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Mi's avatar
Mi H Community Member

FRAUD by UPWORK

Hi guys,

 

do yourselves a favour and don't use UPWORK.  They don't honour their fee guarantee.  I hired a freelancer to work on a project and was paying them by the hour.  When I switched to milestone payments the Upwork team told me that I couldn't continue this and had to create a new contract as was suggested by Upwork staff, I was advised to create a new contract.  Which I did, since this is what Upwork told me to do (I have email correspondence showing this) and they said that the guarantee would be upheld.  When the milestones weren't completed, I asked for a refund.  Upwork said that the fee guarantee doesn't apply because it's outside the window.  So they lied about the guarantee and they have scammers on this platform.  

 

I lost more than USD$5K.  I am beyond dissappointed and will be pursuing legal action.  **Edited for Community Guidelines**

9 REPLIES 9
Bojan's avatar
Bojan S Community Manager

Hi Mi,

 

I apologize for the inconvenience this caused. We've escalated this case to our executive escalations team. They'll follow up with you directly as soon as possible.

 

Generally, there is Upwork Payment Protection for both fixed-price and hourly contracts. It works  differently for these two types of contracts and you can find more information about it in this help article.

 

Thank you for your patience. 

~ Bojan
Upwork
Mi's avatar
Mi H Community Member

Hi - I already spoke to your colleagues and they gave me the wrong advice and now are not upholding the guarantee.  I want my full refund and I don't want you guys to use freelancers that are scammers.

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

re: "I lost more than USD$5K."

 

This represents gross negligence on the part of your project manager.

 

After the freelancer provided $5K worth of work, what did the project manager do with it all?

Or: If the freelancer did not actually do $5K worth of work, then why did your project manager pay him $5K? Why did your project manager continue to pay the freelancer money if the freelancer wasn't providing valuable work?

 

Don't you know that if a client uses the available Upwork tools and best practices, it is impossible to "lose $5K"?

 

Upwork fixed-price contracts mean that the CLIENT has TWO WEEKS to review every submission and has a button to BLOCK the release of payment until he is totally satisfied with the work. Upwork hourly contracts let the client review work diaries, including screenshots, in real time, pause or cancel a contract at any time for any reason, and allow a client to block payment to a freelancer for inappropriately logged time.

 

The most money that a client would use even if a freelancer is an outright thief and scoundrel and if everything goes wrong is about $100.

Mi's avatar
Mi H Community Member

The freelancer charged me for +$5K of work that was definitely not worth it!  I created a better landing page on wix than what I got from a "professional website platform developer company".  I ended the contract in January and I'm told that I'm out of my money.  This is beyond gross negligence on the part of the freelancer and upwork.    I kept being told that the project takes time.  And when I asked for work shown, they would give me something completely different than what I asked for.  They wasted my time, money and resources.  Upwork has done nothing to assist.

Alice's avatar
Alice G Community Member

You had your chance each week when the contract was on hourly to review the payments you were making. If you weren't happy with the content produced you should have closed the contract immediately rather than keep paying. 

 

Upwork isn't a babysitter or project manager, the fault lies with you here. 

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

re: "I created a better landing page on wix than what I got from a 'professional website platform developer company'"

 

Upwork is not a professional website platform developer.

 

Upwork does not develop websites.

 

Upwork is a platform that allows clients to find, hire, and pay freelancers.

When a client uses Upwork to find and hire a freelancer, Upwork is not party to that contract.

 

I do not doubt that the original poster is sincerely disappointed by their experience. It is unfortunate that the original poster was not aware of what services Upwork does and does not provide. The original poster may wish to read more about this topic here.

 

Alice wrote that Upwork is not a project manager. This is an incredibly important point. I think the mistaken notion that Upwork is a project manager is one of the number one causes of complaints among clients.

Mi's avatar
Mi H Community Member

UPwork needs to be audited by the BBB and other organizations so that users like myself are not scammed out of their money.  They misrepresent themselves period and the freelancers that they allow to be on their platform.  They are liable for this.  They provide a guarantee that they do not fulfill.  So where is the security for clients?  Where is the trust?  There is none.  And I'm no longer using or ever recommending this platform to anyone.  

 

CAVEAT EMPTOR - don't trust UPWORK.  PERIOD

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

re: "Upwork needs to be audited by the BBB and other organizations"

 

You may read more about that here.

Christine's avatar
Christine A Community Member


Mi H wrote:

UPwork needs to be audited by the BBB and other organizations so that users like myself are not scammed out of their money.  They misrepresent themselves period and the freelancers that they allow to be on their platform.  They are liable for this.  They provide a guarantee that they do not fulfill.  So where is the security for clients?  Where is the trust?  There is none.  And I'm no longer using or ever recommending this platform to anyone.  

 

CAVEAT EMPTOR - don't trust UPWORK.  PERIOD


Where does it say "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back"? Your freelancer isn't an Upwork employee - YOU hired him and you were therefore responsible for managing him.

 

Clients have a two-week period in which they can review work before the escrow payment is released, so if your freelancer wasn't working out, then you should have closed the contract instead of continuing to throw good money after bad. Upwork didn't force you to continue working with this freelancer; you made that decision yourself.