oDesk

Upwork really sucks. It only promises to solve our problems but it never does. Im highly disappointed with the service of Upwork. There are not one or two problems that we can count on. I dont know why the hell they created Upwork. Its just a website full of useless things. Upwork charges 20% and the employers here look for $1/hr freelancers so working on upwork is like counting pennies. Even the tech staff is not skilled enough and they cannot resolve issues related to tracker.

This is an excerpt from the email that I sent them regarding my account termination.

"I think the process that was carried out in terminating my account was one sided. Yes, I did apply for some jobs and that I failed to pursue them but it was because they (employers) were also unresponsive.

I just felt that I was not given enough opportunity to explain things from my perspective. I received an email or some sort of a warning regarding my "performance" and reminded me that they would still monitor my account's performance but I found it odd since I was not even employed or I never accepted projects from any employers the time they sent me an email."

ODesk, now calling itself Upwork is a fraud. I sent them $200 to hold until I approved work submitted by a freelance artist. The artist took two months to work on a simple book cover and sent one unacceptable product. I sent the changes I wanted made. The freelancer did not make any changes and demanded payment. I sent a certified letter to Upwork stating that I rejected the product. They never signed for the letter. Upward sent two emails stating I must specifically reject the work or they would release the money on July 9. I replied to these emails on July 1 and again on July 6. On July 9th they sent a notice that they released the funds. There is no phone number to call this company, and their address in Mtn. View may not be real. They stole my deposit. Do not trust them. They are dishonest and their communication is nonexistent. I have also read that they don't pay their artists either.

I am still trying to look for project on oDesk but I would say it's sad when you see the demoralizing offers coming from oDesk employers. Being new to oDesk doesn't mean a freelancer is new to "working for someone or for an entity" at all. Why would you offer people from the Philippines 10 cents per hour? Some even entice us to give up 5 stars after getting the job done if we accept such rate. ODesk should block abusive employers who post job vacancies with rates offered way below decency.

Well if u want to be baited and switched by india, recieve non complete garbage codebase that you have to hire an american to rebuild from scratch i guess its notso bad. Its more efficent to burn your $$ though.

I've never seen a bigger display of mismanagement from any company in the history of businesses. This is not an exaggeration folks, it really is that bad. They only care about clients, making short-term profits and refuse to listen to feedback whatsoever.

Have been with them for around 8 years, Customer service is beyond terrible.
They do not screen or really take any steps to protect consumers from fraud.
Their "freelancers" could be a monkey, who gets the job, does nothing at all and then you expected to pay.

My latest experience, they suspended my account and accused me of posting jobs asking people to work for free.

Naturally i demanded an explanation within 24 hours, to receive nothing back for a month.
1 Month later, i received response stating that their staff made a mistake, and a sorry.

Sorry but sorry is simply not good enough, yet account remains suspended and i am certain i have parrot who answers my emails, simply because he repeats himself.

I have mostly loved working from oDesk and I have had some wonderful jobs and wonderful clients. ODesk recently changed its interface, which if a little complicated at first, is actually very workable and it looks great. However, I have experienced some serious technical difficulties which has resulted in a serious setback to my normally 100% profile. ODEsk's help desk and chat system has gone completely down the drain. The agents haven't a clue what they're talking about, and refuse to admit there is any problem at all. It is extremely frustrating and oDesk is certainly not doing itself any favours by adopting this attitude. I wonder if I'm the only person to have experienced problems when trying to contact someone on oDesk's helpline. Chats used to be pretty well immediate; now there is a minimum of 20 minutes wait, if you are lucky.

ODesk assisted a non-performing programmer to defraud at least $1000 from me after doing no work and lying about delivery. They recovered a small portion but let him keep the rest while they kept me dangling with review process and no means of notice. Caveat emptor! I will be very careful if I ever use odesk again and probably avoid it. -Professor John Amaral

I am surprised no one has mentioned multiple accounts. If you put into the job search Ebook writer you'll dozens of new accounts all saying the same thing. It would seem if the client got a bad review, he'll close the account and uses another. It is very easy to open multiple accounts as one can have up to eight email addresses in a single PayPal account, and these can be changed at will.

Odesk must be aware of multiple accounts and turn a blind eye. I am thinking of developing a native speaking English agency for professional with a minimum wage for all writers and developers. This will give clients confidence as well as for those seeking work.

This freelance site is far better than most and had a few good jobs with no problems. I would never consider working by the hour since that is the typical slavery system that I left many years ago to become independent contractor. Besides, if they want to implement an hourly system, they should include a minimum hourly rate to get rid of the pathetic employers who post jobs at 1.00/hour. I even seen one job posting for. 20 cents an hour!

There might not be their fault but when you finally got in you think: Ok after all this trouble its gonna worth and I'm gonna be in touch with great clients. No way, the design jobs suck and are so underpaid. I live in Colombia and our coin is so weak compared to US dollar but I still get better paid for my work than the shamefully low amount that those cheap dudes are willing to pay. And most of the jobs are not attractive at all, they look like pulled out of Clients from Hell.

Terrible site to work with. We have tried a lot of contracts with Odesk and it always goes poorly. You either get incompetent people who overstate their qualifications or people who don't finish things on time.
Also, Odesk seems determined to make as much money as they can by continually increasing the minimum wage to increase their revenue. They are not responsive and we have disliked working with them immensely.