I and my Client had Accounts Suspended

congzhou90 · ‎11-12-2014

I am Zhou Cong, new freelancer artist on Odesk, I have just concluded my very first work of Illustration for childrens book and earned $50.

Yesterday night Odesk team suspended my account, I have been told that the reason was:

**edited for Community Guidelines**

My client is from Israel, and I am from Brazil. I don't see why and how Odesk Risk Team thinks that we are same person. And suspends our account without warning.

There are more than enough evidence to see that we are different persons and our work are not fraud. Odesk may check our IP address, personal data. And I and **edited for Community Guidelines** have been exchanged a lot of messages during our job on Odesk via private messages. These all rules away the possibility of "double account".

On attachment is one of 30+ Illustrations that I have done for this job. If Odesk Risk Manager Team should pay much more attention before suspends our accounts.

I tried to contact the Odesk, and didn't received any response. Yaniv, my client, have contacted them via chat too, but they could not help.

Now, I have spent days building my Odesk profile, spent 40+ hours applying and working hard on Odesk. I have done a very good first job... I can easly prove that.

Ironically, now I find myself with account suspended, cannot apply to jobs, my previous job applications were removed and I cannot even widrawn what I have earned. I am deeply heartbroken by that.

Odesk should not suspend contractor's accounts under any minimal signs of suspiction, more reasonable way is to send a warning message asking the contractor to prove that he have not violated the term. Odesk should communicate more with contractor, give to him/her more respect.

I am looking foward not to only solve my own problem. I wish this kind of problem dont happen with anyone else in the future. It's very important for Odesk team to reflect and think carefully to avoid more mistakes like this.

I am willing to help the Odesk to improve and freelancers by addressing the problem that happened with me. Hope in future Odesk could keep improving and provide a excelent platform for jobs.

Regards,

Cong

kochubei_valeria · ‎11-12-2014

Hi Cong,

I am sorry about this situation. While we are not able to share details of your suspension or client's identifying information here in the Community, rest assured that our Team is doing their best to resolve this issue. They will get back to you via the open ticket once everything is thouroughly reviewed. We appreciate your patience.

~ Valeria

congzhou90 · ‎11-12-2014

I will be waiting patiently.

I will keep updated here whether my account suspension have been solved or not.

It may be a lot better if Odesk communicate and messages the contractor requiring him/her to solve the issue and wait few days before suspends contractor's account, only if he or she remain unresponsive. We have seen a lot of cases similar to mine, and if measures are not taken, more has yet to come.

Suspending a contractor who have not inflicted the terms is very prejudicial and disrespectful. Contractor is a worker, someone who is willing to help, to contribute to the society and humanity, why would someone deny their will to work. While contractor loses a lot of time trying to solve the problem and may quit Odesk, Odesk is losing potential client looking for jobs. There also is a moral (and emotional) damage done if account is wrongly suspended.

I hope Odesk could consider my opinion, and think about the account suspension issue. The supposed irregularities should be solved by communication betwen Odesk and Freelancers. Punishment should the last resort when everything else fails.

Regards,

Cong

congzhou90 · ‎11-17-2014

Hello again, I have some good news:

My client told me today that his account have been restored. 😃

My payment has been accepted! (on e-mail Odesk Teams said that It will be refunded)

On yesterday morning, Odesk R.M. Team replied me for first time (5 days after account suspension) requiring my ID. Which I sent to them immediately within 1 hour. It have been 24+ hours, and no response again...

Best Regards.

**EDIT**

My Account have been Restored while I was typing this message! =)))

But this could be a lot faster, my account should not even be suspended to start with. But damage have been done:

All my previous job applications has Disappeared!
I have spent 6+ hours trying to solve this.

What Odesk could improve:

Alert us that my account may be linked to my client's account, and give us 2 days to send our ID for verification.
Tell us that ID is required in very beginning, not after 5 days...
Keep us updated about the process, and be quicker to answer messages.
Keep my job applications on hold so that I may communicate with the possible clients.
Give some extra quota for time and chances lost by suspension.

