HK P.

I left the following review of Freelancer's support team after they failed to address my issues.

READ THIS AND LEARN SOMETHING FOR ONCE:

This "support" ticket was filed because a contest holder assigned a random 2.5 stars to my entry following the contest handover. He told me he did it just to release the money and didn't actually look at my work. I presented undeniable proof of this in the form of pictures to Freelancer "Support" and asked to have the rating removed since it lowered my overall score and hurt my chances of finding future work.

They didn't. Kept saying "we strive to uphold the integrity of the review system." They needed the contest holder's permission but he never replied to my messages. I kept at it for days and still nothing. Freelancer sent him messages but he didn't reply to them either. I asked if I could change his score and was told "If it's from negative to positive, yes. But if not, we also need a confirmation."

So to change my score I need HIS confirmation. And to change his score I need HIS confirmation.

I asked if I could lodge a dispute and was told: "A contest dispute can only be lodged by the contest holder."

So basically, the employer has ALL the power, and the freelancer has none. That's how Freelancer treats its own people.

A few weeks before that I was ripped off by a con-artist who took my work and ran without paying me. His profile was an exact copy of someone else on Freelancer but he was still payment, profile and email verified. I didn't get my money because YOUR verification systems failed.

These and many prior experiences have made something very clear: Freelancer throws 100% of its support behind the employers and none behind its freelancers. And I'm NOT the only one who feels this way. Just Google "Freelancer.com reviews" and you'll see the scathing rebukes and horror stories.

It's not a good sign when the word SCAM is repeated throughout. And as for the reviews that say Best site ever or Dream come true. Seriously, who are you fooling?

Keep this up and eventually your social media black-eye will turn away both clients and freelancers.

It's already done that to me. Since my bad experiences, I've been using Freelancer less and less and eventually plan on stopping altogether and opening up accounts with Upwork or Guru.

So to sum up: thanks for nothing. All I asked was to have ONE bad review removed and presented incontrovertible proof as to why. But I received nothing but excuses. Every time I turn to you guys I feel cheated on top of being deceived.

Your support staff is slow, ineffective, hugely incompetent, and reply with generic talking points. I'm giving this survey 1 star to voice my dissatisfaction at your massive ineptitude, and I'm sure I won't be the only one.

As for the 1 star out of 7 that I gave. To quote one of your own talking points: "We apologize but we strive to uphold the integrity of the review system."