I recently created an employer account for a marketing and management agency, and was promptly required to submit proof that my business is legitimate. I provided the company with a Certificate of Organization, Articles of Organization, Bank Statement, Certificate of Existence, proof of domain ownership, and numerous screenshots from my InBiz dashboard, Quickbooks dashboard, and various other business-related dashboards.

Upon being told a third time that the documentation I provided was not sufficient, I explained to their representative, tu_smsabado, that I can open a business bank account and line of credit using less than half of the documentation I provided, and instructed them to connect me with someone who actually knows what they're doing.

The representative didn't handle my criticism well. They began stalking my social media accounts and sent me derogatory emails containing words/phrases such as "go f-ck yourself," "you whiny little b-tch," "you'll never get your account approved," "who's the idiot now," etc.

I told them that if they don't approve my account within 24 hours, I'll report them to their superiors. They responded with, "Go ahead... I already found your socials. You have a lot more to lose than I do."

While not directly stated, they were implying that they'll fraudulently damage my online reputation if I report them. What they didn't know is that I also own a reputation management and damage control firm, and my partner owns a private investigation agency.

I forwarded the emails to their superiors and various departments at Indeed. Nearly two weeks have passed since then and I've yet to hear back from anyone.

— — — — —

UPDATE (2 JAN):

I'd like to share Indeed's response to this review:...Your account was reviewed and the decision has been made that your job advertisements cannot be shown on Indeed. We would like to point out the following clauses in our Terms of Service (https://www.indeed.com/legal#tos):

Introduction to Indeed's Terms of Service
Indeed may reject, remove, or limit visibility to any User Content (as defined below), and Indeed may disable any account or restrict your ability to use all or parts of the Site, for any or no reason without notice. Although Indeed may indicate why User Content or an account has been removed or disabled, we cannot give every reason why User Content or an account may be removed. We always retain the right to remove any User Content or account if we feel it is in our interest or our Users' interest.

Indeed Ads Program Terms - 5. Conditions and Prohibited Uses
Indeed may choose not to accept any Ads for any or no reason. Indeed further reserves the right to disable or terminate any Employer's account, for any or no reason, without notice. Although Indeed may provide information related to our decision-making process, we cannot give every reason why an account may be terminated or an Ad may be removed. The Indeed team responsible for maintaining the quality of the Site is independent, and its decisions are final and not subject to review...

Reply to my issue...
My name is Dieter and I am more than happy to assist with your query.

You can view your assessment scores in the Skills tests section of your profile.
100% DID NOT ADDRESS MY PROBLEM

Initial contract:
I took numerous assessments & Most of my assessments have dissappeared - where did they go?

24 MISSING
11 INACCURATELY SCORED

********** NO WONDER I'M NOT GETTING ANY INTERVIEWS
THIS IS LITERALLY KILLING ME - I AM SOOOOO STRESSED!

I can SEE 18 on Indeed (3 I chose not to be visible- 2 of those are duplicates)

Of the 18 - ONLY ONE - ADMIN ASSIS -
***- has accurately recorded my score

IF THEY WEREN'T IMPORTANT... I WOULDN'T HAVE WASTED HOURS COMPLETING THEM!

**** 24 MISSING ASSESSMENTS****
>MOSTLY HIGHLY PROFICIENT OR EXPERT<

• HR: Compensation & benefits - Highly Proficient
• Teamwork: Interpersonal Skills - Highly Proficient
• Creating Presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint - Proficient
• Administrative Support - Proficient
• Data Entry - Highly Proficient
• Administrator - Expert
• Working with MS Word Documents - Highly Proficient
• Medical Receptionist Skills - Expert
• Dental Receptionist Skills - Highly Proficient
• Verbal Communication - Highly Proficient
• Organizational Skills - Highly Proficient
• Attention to Detail - Proficient
• Basic Word Processing with Microsoft Word - Highly Proficient
• Written communication - Proficient
• Composing & Sorting Email - Expert
• Active Listening - Highly Proficient
• Front desk agent (hotel) - Expert
• Customer focus & orientation - Highly Proficient
• Project management skills: Budgeting - Highly Proficient
• Active listening - Highly Proficient
• Outside Sales - Highly Proficient
• Warehouse associate - Highly Proficient
• Cashier Skills - Highly Proficient
• Receptionist - Expert

