Elaine K.

My user profile says I am a member since 2006. That is because I think they either bought my name or got it from one of the various companies they bought that I may have used in the past.

I posted to have a web site done and got many responses within two days. Most of them had not read what I was trying to do. A few did and seemed very qualified. I gave the award to a freelancer.

Here is where they started taking money as fast as they could and from where ever they could.

To get going I entered a new credit card (Bank A) and authorized payment of the full contract amount to this credit card. They had info on another credit chard (Bank B) I did not want to use for this project.

I was charged more at Bank A, but said to myself, ok this must include their fees. But for transparency, I thought then they should have itemized everything like a real vendor before a customer would click yes. (I should have stopped Bank A authorizing the charge at that moment when what I clicked yes to did not match the charge.)

Then at the same time suddenly I was boosted to a full member status without warning. (I never asked for this, and it would mean monthly charges in the future.)

And then this: They also -- and at the same time -- made various charges to the Bank B credit card. (The one I did not use) The first one got through, but my bank -- before I even knew it was going on -- stopped the other charge for over 1,600. I only recently found out about that.

So then I wanted to release initial funds to the contractor to get started on the project -- a first milestone. Thinking that I had funds in the account (I just paid a bunch of money) I wanted to release a portion to the freelancer to start. It is fair and shows good will on my part. With this they billed the milestone payment (plus more fees) to my credit card again for this same project.

Granted, maybe I made an erro in their system charging myself again: Butt it is clear that they have designed their system for lack of transparency and to get as much as they can as fast as they can through confusion for both freelancer and employer. (Isn't this how all scammers work?)

Seeing my error, I immediately contacted customer support requesting a reverse of the charge I made to my credit card and Bank A in error.

(Keep in mind at this point I did not realize they also made a series of test charges to Bank B, then one smallish charge of around 30.00 before their attempt to double bill the project to Bank B.)

Customer support gave all the BS reasons why they could not do a reverse on the charge in error to Bank A. They said I had to deal with the freelancer and go to my bank. It was not about solving a problem they could, it was about pushing me off. I won't bore you with the insane back and forth. But again, this is how scammers operate.

Then I called my bank and tried to get a stop on that payment I made in error. (It has since gone through.)

Meanwhile, I detected there was a stop on that credit card at Bank B as it kept getting rejected why trying to conduct my daily business. Low and behold, Freelancer.com had been trying to make charges against that card as well and I did not know it until my bank smelled something fishy going on.

And not only that. At the same time I unfortunately entered the trap of freelancer.com various charges were being made by a software company I had never heard of. So there were not only unauthorized charges at Bank B by Freelancer.com but also my card had been obviously compromised through their system.

Being upset with these fast folding developments, I then cancelled the project over Freelancer.com. I then tried to cancel my membership. But they won't let me. Nor can I get the funds of over thousands back from them.

I am now out thousands of dollars for nothing. They have probably also charged the freelancer even though he no longer has the project.

Hey, I am willing to let them keep the 30-some dollars they did successfully take from Bank B where no charges were authorized. I'll write that off as a commission they can keep for allowing me to post my project on their site.

But not the thousands they took from Bank A.

So in short freelancer.com

1. Doubled charged me for one project on two different credit cards,
2. Broke up charges into different fees, unbeknownst to me
3. Did not provide an itemized invoice before clicking the charge approval (like Amazon or any real merchant would)
4. Refused to reverse a large charge made in error (they could have done that immediately, as all honest merchants do all the time. (With the contracted project fully funded they could see that it was an error.)

5. Apparently, almost surely, compromised my card at Bank B (where they did test charges first, and then tried to double bill the project.

6. Have refused to allow me to end my membership even though my project with them is cancelled.

This is not only terrible for me (it has cost me thousands of dollars and now the project may not be done) but for the freelancer as well as now he does not have the business and it is no way for good freelancers to get business over a platform like that.

Now, if Freelancer. Com refunds my money (they can keep the unauthorized money they got from Bank B as their commission for posting my project.) I will revisit this posting and make good. But for now my strong advice is to stay away, far away from Freelancer.com

Update in response to Freelancer's rely.

1. I never upgraded the project. That is bunk.

2. I was charged on two credit cards for one project.

3. I made an milstone charge to my credit card in error when there were already sufficient funds in my account (eventough Freelancer confused me by saying there was a -0- account.

4. I cancelled the project after all those charges were made.

5. As your your ticket? Huh? Why would I give you my bank details after you already compromised my credit card? All you need to do is reverse the funds directly. You know that. Stop scamming. Stop the lies to your own customers upon which you depend for your survival.

Like I said, RUN AWAY FAST from freelancer.com

Hope this information helps you Freelancer and take care!

PS: By The Way, Freelancer.com, did you ever wonder why you have practically and absolutely the worst rating possible for an online vendor?