Isra T.

Hi everybody,

I have been working in freelancer.com for more than 6 years now.

I'm one of the most reviewed freelancers in the translation field, so I would actually love that freelancer.com would treat their users honestly and would not cheat them, because I got a lot projects from this site, and they are playing all the cards to make people stop using it which would damange my company profits.

I will tell you about my last experience:

I accepted a project for a new client, for a total of 600$.
Before accepting the project, I always require the client to create the full milestone payment in order to have a payment guarantee. (For the people who does not know what a milestone is: a milestone payment is a payment that is frozen in the project and taken from the client's account, and once the project is completed the client click on "release" button and then it arrives to the freelancer's account. This way both parties are some kind "assured".)

The client created the milestone so I accepted the project. After accepting the project freelancer.com takes his fee (5%) so they took their 30$.
I started working on the project for many days and then I delivered it to the client. The client, quickly replied me that everything was okay with the translation and that he would release the payment. Then, after few minutes, the client came back again to me and said that freelancer.com did not allow him to release the milestone because his account was under verification revision.
This is the first big incompetent thing of the site - why do freelancer.com allow a client to create project, and a milestone payment and start hiring for services when he/she even have not been verified? The answer is simple, because they want to to steal your fee.

I told the client not to worry, that we would wait. Then we waited 2 weeks and freelancer.com did not approve the verification of his account. Then the client decided that he would cancel his account and he would pay me by Paypal if freelancer.com did not solve the issue. I warned him that it was against the Terms and Conditions of freelancer.com and that they could suspend our accounts. He decided to open a dispute with his payment method supplier against freelancer.com and to cancel the project. He cancelled the project and my milestone payment dissapeard, without me being notified about it by freelancer.com nor even being able to dispute this milestone. This is the second big incompetent way of working of freelancer.com. Why do they offer a milestone payment service if later, the client can just cancel the project (after you have delivered your work) and run away with your money? This is just unbelievable and against any kind of protection policy for their users.
Thanks God the client was a good person and he did not want to cheat me and said that I should not worry because he would pay me once the verification process was over.
I calmed down a little bit because my 600$ were not totally lost... but then I remembered about the 30$ fee that freelancer had charged me. I checked my transaction history and show that they had not refunded it, therefore I contacted them via chat. I explained them the situation and told them that they should give the fee back to my account, because the project had been cancelled and I had not yet being paid a dollar from that project. Then, their reply was the cleverest thing I have ever heard. They just said me that their Terms and Conditions said the project fees are not refunded. I started wondering if I was speaking with a robot... "Yes, but the project is cancelled, no earning made through it, why should I pay for a project where I have not made any profit?". And the reply was: "Note that our Terms and Conditions are to be met. For next time, you should explore your options before accepting a project"... Worst customer service ever! How can you treat like that to a client? So you're telling me that you're cheating without even trying to hide it?

So they don't protect their freelancers and allow that a client can cancel a project and a payment whenever he wants, and moreover they don't fund back the fees to the freelancer from projects that have been cancelled by the client. So if you're a freelancer you are double $#*!*d, the client goes away without paying you and freelancer charges you his marvelous fee!

I feel really dissapointed with them, actually cheated. They should respect their users and most important, they should respect their freelancer's work and efforts. They should keep in mind that the slavery period hopeful ended and that we work for money and that our time is valious.