****11 INACCURATELY SCORED****
********* recorded as PROFICIENT

• Data entry: Attention to detail - Highly Proficient-
• Attention to detail - Highly Proficient-
• Scheduling - Highly Proficient-
• Customer service - Highly Proficient-
• Customer Focus & Orientation - Expert-
• Management & Leadership Skills: Planning & Execution - Highly Proficient-
• Management & leadership skills: Impact & influence - Highly Proficient-
• Management & leadership skills: Planning & execution - Expert-
• Call center customer service - Expert-
• Project Timeline Management - Highly Proficient-
• Retail Customer Service - Expert-

ONLY CORRECT RECORDED SCORE
Administrative Assistant/Receptionist - Proficient

Hopefully having to give email used on Indeed doesn't adversely affect me further!

I literally hate this company so hard

I had not even begun to use the site, when I uploaded my job description and my account was "disabled" from posting. No explanation, other than I have to verify that I am a legit employer... 8 days, 5 hours and 72 documents later: here I am. The entire last week was a bust with Indeed. I tried everything possible: calling, emailing, begging, yelling, pleading. Why have I been rejected? Well, I'm not sure. Why would I be allowed to know THAT.

You see, they provide no explanations whatsoever. They tell you a list of possible verification documents you can provide to show you are a legit employer. I provided the few I had ready, being a start up depending on its employees to get licenses and a headquarters: my Articles of Incorporation.

Rejected. Why? Finally I got an explanation…Oh, because it's "publicly available information". So, since one of the items on THEIR LIST of acceptable documents can be found publicly, it apparently SECRETLY does not count. They say in parenthesis that in addition to AoI you can submit "other government issued documents". Did I? I submitted EVERY SINGLE DOCUMENT I HAVE FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE, THE IRS AND THE LEGAL PACKAGE from my LLC formation and they were blanket rejected. I know for a fact all these government issued documents are not publicly available. Literally felt like I was being taunted. Mocked. I was told to resubmit in pdf format, sending the original files. Rejected. Again, no reason given. No explanations offered. When I called the "Client Success Expert" (ironic) just read the other acceptable items on the list to me and suggest I tried to submit one of them.

Explained again that I would but I don't HAVE any, they said well you can appeal. Appeal rejected. No explanation. Appeal rejected again and this time with a really nasty email that literally says:

"We have reviewed your account and have found it to be unsuitable for Indeed.

"For your reference, we have linked Indeed's Terms of Service and Job Posting Guidelines.

"Please note that your account currently is not accruing costs and this is a final decision. No further action is required on your part. No additional details regarding this decision will be provided. "

Oh, ok, so now we live in the USSR. I guess I didn't get that memo. Stupidly thinking that I was an American and a consumer with something called RIGHTS, I called back (had to scrub the internet for a support line that was not hidden from the public access) and said ok, so you reject me you reject me. But I asked if they don't accept these documents and it's literally all the documents I POSSESS for my business from the government, then please just tell me WHAT DOCUMENTS DO YOU EVER ACCEPT THAT ARE GOVERNMENT ISSUED from employers? They didn't know. Not their department. They can't communicate with the people who do the verifications.

Finally I asked to be transferred to a couple of departments after they saw I wasn't going to roll over and be dead like their other rejects, so I finally got the ear of a really lovely and sweet assistant named Briia, who understood I was not a fraud and said she would really try to help me get through the verification process. She made an internal memo asking the same question as above, and I offered to submit other documentation, although it was not on the official list. Hey, they don't take documents on the list, I figured why not try some off of it. I almost cried with gratitude after reaching a real human with a kind heart.

So, the grand finale to my little war to exist on this diabolical platform is: Briia has been silenced from communicating with me. As has Jaswant, the other nice person who was trying to help me. Suddenly, after a reliably timely correspondence for about a week, Indeed management just froze me out.

Must feel great to live in Germany in the 1840s. Now I know. Eff this site. If it weren't the monopolist I'd never bother with such rubbish treatment and arrogant nonsense. However, being that it is the monopolist, it knows it can get away with acting however it wants. Indeed is like the Uber of recruiting sites... they say they care about you, but then the next ride you get the driver is high on heroin. The platform just wants to be sure it's getting its commission.