Best Regards,

Cong

kochubei_valeria · ‎11-17-2014

Hi Cong,

I have checked your account and it looks like it has been reinstated. I am sorry about the delay and I really appreciate your patience. Please, let us know if you have any additional questions or issues you may need help with.

~ Valeria

congzhou90 · ‎11-17-2014

Hi Valeria, thanks for help and Information, I have edited my previous post.

Unless Odesk have some improvements this problem will persists. Any Freelancer may be victim of this problem again and again.

It's very important to consider what Odesk could improve:

Alert us that my account may be linked to my client's account, and give us 2 days to send our ID for verification.
Tell us that ID is required in very beginning, not after 5 days...
Keep us updated about the process, and be quicker to answer messages.
Keep my job applications on hold so that I may communicate with the possible clients.
Give some extra quota for time and chances lost by suspension.

Being suspected for minor rules/terms violations Freelancer's account shall not be suspended. The Freelancer should be given a chance and time to prove that He/She is not guilty.
If account have been suspended by mistake Odesk should give at least 20 temporary extra quota to Freelancer. Because he have been penalized for not being apply to job.

That's all, Hope our opinions could be heard and considered by Odesk.

kbkibbe · ‎11-18-2014

I've been waiting 8 days now and NOTHING from oDesk. Not a word regarding this matter. I found the oDesk "help" desk phone number (which oDesk tries very hard to hide) and called. Guy was "helpful" he "looked into it" and told me he could not see any reason what so every why my account was suspended but he had no control over the financial side of things... But he said he would keep an eye on it.

Well, still nothing. My account suspension is groundless and oDesk has not done a thing about it for over a week. I'm angry, what are you going to do about this oDesk?

Sincerely,

Kevin Kibbe

rahatur · ‎01-25-2015

I think those are good suggestions from Cong. I am not sure why oDesk keeps the freelancers in the dark for so long.
When an account is suspended it’s the time when a freelancer needs to know what is going on more than anything.

mani_singh91 · ‎08-22-2015

I am sorry I dont have answer for you problem but I here to ask my question.

I hope you experts will answer my question .

As one of my contract is suspended a week ago. My client pushing me to complete work regardless of the status of the contract even he did not provided me the complete details of his server on that I need to work.

While development he did not answered my questions.

This has never happened to me before, so I'm sort of torn. Do I finish the work? Do I wait for the contract to be reinstated?
or I should end the contract ? If I end the contract right here is that possible for the client to provide me bad feedback under his suspended account.

Please revert me ASAP
Thanks so much.

kochubei_valeria · ‎08-22-2015

Hi Gurpreet,

If you see that the contract is suspended, most likely it means that there is an issue on the client's side. We strongly suggest you do not continue working on the contract since the payment for your work may not be processed. Your client needs to sort out the issue before you can resume your work on the contract.

I hope you and your client can sort if our soon.

~ Valeria

3eb9fdd5 · ‎01-11-2022

Hey I have been facing same issues as a client, dropped email reply,,,, but it needs to be resolves on priority, can you please help and guide me as well as the freelancer through this.

tinker_bell3 · ‎01-11-2022

Hi Sugandha,

I can see that you already have an open ticket regarding this issue. One of our agents will update your ticket and assist you further.

~ Joanne

gerrhenlim · ‎11-19-2014

Same problem with mine. I was also "accused" that I am using multiple accounts and that my account is linked to that of my freelancer. My financial transaction was put on hold and worst, Odesk support has been very unresponsive. I will just send them my identification and ask for ids also to my freelancer to prove that I have no association with his own Odesk account. I just hope this won't take much long as this is emotionally and mentally frustrating. I hope Odesk will learn something out of this issues.

kbkibbe · ‎11-19-2014

Karen

I know what you mean and when money is involved it hurts. I can't trust oDesk after this. It took too long. What they should have done is pretty simple. ASK US FIRST! If we don't respond, fine, hold our accounts until we respond, don't make us wait for OVER 8 days to do anything about it.

