Discrimination

c1228762 · ‎08-25-2020

Q:

I want to put a complaint on your customer service. I asked over chat why my profile is set to non-native English speaker despite being born and bred in America. Instead of simply telling me I can change it, your representative told me i will have to PAY to take an english language test to prove my proficiency. She lied and said every new freelancer has to go through this test. This was wrong information and racist. Just because you have many indians on the site does not mean that every Indian person is from India. Furthermore, I doubt that people with caucasian names and pictures on the site have to go through an "English proficiency" test. Please fix your processes.

a_lipsey · ‎08-25-2020

Sambrita B wrote:
Q:
I want to put a complaint on your customer service. I asked over chat why my profile is set to non-native English speaker despite being born and bred in America. Instead of simply telling me I can change it, your representative told me i will have to PAY to take an english language test to prove my proficiency. She lied and said every new freelancer has to go through this test. This was wrong information and racist. Just because you have many indians on the site does not mean that every Indian person is from India. Furthermore, I doubt that people with caucasian names and pictures on the site have to go through an "English proficiency" test. Please fix your processes.

Wow, that is very disturbing to hear. I have also never heard that said. Freelancers can change their language fluency at will, it's just that they don't necessarily get that verification checkmark that it's been verified. Usually it gets verified either by a test at the freelancer's discretion or enough clients report the fluency level and the checkmark gets added. I'm sorry this happened to you , and I will flag your post for a moderator to speak up and hopefully help out.

florydev · ‎08-25-2020

Sambrita B wrote:
Q:
I want to put a complaint on your customer service. I asked over chat why my profile is set to non-native English speaker despite being born and bred in America. Instead of simply telling me I can change it, your representative told me i will have to PAY to take an english language test to prove my proficiency. She lied and said every new freelancer has to go through this test. This was wrong information and racist. Just because you have many indians on the site does not mean that every Indian person is from India. Furthermore, I doubt that people with caucasian names and pictures on the site have to go through an "English proficiency" test. Please fix your processes.

I doubt I have because I might have failed it.

petra_r · ‎08-25-2020

Your profile shows your English level as "native or bilingual"

If you want your English level to show as "verified" you have to take the test, the same as everyone else, regardless of their name or ethnic origin.

kochubei_valeria · ‎08-25-2020

Hi Sambrita,

Thanks for flagging this to us and I'm sorry you felt discriminated against. I reviewed the chat transcript and I see where the agent didn't make the distinction between updating the English Language Proficiency level on their profile (something that any freelancer can do on their own any time) and having it verified so that the blue checkmark is displayed next to it (achieved either by taking the test or after receiving feedback from a few clients) clear. I see that they explained the process for the verification before addressing the way to update the profile setting. I'll share your feedback with our support team and we'll use it as a coaching opportunity.

~ Valeria