UPDATE: two hours after this review went live, I magically just heard back from Briia. She politely told me to buzz off. No explanations, after 9 days, for why my Articles of Incorporation are not acceptable Articles of Incorporation, or any of my other government issued documents are not good enough. Just a polite handshake to get lost.

In short, do not make Indeed your primary recruiting platform. Their practices, and communication is the most unprofessional that I have ever seen, having been in the recruiting arena for over 30 years.

I have used Indeed as an Employer for many years. I currently use it as the primary source for identifying candidates at my current company. We have posted the same position on their platform for the past year and suddenly 2 days ago (NO WARNING) they closed our ability to use their service, even though as a company we spend anywhere from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 a month in sponsored ads! All you get is an email saying that you violated one of their policies. Again, we have been using the same ad for the whole time that we have been utilizing their platform.

What you should expect when this happens is spending 2 hours trying to find a number to call them, because now your whole recruiting department is shut down. Then once you reach a very nice customer service agent, they can provide no assistance but will give you the email of your account representative. (1 day in this process, no one still has the ability to tell you WHY we have been shut down. That is a whole other team, that you will never have access too!) After emailing my two-account representative, I receive an email 24 hours later explaining that I must submit an appeal. (Again, I have no idea what I am appealing, and clueless to WHY they have decided to hit their magic turn off button!) Day 2: Recruiting has no way to source candidates or work on the jobs they had posted on Indeed. I'm unblocked for a few hours, then blocked again. I call customer service and email my account managers. I am told again, please submit the appeal form? WHAT am I appealing, still clueless. I spend day two speaking to customer service and emailing account managers, the result is that it is day 3 and I am scrambling to find other resources, other platforms to invest in. I work for a company that has over 2600 employees and is a billion-dollar distribution company. Indeed, has cost our company money, has cost a job seeker an opportunity to start working, disrupted our whole recruiting department, and more importantly has delayed our recruiting efforts for 3 days!

Day 3: The account managers are trying to get this escalated, but again. No one can tell me why it was ever shut off in the first place. No communication whatsoever!
I understand, rules should be followed. However, as a paying customer I expect a lot more professionalism from a company of this size. First, address specific problems with me that you may see with my account. Make me aware that my company is doing something wrong. If I do not resolve the issues, let me know the result of those actions. Don't just block a company's business efforts with no reason and give them an explanation to read your policy.

I don't write reviews, ever. But this has just been such a horrific experience that I hope you share this with other manager's and leaders of your company. It's unfortunate for your team and job seekers you are working with to experience this type of delay due to the unprofessional in communication that Indeed provides!

Original review left 7/12/2021

*Update 7/13/2021

**Update 7/19/2021

Just started on Indeed, listing a very basic job posting while not violating any of the policies. Early in the morning after posting my first job post, my account was disabled with a late email then telling me it was to verify my identity and my association with my business. They say they do this for all accounts, but keep in mind I know someone in another city who created an account the same day and posted with no issues at all.

So I respond to their email and provide official tax documentation to verify myself and my business and in about an hour my account was back online! I thought everything was good to go so I posted my job post and spent over $100 in the span of 6-7 hours.

I had a question about the platform so I sent an email to indeed asking them about how to handle unqualified applicants, and instead of answering my question they disabled my account again. I am running a real business and want to be able to respond to my applicants promptly, but this constant tug of war over my account being disabled is not sustainable.

I looked this issue up to see if anyone else has had these issues and quickly saw that I am not alone. I just want to use indeed and it's services as intended and so far it's been a big headache. I have reached out to them and will update this review with the conclusion.

*I have let the Indeed team know that I am available and very eager to get this resolved so that I can respond to my applicants today. However, I asked what can I do to resolve this and make sure this doesn't happen again, this is the response I received:

"It appears that your request may require specialized attention and our Client Success team can better assist you. Please view our Help Center for further assistance with this issue."

When I go to the Help center, it is simply a glorified FAQ page with absolutely zero options to get further assistance. So I responded to them and said I am not understanding what I need to do, to get this further "special assistance" that they admit I will need. So when I asked them to please clarify, since I'm really just trying to resolve this, in only ONE MINUTE, I received the exact copy and paste response:

"It appears that your request may require specialized attention and our Client Success team can better assist you. Please view our Help Center for further assistance with this issue."

