Scammed on Upwork, and Upwork did not help me. Beware

[c59f83dc]

Hello,

I was scammed through Upwork, and the dispute process did not help me at all. They totally disregarded the first milestone, and only refunded me for the second. I was assured by multiple reps the first Milestone would be taken care of, but it was not. 

Recently, I hired a contractor to help improve the UX/UI and functionality on my website. The first milestone (#1, $700) was to improve responsinveness as well as create a form for one of my pages. I was told by the developer that the responsiveness was done, and that the form would be coming later to tie everything together. Little did I know.... the responsiveness was done on a replica site, and I did not recieve the service on my actual site. The Developer demanded payment to move on to the other milestone, and ensured it would all come together in the end. I released the payment.

Fast forward to second milestone (#2, $500), the developer requested over 5 more weeks from the due date to complete the project. I was fine with this, as long as it was done well. I had my concerns , but the developer ensured me it would all come together at the end. It didn't.. he ended up doing only half of the work, there were spelling errors, functionality issues (add to cart did not work for example) and more.

The Issue:

I was told on multiple tickets from **Edited for Community Guidelines**,**Edited for Community Guidelines**, and**Edited for Community Guidelines** himself, that Milestone 1($700) would also be addressed along with Milestone 2 ($500) in the dispute. However, I kept noticing that**Edited for Community Guidelines** was only adressing Milestone 2. I would then open a ticket to ask, and other agents would assure me that Milestone 1 AND 2 were being addressed in the dispute. 

Come the close of the case,**Edited for Community Guidelines** did end up only addressing Milestone 2 ($500) and I was only refunded for that. Milestone 1 ($700) was not addressed at all, like I was ensured it would be. Again, everything for Milestone 1 ($700) was done on a replica site, which I do not have access to. It was never uplaoded to my site. I totally lost $700 to a scam, and Upwork did not care, or have the attention to detail to know. 

It has brought me to tears multiple times, as that is a lot of money for a startup small business. I thought I would be protected by Upwork, but I was not. I was doing my due dilligence to provide them with everything in the case, showing how I was scammed, and following up about Milestone 1 to ensure they remembered it. They totally disregarded me and Milestone 1, on multiple tickets, and now I have lost a huge amount of money. 

Beware.

[759e32fa]

Hi Brynn,

I understand this may have been a devastating experience for you. I checked your ticket and can see that our mediation is still actively helping you regarding this matter. We suggest updating the ticket so they know how you feel about the actions taken so far for them to further assist you. Please keep in mind that the team is also following the process based on our ToS. If you need clarification about this process, please let the team know.

[c59f83dc]

Are you going to ignore the 4+ tickets I have opened regarding Milestone 1 and my complaints? Where I was ensured they + milestone 1 would be dealt within the dispute? Then, milestone 1 was never dealt with, outing me $700, and never recieving any service for it? Yes, I have a ticket open, but it is the same as the 4 others that were quickly closed, and referred to the dispute where all of my comments and questions are ignored. 

[c59f83dc]

It was the first red flag when, during the dispute, I was told I had 5 business days to submit my case. I messaged Dhezelle, telling him I am getting an error submission, and still had 4.5 business days to submit. He then took that question as my submission and told us he reviwed our cases and to "split" the escrow, without any further information from me. If that does not show he lacks attention to detail and I was miseld on milestone 1, I do not know what does. To a small business, this is a lot of money, and should be taken seriously. Beware.

[65dba8fb]

hey i was wondering did they gave you an solution to this scamming incident?

[65dba8fb]

My condolances. - ufuk özer

[tlsanders]

Upwork's dispute process is not a decision-making process. You likely got the money in escrow back because the process is that if you don't reach a resolution in the dispute and the freelancer doesn't pay for arbitration, what is in escrow automatically goes back to you. Upwork never makes a ruling in a dispute. You have to go to arbitration for that. But, it's probably not worth your while for such a small amount of money because it costs $300+.