Agency posing as a Freelancer

[Gerald S]

Is there a rule that Agencies can't pose as a Freelancer? I'm seeing one specific agency that's winning alot of jobs and the clients think at first they are hiring a single freelancer. Is this a Terms and Conditions issue?

[Valeria K]

Hi Gerald,

A freelancer profile should represent a person. It can't advertise services of an agency or a team in the profile description. That said, freelancers are allowed to subcontract fixed-price contracts as long as they inform their clients about it. If you suspect a freelancer is violating Upwork ToS, please flag their profile as inappropriate and the team will review.

Thanks!

[Gerald S]

I sent you a private message.

[Armand A]

I wanted to respond to this as well.  I feel like the freelancer that I have hired is posing as a single person doing the work, however, the responses/communication beg to tell a different story.  No was I notified of this.  What is the correct action to take if this is the case?  I feel like it is hurting progress on my project, and getting a single line of communication makes requirements/feedback discussion difficult.

[Rene K]

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@Armand A wrote:

I wanted to respond to this as well.  I feel like the freelancer that I have hired is posing as a single person doing the work, however, the responses/communication beg to tell a different story.  No was I notified of this.  What is the correct action to take if this is the case?  I feel like it is hurting progress on my project, and getting a single line of communication makes requirements/feedback discussion difficult.

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You may want to stop working with them as soon as you can, close the job and leave a feedback reflecting accurately the situation.

[Armand A]

It didn't become apparent till recently and I have already submitted two payments to them.  They are doing work, however, comms have started to suffer.

[Mary W]

I see this all the time and I always flag it. 

[Sergio S]

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@Mary W wrote:

I see this all the time and I always flag it. 

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I do too, though I am starting to think flagging is useless because I keep seeing the same profiles I reported without any changes, some of them even appear on othe first page when I search, unbelievable...

[Rene K]

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@Armand A wrote:

It didn't become apparent till recently and I have already submitted two payments to them.  They are doing work, however, comms have started to suffer.

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Do what you think is the best, but avoid to end-up in a situation that would be hard to get out later. Communication problems can rapidly have devastating effects on a project.

[Armand A]

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@Rene K wrote:

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@Armand A wrote:

It didn't become apparent till recently and I have already submitted two payments to them.  They are doing work, however, comms have started to suffer.

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Do what you think is the best, but avoid to end-up in a situation that would be hard to get out later. Communication problems can rapidly have devastating effects on a project.

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 I will know after I receive my demo this week.  If it is totally off then I will proceed with stopping and open a dispute.  What I am worried about, is, am I out what has already been billed hourly?  There has been MVP started and delivered, so I don't want to lose either the $ or progress.

Regardless, will flag them for other users.