This is beginning to be insulting. I am nothing but willing to work with them and get this resolved and it appears that no one on their actually cares at all. Keep in mind they have already charged me over $100 for applicants that I have not even had the chance to fully review. I only have 48 hours to let them know of which applicants were unqualified to not be charged for those, but it seems that they are going to keep my account disabled until I can no longer receive a refund or replacement applicant. So far this experience with Indeed has been fraudulent with very little help at all.

I will update as I continue to update this. I want this review to serve as a complete documentation of what dealing with Indeed is truly like. I will provide as many screenshots of emails etc. as I can for transparency. I have posted all the exchanges discussed in this review in the photos below, and you will see the absurdity.

--

**Update 7/19/2021

I was reached out via Private message within Site Jabber from an Indeed support, he assured he would try to help me get this resolved, however without any guarantee as we still needed to await approval from the team that continues to disable me I assume.

As soon as I got the message, I immediately began providing whatever he had asked me to provide that might help. Unfortunately, I did not receive a response back during the week days and it is apparent that no one is there during the weekends. So I have spent money and have applicants waiting for a response, but have been disabled from my account and have had my business set back for a week now. One thing that bothers me a lot is that the applicants know the job posting is for my company and so this looks terribly unprofessional on our company for not responding to their applications. Who knows if or when I'll be allowed back into my account.

I will say that there appears to be a little more effort after leaving a bad review. It's unfortunate that's what it takes to motivate them to help but I would strongly recommend doing so if you are also facing issues.

I will continue to update once I hear back from their support team. Stay tuned...

Final Update 8/6/2021:

I was billed for the applicants that I received, but was unable to contact them for a week and a half. No discounts, no refunds, nothing. Billed as if I wasn't disabled the ENTIRE time. Imagine paying for a service, not receiving that service, and then you get billed anyway. Cannot believe the experience I have had with Indeed. Keep in mind, I am a legitimate business, a legitimate person and I was only trying to use Indeed for it's intended purposes and nothing special or extra. So clearly this experience is what the typical newcomer to Indeed can expect!

Be ready to pay up regardless if you are able to access your account or not!

AS A BUSINESS OWNER AND EMPLOYER I STRONGLY WARN ALL OTHER EMPLOYERS TO USE A DIFFERENT JOB POSTING SERVICE.

I own a company. That company owns several brands, including a new brand that we are developing during the pandemic that is exclusively for an online video game. We have had a team working on the game for many months and posted on indeed to hire another short term developer for the next few months to help take us through to launch.

The hiring campaign proceeded normally for about a week. As we were in the middle of scheduling and conducting interviews our account was abruptly and silently suspended, claiming that indeed could not verify that we were a legitimate company. All communication with our candidates was abruptly severed, including with those who were in the interview scheduling phase. We received not a word, not an email, not a hint of an inquiry from indeed before this drastic and outrageous action was unilaterally taken.
This outrageous action has harmed my company by delaying our hiring process, damaging our relationship with potential staff and making us look unprofessional to potential employees.

The "appeal" process consisted of an unnamed, anonymous employee treating us like criminals and making totally unjustified and outrageous demands to access confidential business records or documents as "proof" that we are a real company.

When I provided not one but three active websites for a variety of the businesses owned by my company their "client success team" simply rejected the appeal and punted me off to some other bull$#*! department.
The level of customer service I have received as an employer is astoundingly bad. If they had legitimate concerns about verification of company identity they could have addressed those concerns at the start, before the hiring process had already been underway for a week and entered the interview stage. More importantly, any reasonable or legitimate question about account identity could have been easily resolved by simply sending an email request. Instead they abruptly severed a process without discussion or consultation, then began making outrageous demands for access to confidential documents.
The bottom line is that indeed is a company with utterly horrible customer service towards their clients, the employers.

My strong recommendation to other employers is: GO ELSEWHERE.

Indeed refuse to communicate. Sponsored jobs & trued to claim £100credit - my account was disabled?