Kevin

gerrhenlim · ‎11-20-2014

Hello Kevin,

How's your account? Is is still on hold? Unfortunately, mine is still on hold, it's been 5 days I think upon my account being put on limit. 😞 I have sent scanned ids to Odesk support and asked valid ids to my freelancer to prove that we are separate indiciduals and that I don't use multiple accounts with different names 😞 I hope they should give us warnings first ot verify first before they suspend an account directly. They are very fast in suspending accounts but very slow in their response to solve the issue. I am still frustrated and very disappointed as I haven't received updates yet. 😞

kbkibbe · ‎11-20-2014

Hello Karen

It took 8 days but it is now cleared. I'm sorry to hear yours is still in the oDesk waste land of total disregard for it's customers. I had to wait 8 days for them to even ask me for my ID and credit card PHOTO!!! Once they asked for it, I sent it within an hour and then they fixed it within a hour or so of that. In the meantime all the jobs I had applied for had been terminated by oDesk, which I'm sure those potential clients are now wondering about me and thinking it would be better not to do business with me...

Also, and this is a kicker for anyone else out there with this issue. They tell you they suspect you and another random person as one and the same. oDesk tells you that it is ok to continue your existing contracts and they tell you that your earnings or on hold with the client they think is you... What they don't tell you is that ALL of your income is on hold!!! So you spend up to 7 days working only to find out that your earnings for that week are on hold and with different clients!! Now this is foul play.

Why oDesk can't just notify us that we need to provice ID when we sign up is anyones guess or why they can't ask us for it before shooting us in the foot and GREATLY upsetting people. It is very upsetting behaviour.

I found the phone number for for odesk and was able to talk to someone but they had no idea what was going on. Told me that there was no reason what so ever that my account should have been on hold. Random computer glitch.

... Anyway good luck Karen and all the others. Also good luck to oDesk in keeping our sensitve personal information safe. I really hope they don't keep the photo of my drivers license and the photo of my credit card online. I should point out that it is NOW online as I can see the files that I uploaded to oDesk in the help desk ticket which means... well you know what it means Russian hackers can as well.

Kevin

dkheterpal · ‎01-23-2015

Hello there.

I am facing the same problem from yesterday where mine and my client's accounts were suspended with the same reason mentioned here by Cong Z.

I am in touch with the suppor team and have posted many tickets but none of these tickets have been entertained yet.

Just wondering if I would get any solution for this, as I am open to submit any identity/document required to confirm that I am the intended user of this account and it has not been linked to other account.

Valeria, can you please look into the matter and do the needful here.

Any help in this regards will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Deepak Kheterpal

kochubei_valeria · ‎01-24-2015

Hi Deepak,

I am sorry to hear about your account suspension. Please, make sure you provide answers to questions asked by the Team in the open ticket and keep your communication through that ticket in order for the issue to be resolved as soon as possible.

Thank you very much for your patience.

~ Valeria

dkheterpal · ‎01-24-2015

Hello Valeria,

Thanks for your prompt response.

I have posted few tickets with this regards but unfortunately none of my ticket is entertained yet. I understand the support team members have bunch of tickets posted daily which they need to handle based on priority.

So, I just hope mine will be entertaine ASAP, as oDesk is the only source of income for me and trust me I have never violated the oDesk terms and conditions knowingly.

Please do suggest how much time it generally takes to reinstate a suspended account and what generally requires to do the same. I am open to provide any verification document required.

Looking forward to hear from support team.

Regards,

Deepal

dkheterpal · ‎02-02-2015

Hello Valeria,

Thanks, my account is reinstated back now.

