freelancer is really a scam
@macdingolinger (10386)
United States
May 29, 2012 5:10pm CST
I had heard some good and some bad about freelancer.com. I really didn't like it too much to start with because I felt like I was having to pay to get work. But a client wanted to go through freelancer so I agreed to take on a project. Immediately after I was paid and requested payout my account was suspended. I got lots of questions and no answers. They are basically stealing more than 200 bucks from me! Do not use them! I found lots of identical complaints on them at ripoffreports.com (not a referral link!!!) I will certainly check with this site before taking on any more jobs from any online sources! Beware - stay away from freelancer!
2 people like this
11 responses
@rewardsinlife (1132)
• United States
29 May 12
Yes, I heard about scams like this one too after the project was completed. Accounts mysteriously were suspended, dropped, or had 'hold's that were eternally put on them which prevented payment. Sorry you are out so much. Anyway you can talk right to the person you did the job for and explain that you were not paid? It might be the actual freelancer company scamming you, and not the client.
1 person likes this
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
29 May 12
I am still working for the client directly. From the reports it seems that they will not refund the money to the client or to me.. we'll see.
@rewardsinlife (1132)
• United States
29 May 12
That is too bad. Anyway you could threaten to sue or did you sign some contract in the beginning with freelancer that said you wouldn't hold them responsible for any lost wages?
1 person likes this
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
29 May 12
No contract like that. I have filed some reports with different government agencies and at ripoffreport.com hopefully they will just give me the money.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
4 Jun 12
Personally there is NO Way I will pay someone to start Writing for them in hopes of getting paid. I feel there are always better ways to find people who might want my Writing and will pay me for it. And there are a lot of things that people have tried that end up not paying, so you really need to watch it. Sorry this had to happen to you.
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
4 Jun 12
Well, it would be nice if you could get your $$ they owe you, and then you should close your Account with them, and write them off to Bad experiences. But by you making complaints about them everywhere might make a difference for the next person who might have problems like this as well.
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
4 Jun 12
That was my thinking. I had never used the account because it irked me to pay $5 just to land a bid on a project. I can assure you that it won't happen again. One good thing though is that I landed a good client that I am still writing for today! But right now they have opened my account back up - I doubt they will give me my money though - I've been filing complaints with every international commerce board or organization I could find so far... we'll see if they go ahead and pay up. I was really desperate when I signed up with them a couple years back - not so much now! lol 
1 person likes this
@anujain75 (1059)
• India
30 May 12
I don't have any issue with freelancer.com. However, whatever I earned from freelancer is affiliate earning and it is a good amount. I have around 15 referrals out of them 3 are active and one people's account get suspended because he didn't paid project fee within a month of awarding project.
I also heard that those member who frequently cancelled their projects also face their account suspended. Also, those who just post project and communicate with freelancer outside freelancer before awarding project, get their account suspended
1 person likes this
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
30 May 12
I worked through them one time before and made outside contact with a client so I have not used freelancer much since then. I saw that there are actually many people who are having the same types of problems with them. They certainly seem to be an illigitimate site but maybe they will come clean - we'll see.
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
30 May 12
I have not been able to fully resolve this problem yet. I am still working on it. I only did one project a long time ago but the client and i started working together without freelancer. I took this project through freelancer because she wanted to go through them for some reason. But I will never do another one.
@yel812 (174)
•
30 May 12
I haven't heard about this site before. Well, I still got a question about those online jobs, the possibility of not getting paid by your employer and the very low salary that they can give you because of the strong competition. Maybe next time, try to research about a site before joining it. I hope we can find a legit site that pays big and stay long.
1 person likes this
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
30 May 12
There are some legitimate sites out there that do pay. Most of them have some sort of glitches as I haven't found but one that seems to be truly reliable and writer-friendly! I did do some research and decided not to participate. But one of my clients wanted to use it for a project.. next time I'll tell them no!
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
2 Jun 12
WEll, it is certainly looking like it's better to stay away from them if you can! I may have it cleared up I just requested another payout - we'll see if they do it or not!
@sirnose (2436)
• United States
29 May 12
I have been hearing such stories about Freelancer lately. There is no recourse you can take to try to get your money. Freelancer didn't give any reason why they suspended your account? Did you violate any of their so- called terms and conditions, this usually is where the problem comes from.
Thanks for the heads up about this frelance website. I heard Fivver was playing this same game earlier this year.
1 person likes this
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
29 May 12
They told me the exact same thing they tell all the people they do this too - "suspicious activity" it's their standard answer. I have filed several complaints so far and also contacted their legal department.. we'll see what happens. This exact same story has happened to about 50 other people this year.
@wongchoiyee (7413)
• Malaysia
29 May 12
Wow! Did not heard of this before, making me cautious to take the next step, once I register in freelancer and get the password, but when I log in many times, it did not work. Seems you are saying the right thing.
1 person likes this
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
29 May 12
I had some login issues too but finally got them settled. I really never expected this and was shocked but then I saw the reports that others had filed and they are all the same.
@ryanong (9665)
• Vietnam
30 May 12
Thank you for your valuable information. it helps us stay away that site.
I am very sorry to hear that you lost 200 bucks with them and their time too.
It is really hard to earn money online since there are too many scam sites...it is really sad...
1 person likes this
@jaderamirez (1029)
• Philippines
31 May 12
Sorry to hear about that, I don't like Freelancer to for me it is very hard to get a task from them.
@thresholdofreality (119)
• Philippines
30 May 12
Thank for the tip. I've just joined Freelancer.com a few weeks ago and I'm still in the process of applying for projects. However, upon seeing your post, I've decided that I won't look for jobs there anymore. I wouldn't want to waste my time working for nothing, after all. Why not try Odesk? Seems like that site is legit, and I think they work the same way.
1 person likes this
@macdingolinger (10386)
• United States
30 May 12
I have had no trouble with odesk but I am new there. iwriter is pretty good but some clients reject articles for no legitimate reason and so there are some kinks in iwriter still. I always had a feeling that freelancer was scam but now I know!
