John M.

So we only joined Freelancer yesterday and already it has been a terrible experience.

We were looking to get a mobile app built and with it came a healthy enough USD budget. When putting up the job spec we hoped to attract some great freelancers that we could do repeat business with. Unfortunately not, the bulk of them look like spam and bad spam at that.

Today after 100 applications that we cannot trust we have decided to close our Freelancer account.

Here's why:

* Automatic Applications - allows freelancers to automatically apply. Means no one is reading your job spec. Within 5 minutes we had over 40 applications. One of our requirements to applicants was to download our current app and thoroughly review before applying.
* No personalised responses - Over 100 applications so far and only 2 were personalised about the job itself (even then they copied and pasted from our job spec)
* Fake Profile Images - High percentage of applications had profiles pictures of young asian girls? Extremely bizarre if you are a real developer or company. Quick search in google saw the same images on Ebay shops etc.
* Fake feedback - very easy to spot that multiple accounts have been set up giving each other feedback
* Too many emails - I have received over 20 emails in my inbox from Freelancer in under 24 hours
* Contact outside of Freelancer - 2 applicants contacted our company directly by email to beg us to hire them
* Upselling - Have too many emails or applications? Its fine you can pay Freelancer to search through the crap. There should be no crap in the first place. It seems that freelancer encourages spam.
* Customer service - Robotic answers. When I emailed to ask why the majority of my applicants had automatic responses and fake images of young asian girls, their response was that they can assure me all applicants go through a verification process. Not really a good answer is it?

The above leads me to believe that Freelancer.com really don't care about the quality of their freelancers and only want to make money. As an employer with limited time on my hands I cannot believe they think this business model would work for anyone who is looking to hire.

I was looking for serious freelancers and got nothing of the sort. I feel sorry for the genuine developers on this site as employers will not know who is real or not. As a first time experience I would be suggesting to other employers to stay away from the site and not waste your time.

Hopefully freelancer.com take these suggestion on board. My guess though is that a robotic answer will follow.