I am constantly paying for works that are far from what I describe

[d79afc7e]

I am quite unhappy with Upworks procedures. For my both business lines, I have been using upwork to find some copywriters. However I am experiencing the same problems in 60% of my projects. Freelancer has excellent reviews, is very eager to do job, but the output is far from what I described.

I experienced the same in my last project today. I wanted a brand story and gave all inputs. Freelancer whom I accepted submitted a totally unacceptable document, just paraphrasing my sentences and then she fought for the total amount, requested a positive feedback and so on. 

I accepted the dispute, because I am really tired of dealing with upwork's aggressive freelancers. There should be a better way of communication. I am a small business owner, spending time and money at upwork for some works that I will never use. For me, upwork is a platform where you can see excellent reviews and you think you hire a super talent and receive an awful document in exchange. 

[BojanS]

Hi Berk,

I'm sorry you had a negative experience with freelancers on Upwork so far. Unfortunately, we won't be able to discuss the specifics of this case in the Community. Our team will further assist you with this case via the support ticket that will be created as soon as possible.

Thank you! 

[d79afc7e]

Hi Bojan,

Thank you for your message. Hope someone will reach me, because it is impossible to reach anyone at upwork without you taking an action.

[prestonhunter]

Berk, you are hiring the wrong people.

Upwork Customer Support will not be able to help you with that.
But you can get excellent advice right here in the Forum.

I think one problem you are facing is that to a certain extent, you may feel like Upwork provides writing. It does not.

Upwork provides you with an opportunity to find and hire writers. This service INCLUDES the opportunity to hire writers whose abilities far exceed anything you could possibly need. It also provides you with the opportunity to hire writers who oversell themselves and who completely lack the level of skill that your project requires. You should probably avoid hiring people in those two categories. Instead, you should hire writers who are good fit for your project.

[d79afc7e]

Preston,

Thank you for your note. You're totally right, I am obviously hiring the wrong people. However those freelancers in second category usually follow the same strategy and this makes their profile look attractive.

i) accept that output is not good ii) accept or request a partial or no payment, but insist on not getting a negative feedback underlining that he/she did his/her best etc etc. iii) then suddenly changed mind/open a dispute and so on.

I always like to work with freelancers in a positive manner and try to be the kindest person, but their attitude is unbelivable. And I don't see this in other gig platforms. Maybe I am so lucky or very bad at hiring but upwork freelancers seem to follow a very unique approach.

[tta192]

It depends a lot on what you mean by excellent reviews. There are many dishonest freelancers who hire themselves to build history and make their profile look as if they’re getting many 5-star reviews from different clients. You can recognize them easily by the numerous but very low-value contracts. When the majority of a freelancer’s history is built on $5 jobs, that's not a good sign.

It's better to look for freelancers with a fair amount of money earned. What that means can vary, but a guy with total earnings of under $100 on over 20 jobs should raise some red flags; stay away from those!

A good indicator of a trusworthy freelancer are mid/high-value jobs. Even more so if those jobs are not exclusively 5-star (I assume they wouldn’t spend the commission to hire themselves and leave a 3- or 4-star feedback).

[d79afc7e]

Many thanks Andrei.

This is really helpful. I will do exactly what you outline.

As a small business owner, I don't waste any more money and time by working with wrong freelancers. Hope to find the ideal freelancer one day whom I can work with for every copywriting project and avoid 'lemon dilemma'.

[prestonhunter]

Good writers, and great writers...

I know they are out there. I know they are on Upwork.

But I definitely believe, from my own first-hand experience hiring writers and hiring over 100 freelancers on Upwork in many different categories, that finding good writers can be challenging.

I have been very pleased finding artists, illustrators, graphic designers, programmers and experts in very technical server specialties. I have had a difficult time hiring writers.

[tta192]

Don't forget to also look at the source of the feedback: does it come from a client who also hired other freelancers, or is it a one-time client ? A freelancer with the history built on projects from 'exclusive' clients is at least suspect. Better hire someone with no history at all, since they didn't cheat (yet) - you'll have at least one chance of finding an honest collaborator.

[prestonhunter]

A legitimate approach is to not really screen freelancers at all, but to simply hire many for a small test task. Then you can see how they really work.

Look through the work carefully and then continue working only with the best writers.

[d79afc7e]

I didn't think about this. Thank you so much for your valuable feedback.

[steve93]

I have about 10 good writers here but that took going thru 100s of people to find

I found the easiet way give them a small test article and on your bigger projects

Use milestones so you dont have 100s tied up in escrow waiting on a refund