Sunil P.

I joined freelancer.com in 2007. It was then getafreelancer.com and charging just $6 for gold membership. Later they increased few dollars. But everything was free once you pay for that gold membership including payment received. Site was provider friendly. I worked hard and got top 5 rank in provider list.

Then it changed its name and owner and suddenly everything became very costly. Now it has a premium membership for $199.95 per month still you have to pay 3% project fee from every earning. I don't think anybody can earn such a big amount from this site every month because there huge number of bidder in each project and chances of earning good number of project every month is very low. I never won any case against a buyer in freelancer.com though I provided client approval and other proofs.

I read a lot about payment reversal and other scam in freelancer.com but never believed these till a morning when I opened my freelancer.com account and found balance - $ 350. Fund of $90 which was in my account also transferred to freelancer.com so total $446 was debited from account. Next day again they changed Indian rupee and AUD to dollar and withdrew $120. So all amount with gone from account and it was still showing balance -$270.

When I contacted freelancer support about it they replied that one of my clients who paid to me had some dispute with someone so to recover payment from this client they reversed all payment which he paid to workers including mine. But freelancer.com never informed me that this client had any dispute with someone. I received payment and reviews so everything seems fine for me. I cant check other accounts so how could I knew whether a client had some dispute with others or not. I lost $446 without and fault. Now freelancer. Com has stopped my premium membership so I cant bid in more than a 10 projects in a month. They are sending email to deposit money so they could renew membership but I dont know my mistake and reason for this reverse transaction.

Here is my chat with freelancer.com support staff-

00:42 Dave S.: It appears that your employer is experiencing issues with their account.

00:43 Me: but I received payment through milestone

00:43 Me: and I received feedback

00:43 Dave S.: You will need to contact your employer regarding the payments for
These projects.

00:43 Me: I didnt know about any issue

00:43 Me: but he says that he already paid to me

00:45 Dave S.: Please contact them directly to discuss your payment.

00:45 Dave S.: The funds have been reversed to their account.

00:46 Me: but my account which has some indian currency and aud yesterday
Also changed tousd today

00:47 Me: I dont have balance to renew my membership

00:47 Dave S.: Your INR funds were converted into USD since your USD funds does not
Have sufficient funds when the reversal was processed.

00:50 Me: but is it possible for me to work as general member and earn
$250 and deposit it to freelancer.com

00:51 Dave S.: Yes,

00:51 Me: Do you want me to stop working at freelancer.com

00:51 Dave S.: Please contact your employer directly,
00:52 Me: I am not satisfied with your reply. I am afraid that it will
Be repeated in future

00:53 Me: Fund from my account can be withdraw using any excuse

00:54 Dave S.: You may consult Sections 18-22 of our User Agreement page for an
Explanation on this:

00:54 Dave S.: https://www.freelancer.com/about/terms

00:55 Me: Can you help me to recover payment from this buyer

00:55 Me: He may have balance in future but he will not pay again

00:56 Dave S.: I can send an email to your employer.

00:56 Dave S.: However, I cannot guarantee their quick and positive response.

This is not single case, I know many worker who face same fate earlier. Be alert while using freelancer.com.