Over the past decade, I've tried on and off to find work via Indeed.com. You can read reviews about the job application process from many other Indeed.com applicants on Indeed's own review pages. Very many of us have the same experience. You find jobs you're qualified for. Whether you're the first person applying or the last, whether you apply early Monday morning, on the weekend, late at night--no matter what you do, you don't hear back from anyone.

Unless it's a minimum wage dangerous position no one else will take. The only two job apps I've heard back from in the past YEAR during the pandemic are from residential care facilities. I have a master's and a doctorate (not boasting--multiple degrees are now VERY common among online job applicants since so many of us followed the advice to become "more educated"...) in health sciences, but apparently the only thing I'm qualified to do is be a nurse's aide or young child behavioral aide trainee. Each position was both in a state with frighteningly quickly spreading COVID-19 cases AND at facilities where so many employees had recently become sick that the facilities were DESPERATE for workers. Still, they both offered near minimum-wages for dangerous work that involved double-duty (caring for children AND elders at a company-related nursing home--not advertised in the job ad!). And still, the interviewers for both positions were denigrating and condescending--as if throwing the applicant the possibility of a life-threatening job were sign of the employer's beneficence.

I follow the online job gurus' advice to research companies, craft a "pain letter" cover letter, tailor my resume to the keywords in the job ad... Nothing.

Then, I started limiting my search for jobs requiring "no experience" or for companies explicitly stating "Urgently Hiring!" Or companies that INVITE applications from "career changers" or "retirees" (to avoid the ubiquitous specter of age discrimination). Still NOTHING.

Recently, I completed an application in which I had to count the words in each paragraph, change each paragraph's font AND color, all while answering very specific questions in a specific order. I thought it was a test to see who would actually follow the instructions. I felt like a performing circus animal. It was humiliating--but I did it and triple-checked that I'd followed the instructions. I never heard back from the company. And, of course, nothing from time-wasting Indeed.com.

Indeed acts like so many other portals in the internet age: they wash their hands of any responsibility for what happens to the people using their services, instead currying the favor of the people PAYING (supposedly) to use Indeed.com--the employers.

Research the history of the US Labor Movement. You'll see that many employers/corporations will do anything, no matter how unethical, to make money. Many don't care about the human beings they use for labor--and even hold those applying to be laborers in special contempt. Maybe this is common human nature--the way those who are safe and have survival resources treat those who aren't and don't. But Indeed's complicity is unforgivable.

The US government and international watch dogs all report that an unprecedented number of people have slipped into joblessness and poverty due to the pandemic--all while the wealth of many corporations and the super-wealthy has exploded. And how has Indeed responded to these extraordinary circumstances? By continuing to do what countess throngs of frustrated, dehumanized job applicants have been complaining about for decades now--making it easier than ever for uncaring employers to savagely waste job applicants' time by forcing us to jump through demeaning hoops because we're desperate for work. All the while, the same jobs get reposted a few weeks later despite never extending the simple courtesy of letting applicants know that we weren't selected or WHY we weren't selected so we could understand how to improve our odds in the future.

Yes, Indeed is a statistical scam at least--and quite possibly something far more malevolent than that.

I would strongly advise against anybody relying on indeed for their hiring needs. Based on the reviews here it seems my experience is the same as many other employers who have had their accounts disabled with no explanation & no appeal.

We have used indeed as one of our advertising channels for a couple of years & we currently pay £600 per month to use their services. Despite using the account as we always have done, I received an email yesterday informing me that our account had been disabled with no explanation. On appealing the decision, they wrote "We have reviewed your account and have found it to be suitable for Indeed" - yet it remained disabled. After following all of their instructions & attempting to communicate with their automated quality control team via email to no avail, I contacted my "Account Manager" who informed me that there were 2 adverts that had been mistakenly left open after the end date (by ONE DAY) & if I deleted those my account would be compliant & active within an hour. It was not active within an hour, so I tried to contact this Account Manager but received no response. I contacted their generic helpline & again was told that there was no issue with my account & it would be live within an hour. After another hour, it was still not live, so I contacted the helpline AGAIN where I was told that there was no problem & they didn't understand why it wasn't live. Shortly after that phone call, I received an automated email informing me that my account had been permanently disabled & that they would not provide any information on why. On speaking to my Account Manager she AGAIN told me that the only issue with my account was those 2 adverts that hadn't been closed on the right date & that there were no further issues, but she couldn't tell me why the account had been disabled.