I just kept communicating and provided all the necessary proofs oDesk required to prove that I and the client are different indentities.

And if anyone else if facing this same problem, I would suggest keep communicating and keep patience, since it generally takes 3 to 4 working days(at max) to respond a ticket and try to be polite and be truthful to oDesk support, and if they would think that you are a genuine person, and there is no fault of yours, then they will definitly reinstate your account.

Thanks

geniusdevill · ‎01-25-2015

Exactly same this is happening with my account at the moment. Its been 6 days but the person who is reviewing all the details is really slow and suspended account of mine and my client's as well. I don't know who is this Risk Department person who is attacking on many freelancers. He should be fired right at the moment when he is mis judging these things and wasting valuable time of freelancers. We work hard to build our profiles clean and steady and these reviewers from Risk Department give us a **bleep** within few minutes and make us think that we made a mistake by building a profile on oDesk.

geniusdevill · ‎01-25-2015

6 days ago, my account on oDesk got suspended (still suspended) and the reviewer who is reviewing my account is that slow and taking ages to reply back and to verify that everything is alright and in accordance with the poilicy.

Here's what happened actually:

1- My friend received an invitation on his profile from a client and he was busy at the moment in another assignment and he accepted the invitation and gave my skype id to client in contact message. Now me and client started conversation and i also told client about me and my friend. He was OK with that. After a month, client gave me contract and oDesk started thinking that Client ID is my own ID and I have multiple IDs. After giving all proofs and required documents as well to oDesk reviewer, account is still held and not being un-suspended. Client account also suspended, as well as my friends account. I want to know, what was done so wrong in all that oDesk gave **bleep** to all of our accounts and stopped us working further with all our funds blocked as well?

Is this how things work? We are not working outside, we are not breaking any rules and still even if they doubt you, they give you a kick on your bum.

I don't know what to do and still there is no reply from the reviewer after 15 hours passed from my last reply. oDesk, your review methods are not good at all. Try to talk on skype or call. This email **bleep** is not good and your reviewers are old age now. Either replace them or make it a better place. It happened to me 2nd time within 1 month.

kochubei_valeria · ‎01-25-2015

Hi Hassan,

I am sorry that your account was suspended. Please, continue communicating with the Team through the ticket in order to have the situation clarified and the issue resolved. The Risk Management Team is working as fast as they can to have it resolved soon.

Thank you for your patience.

~ Valeria

sham_p · ‎01-25-2015

I am Sham pal. Yesterday night Odesk team suspended my account, And all jobs Closed by Customer Support. And dashbord this message Financial transactions for Sham Pal () have been limited. Please check your email for additional information or contact customer support. and My client also suspend account And suspends our account without warning.

Please help..

Thanks

sham

jsutherland · ‎02-02-2015

I can't believe this is still going on. I'm so sorry you people are being abused this way.

I just accepted a job today and now I'm terrified to work for fear this may happen to me. I haven't been able to work for awhile and now this stuff has me scared to even try. I don't want to work for nothing and DO NOT want to go through the hassle and embarasement of having this happen.

motyduke · ‎06-25-2015

These stories are really frigtening . I work with thinking now that upwork can close account without really serious reasons .

I understand that each case is different but maybe Upwork cn give general advices to us to avoid it . I think these people are not scammers and did their best to respect guideleines ....but maybe some mistakes...Can we know what are the problems to avoid these situations in the future ?

kochubei_valeria · ‎06-25-2015

Hi Olivier,

Here is a thread you can refer to in order to learn more about reasons why accounts may get suspended. See original post by Monica. It's an old post but essentially the reasons for account suspensions are still the same.

I hope this information helps.

~ Valeria

motyduke · ‎06-26-2015

Thanks a lot Valeria . i read it and understand . But it seems that it is very different in the cases escribed now . And if it is a fraud ok . But in many cases it is a suspicion only . How to avoid this suspicion ? and why closing account before checking them ? it seems so rude !