's hours. You will be refunded for any hours that do not qualify for Hourly Protection.

You can check this help article for more information about Upwork Payment Protection

~ Joanne
Upwork


Elliott F wrote:

 

Time after time we've only found this out after seeing suspicous error logs or reviewing the work diary. I have no idea what the policy is about this, but if there is, nobody seems to take it seriously. It definitely erodes the little trust I had in the platform.

 


Subbing out work on an hourly contract isn't allowed by the terms of service. You can (and should) report the freelancer from the link on this profile (I think it might be hidden in a "..." menu now).

re: "We've probably burned 15k the last few years in just wasted fees on consultants who have switched out behind the scenes, and then needed weeks to catch up and learn our projects."


If this is something that bothers you (understandably), then there are steps you can take to avoid this.

 

Look at the freelancers with whom this has happened. Is there a specific country that they come from? If so, then stop hiring freelancers from that country. Is there a specific pay range where this behavior is prevalent? Then stop hiring from that segment of the freelancer population.

lysis10
Community Member


Elliott F wrote:

Thanks for the offer, but there isn't much to "check" here. I'm just curious how often this happens to others. Lately I've found it nearly impossible to find contractors that are honest about their identities. We've probably burned 15k the last few years in just wasted fees on consultants who have switched out behind the scenes, and then needed weeks to catch up and learn our projects.

 

Time after time we've only found this out after seeing suspicous error logs or reviewing the work diary. I have no idea what the policy is about this, but if there is, nobody seems to take it seriously. It definitely erodes the little trust I had in the platform.

 

 


yeah, the bait and switch on here is unreal. I've seen an uptick in people asking me if I do the work or sub it out, and I tell them I'm too proud of my work to allow some other cheapo do it. For some odd reason, freelancers think the ultimate goal is to sub out work as if that means you've made it. But if you're not telling clients you're subbing it out, you're a scummy scammer.

 

Also, subbing out hourly work like that is not allowed.

yitwail
Community Member


Jennifer M wrote:

Elliott F wrote:

For some odd reason, freelancers think the ultimate goal is to sub out work as if that means you've made it.


Maybe they think Upwork should work like MLM. Cat Tongue

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
lysis10
Community Member


John K wrote:

Jennifer M wrote:

Elliott F wrote:

For some odd reason, freelancers think the ultimate goal is to sub out work as if that means you've made it.


Maybe they think Upwork should work like MLM. Cat Tongue


It's so weird to me because I feel like there are so many more risks in scammy shady subbing out. I get if you are open with the client, but then you have to deal with the headaches of finding someone who isn't scamming you. Like if you make a mistake you can kick yourself and fix it, but if your freelancer makes a mistake then you have to deal with both freelancer and client and make it better. It just sounds like a bigger headache in the end even if a few jobs go through fine.

 

That's just how I see it.

sjbercot
Community Member

I'm with you Jen. Back when I freelanced in the brick-and-mortar world, good-hearted people would ften suggest I hire workers or subcontract - as if that was ever my  goal. I had enough experiences with apprentices here and there to know that managing someone else's work isn't for me. Who needs the headache? And who needs the additional headache trying to do it unethically??

a_lipsey
Community Member


Jennifer M wrote:

John K wrote:

Jennifer M wrote:

Elliott F wrote:

For some odd reason, freelancers think the ultimate goal is to sub out work as if that means you've made it.


Maybe they think Upwork should work like MLM. Cat Tongue


It's so weird to me because I feel like there are so many more risks in scammy shady subbing out. I get if you are open with the client, but then you have to deal with the headaches of finding someone who isn't scamming you. Like if you make a mistake you can kick yourself and fix it, but if your freelancer makes a mistake then you have to deal with both freelancer and client and make it better. It just sounds like a bigger headache in the end even if a few jobs go through fine.

 

That's just how I see it.


I 100% agree this doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I have a research assistant who works with me, and I factor her as an expense in all my contracts. She does a limited range of tasks to help me speed the process along, but she never directly works on the client's project (and I'm open with clients that I have a research assistant, and they often meet her on our calls). It's more like "hey, can you look up census bureau statistics on ABC for me?" But this is far from subbing a project to another freelancer to make bank on it. I cannot imagine handing a project over to another freelancer 100% and just turning the work in as my own. I have too much ego around the quality of my work  to do that. 

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