It is absolutely ludicrous that our entire account would be disabled due to 2 adverts that hadn't been closed ONE DAY after the closing date, if that even is the reason & the fact that they refuse to provide any kind of feedback to customers is disgraceful. To make matters worse, we've had numerous applications for roles we had advertised prior to our account being disabled (at least 100) which we hadn't reviewed yet & now cannot access as our account has been permanently closed. These are applications that we have already paid hundreds of pounds to receive. Not to mention the affect it will have on our reputation as we're unable to respond to those applications & the candidates will think we've ignored them.

We use all of the major job sites (including reed, CV library, total jobs, jobsite etc) and have NEVER encountered anything like this. We often post identical adverts across all platforms & none of those other job sites have ever taken issue with anything we've posted. I understand that all job sites have rules but if Indeed's rules were reasonable/legitimate they wouldn't need to be so secretive about them.

I wrote the following letter to Indeed in hopes to get my issue with their posting bogus jobs just to get your data -- aka PHISHING. If you'll notice Indeed is on every site that writes something negative and provide a bogus response like they do on this site. Indeed is trying to erase anything negative about the company, but yet when you ask for them to erase or give you back your personal data like your resume, they won't comply with the public's request. See my legitimate complaint below.

"I am writing to you to formerly request that you please destroy all of my contact information as well as my resume. The reasons are outlined as follows:

I applied for a position via Indeed.com. I had a bad gut feeling about submitting via Indeed.com due o the problems with so multiple data breaches at so many major companies. After thinking about putting my resume out on Indeed.com, I became even more concerned. After I applied for the position, I went directly to the company site to ensure that the position I applied for via Indeed was an actual position on their site. Well, it was NOT posted on their site. I proceeded to call the company and confirmed the position did not exist. Once again, the position does NOT exist! It is my opinion that Indeed is just data baiting by fraudulently posting a non-existing job! It is my opinion that your actions are equivalent to and Internet crime by fraudulantly baiting and or phishing the public.

My second issue is Indeeds complete lack of customer service. You treat the public like we are stupid by not allowing a job seeker to speak to anyone at the number (*******361) listed on your site. If you are a legitimate company with nothing to hide, why cant the public call and speak to a representative, your legal department, your compliance department, your IT security department? This is s a legitimate question. I want you to know that that public is not stupid and you will loose customers.

I contacted Indeed via telephone number (*******361 and@ *******300). Unfortunately if you are a job seeker, you are instructed to leave a message, which is NEVER answered. I wanted to talked to a live person, so just by chance I pressed 2 to see if I could reach a real person and I did. You see we are not stupid. I informed the person who answered that I felt that my data was highjacked by Indeed.com by posting a fake job. I told the rep that I wanted to talk to either the Legal Department or someone in their IT Security, because I want my data back! I was totally baited! The rep stated that I could not talk to anyone, but I could write to their Legal Department. I asked for a name and was informed that this is information she does not have and obviously refused to divulge. I also asked to talk to their head of IT Security, she did not have that either. That is such complete bologna. I told her that I understood that she is instructed not to give that information, but my point once again. If you are a legitimate company, this should not be a secret. I informed her that I wanted there to be a record of my complaint and if she could provide me a tracking number of some sort. No was the response once again. Really!

I called the next day again to ensure that the information that I was given by the Indeed rep. Was correct. I asked for the names of the legal department, IT Security as well as for a name and number of the compliance department. I was told that he did not have that information and could not give out that information and do not have a compliance department. Really!

I was given the following address to send a complaint.

Indeed Inc
Attn: Legal Dept.
6433 Champion Grandview Way
Building one
Austin, TX *******

I did tell the rep that I wanted for him to send a copy of my complaint to someone and he was very, very hesitant and said that once I ask for legal he could not do anything. Give me a break.

In addition, I want you to ensure me that you are not selling my data to other companies or your subsidiaries. I WANT MY DATA BACK ---I WANT YOU TO COMPLETELY DELETE MY DATA. SCRUB IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM.

I am also formerly requesting that you please respond to my request.