Upwork Encourages Scammers

[a3ca76db]

After 2 years of dealing with negligence, my proposed 2-week project was never delivered. SCAMMERS are allowed to break terms and scam customers.
I found Upwork when I was trying to take my business to the next level, which required custom dev work on my social media website. I posted my first job and received a few replies from freelancers with various proposed timelines and prices. After finding someone with "good reviews" and a price point within my budget, this freelancer gave me a 2 week window of finishing. Then, after a few weeks of back and forth, the freelancer tells me he didn't understand the scope of the project all of a sudden and said it would take a lot longer than he thought. So I continue to work with him week after week until all of a sudden this guy CANCELS my contract without notice and then proceeds to BLOCK me from communications. Furious, I contacted support in which the ONLY solution they gave me was to have me reinstate his access to my code to complete the project, which he never said he would at this point. In no way would I have expected Upwork to allow a freelancer to cancel without cause a contract just like that and then also allow them to BLOCK the person who hired them! I wasted 6 months and almost $2k just from this freelancer alone. Now, I have an unfinished project, so I proceed to find another "qualified" freelancer and found one within budget and a new timeline of 1-month. That goes by with little communication and no proof of work, so I file a dispute with the support team. Instead of looking into the matter in depth, they ended up canceling the contract because I did not respond within 48 hours by email. Mind you, they won't allow you to speak to any level 2, 3, on the phone. You simply cannot get a manager on the phone. So they canceled and I still have no project. The freelancer says we can start a new contract and that the new timeline is 2 months (after the already 2 months that have gone by). After that period, the freelancer stops communicating for over a month and so I contact support again. Back and forth and all they do is ask if I want a refund. I continue to tell them no and that all I want is the project to be completed as contracted, so they go to the freelancer and he agrees he will complete it. They didn't give a warning or put a hold or do anything to help the situation whatsoever. Another two months goes by and the freelancer now holds my project hostage and tells me if I don't release the funds from escrow that he will not deliver my project. By this time, support hasn't done anything to help so I reluctantly released the money bc I am out of options. Another 2 months goes by and I am in the dark, still haven't seen one thing for this project from this freelancer so I contacted support again. They gave us both copy/paste answers and the freelancer told me to get them off his back or he'd fail to deliver and cancel the contract. This is all on their system and records, so they see this going on, yet never intervene to assist. Now I am a full year into it and still haven't seen ONE single thing, so for the THIRD time I sent them emails outside of Upwork now, because the freelancer ceased to communicate on their system. They deactivated his account and told me they can't do anything to get the freelancer to complete the work because they are "just a technology company, similar to eBay". Always creating excuses and never helping. My business is completely destroyed bc of the negligence of the platform and their support. It also says this freelancer had completed 100% of the work which is false, so actually knowing the quality of the freelancer is completely unknown. The fact they allow freelancers to cancel and block a hiring person without cause is completely fraudulent. I am thousands of dollars in the hole and more importantly, I've wasted two years of my life dealing with situations completely avoidable if there were proper screenings and limited ability for freelancers to control the relationship in the way they do. They empower scammers to do this same thing over and over again.

Do I have ANY legal recourse against this **Edited for Community Guidelines**

[prestonhunter]

re: "Do I have ANY legal recourse against that freelancer in Bulgaria?"

In theory?
Yes.

As a practical matter?

No.

There is a basic principle in effect on Upwork, as with most websites: Problems with Upwork are most effectively handled on Upwork.

You may wish to read more about your legal recourse for Upwork matters here.

I am very sorry to hear about your experiences. Your anger is understandable. Obviously you are aware of the fact that many people use Upwork effectively. I don't know if that fact makes you feel worse or better, but if you would like to know about best practices for handling the types of situations you faced, you are welcome to ask. Using best practices, the most a client can expect to lose on a project such as yours is around $150.

If you primarily wanted to express your disappointment in your experiences while using Upwork, you have now done so. Upwork has paid employees who read the forums, and they pay special attention to posts such as yours.

Your post WILL be read and discussed by management. Upwork higher-ups do not want clients to feel the way that you do. The company as a whole is continuously experimenting with new ideas designed to improve the client experience.

If you would like to ask other questions here in this thread, you may do so.

By the way, I don't work for Upwork, and I don't represent the company in any way.

But I have hired over 100 freelancers on Upwork and have some familiarity with the types of situations you described in your post. I can assure you that you are not alone in feeling frustrated.

Although Upwork clearly has a larger user base of repeat paying clients who are experienced and know how to avoid certain pitfalls, that doesn't change the fact clients can have disastrous experiences. It is possible to read many other first-hand experiences in the Forum.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Do I have ANY legal recourse against that freelancer in Bulgaria?"

In theory?
Yes.

As a practical matter?

No.

There is a basic principle in effect on Upwork, as with most websites: Problems with Upwork are most effectively handled on Upwork.

You may wish to read more about your legal recourse for Upwork matters here.

I am very sorry to hear about your experiences. Your anger is understandable. Obviously you are aware of the fact that many people use Upwork effectively. I don't know if that fact makes you feel worse or better, but if you would like to know about best practices for handling the types of situations you faced, you are welcome to ask. Using best practices, the most a client can expect to lose on a project such as yours is around $150.

If you primarily wanted to express your disappointment in your experiences while using Upwork, you have now done so. Upwork has paid employees who read the forums, and they pay special attention to posts such as yours.

Your post WILL be read and discussed by management. Upwork higher-ups do not want clients to feel the way that you do. The company as a whole is continuously experimenting with new ideas designed to improve the client experience.

If you would like to ask other questions here in this thread, you may do so.

By the way, I don't work for Upwork, and I don't represent the company in any way.

But I have hired over 100 freelancers on Upwork and have some familiarity with the types of situations you described in your post. I can assure you that you are not alone in feeling frustrated.

Although Upwork clearly has a larger user base of repeat paying clients who are experienced and know how to avoid certain pitfalls, that doesn't change the fact clients can have disastrous experiences. It is possible to read many other first-hand experiences in the Forum.