Jonathan C.

Hi All,

Of all the tech services I've used online Freelancer.com has by far the worst customer service. Here is why:

I put on a bid, and then spent 1 week to do due diligence on all the bids. I then find a decent freelancer, and when I try to pay the milestone their checkout system fails. This has happened 4-5 times earlier, and after a couple of emails front and back they can normally resolve it. This is not ideal, but I find it okay for a growing tech company.

Just after I solved the payment issue they closed my account without warning, and without any reason. I send them an email, and this is what I get back.:

"Thank you for contacting our Support Desk.

Your account has been closed by Freelancer.com administrator. We offer no recourse or rebuttal for this penalty.

It is stated in our Terms & Conditions that Freelancer.com may terminate the participation of a user if we think that they are creating problems, legal liabilities (actual or potential), infringing someone else's intellectual property rights, engaging in fraudulent, immoral or illegal activities, or for other similar reasons. See the Section 23 of the Terms & Conditions for your reference.

To view our Terms and Conditions, you may visit this link:

- User Agreement for Freelancer.com
http://www.freelancer.com/page.php?p=info/terms"

As most people can tell this is just copy pasted to everyone that asked why their account is closed down. I sent another email and I get the same copy pasted answer again.

I decide to create a new account, and repost the project. After 3 days, they close my new account. Again, without any reason. I send them a 1,5 page email to understand what I'm doing wrong, and I get this back:

"Thank you for contacting Freelancer.com Support.

We appreciate your feedback regarding our website and support. However, the closure of your account is due to the violation of our Terms and Conditions. Having said this, the option for us to lift the account closure is not available anymore."

This time, it's not a completely copy and pasted answer, but still another wage confusing answer. I find the last sentence interesting since I wrote them an email a couple of minutes after they canceled my account.

Since they cancel accounts left, and right without reason, and don't treat their customers with any respect, I'd recommend anyone reading this to use other services such as odesk.com, and elance.com.

I find freelancer.com a great example of a tech company that is growing too fast, and completely neglected the quality of their customer support.