Freelancer.com Reviews

i get double charge on my credit card for a project. In their system transaction it is showing single charge. Even after i send my credit card statement they still deny it and asked me check with bank. So please do not use it, you will never get back your money. Don waste time argue with them as well, maybe they will revenge and charge a couple more times. If you still have account on it, close it immediately as you might not aware they charge additional fess later.

Really, If you work for client on Freelancer for 2 years and during this you got payment from client and you can withdraw successfully, BUT, after 2 years if your employer account got limited they will block all of your funds from that project for last 2 years, Strange!

YES, They will block all your funds for that project. Even you withdraw all your funds and they will block your payments from other projects and will take it from you from other projects

I will not recommend this to any one

Thanks

fahadm

I posted two projects. One I got back numerous proposals and the dialogue with the prospective software developers was just plain dismal. Everybody was willing to show you dozens of web page graphics but nobody could show any evidence they could build any form of app. These are dabblers wannabes who know very little if anything at all about software and are basing their profiles on creating cutsie graphics. There is no substance nor experience behind most of the service offerings on the site.

And don't bother with the contests unless all you're looking for is a picture of cats pasted over a heart. I posted a contest and scrolled the value of the contest up and up based on their indicator. It suggested that at $100 I should get over 80 responses.

I attached a clear definition of the design I wanted some initial suggestions for, a very clear definition of the goals, and was looking for some indication from the review of my concept of the developer's skill level. I was also looking for suggestions of technologies that might be used to construct a solution, something any qualified developers should have lots of opinions on.

They took my money and I got zero -- not a single reply -- to the contest.

Freelancer quite clearly stole my money.

They charged me for services not rendered. It took 30 days for my bank to refund my monies ( yes, I said monies because they took what I had offered the developer plus an $81 fee that I never agreed to ).

I will be wary of such sites in the future.

A PURE SCAM SITE - WAVE YOUR MONEY GOODBYE

I have been hiring freelancers for at least 5 years now. I have tried and used all the websites out there which provide services of this kind. But let me tell you what I have experienced at Freelancer.com

2 weeks ago I posted a job on Freelancer.com. I then uploaded money to Freelancer.com, in order to pay one freelancer for a completed translation job. However, Freelancer.com DID NOT pay out the money to my freelancer. No - what they did, was to follow their usual routine of trying all the tricks in the book, in order to hold the money on their account.

My freelancer had to face a myriad of various verifications, unreasonable and even ridiculous requests and requirements - but even though she complied with them all, money WERE NOT PAID OUT, till this very day. My freelancer finally wrote to me, that she had lost any hope to get the money from Freelancer, and that she will rather let Freelancer keep the money. However, I have conscience, and cannot let someone do the job without getting paid - so I encouraged her not to give up, and now took the matter into my own hands.

I submitted a support ticket, in which I clearly demanded Freelance.com to either pay my money to my freelancer, or to return the money to my credit card. 2 business days have past since then - no answer whatsoever - a complete silence.

What I can tell with 100% certainty, is that Freelancer.com staff has a very clear set of instructions, set up and given to them by the very top-leadership of the company. Since the majority of freelancers come from the 3rd world countries such as India and Pakistan, Indonesia etc., this scam site Freelancer.com knows that an average person from these countries, with poor English skills and zero knowledge of relevant laws, has no chance to fight back and force Freelancer.com to pay out the money. So what Freelancer.com does - they gladly allow freelancers to sign-up and immediately participate and place bid on the projects. They also gladly accept money from the hiring parties, such as me - no verification needed. Just send the money, man! But once the money are uploaded to their account - oh boy - that's when the party starts. Suddenly they become very concerned with security (allegedly - your own security!) and now need to "verify" both the freelancer and the hiring agent. Again - they didn't need any verifications in order to accept your money.

So - after they receive your money, they immediately create a "Wall of Verification". First they demand an ID copy (which, by the way, is illegal under both Australian law, and law of the most countries - private companies HAVE NO LEGAL RIGHT to demand copies of one's ID, as long the customer does not ask for services or products in credit). Now, if a freelancer from Pakistan or India complies with the illegal demand, and indeed sends their ID copy, Freelancer.com starts to demand for an ID in English letters - despite having the many years practice, and despite already knowing very well that IDs from these countries are only issued in native script. Then they ask for bank statements, and if a freelancer has no bank account (for example, a teenager or a woman from Asian countries) - sorry, we can't give you your money. Then, if by a miracle a freelancer somehow manages to satisfy all they demands, Freelancer.com then starts from the other end - starts "verifying" the hiring agent. Now, if the hiring agent has some understanding of the relevant laws, and refuses to send any sensitive IDs - they will simply keep the money.

Like I said - all of this is done deliberately, hoping that freelancers, especially those from 3rd world countries, after many unsuccessful attempts will finally lose patience and hope, and give up on their money held by Freelancer.com. Because, as in my case, if the payment is around 250, then the chances are slim that the average freelancer will ever get enough projects to generate the same amount in form of fees. And even if Freelancer.com is finally forced to pay out the money ( I guess 1 out 20 Asians probably manage achieve this), most often Freelancer.com will have kept the money for significant amounts of time, without paying the money owner any interest. In practice, this means that they daily get massive free loans, which, very often, are not even paid back. I assume, this strategy alone generates around 50% of Freelancer.com revenue.

So now, as of today, Freelancer.com official excuse to hold my freelancer's money, is that they are "reviewing" my - the hiring agent's account. They asked me to send them a copy of my ID - something that no private company can demand. Of course, I am not going to send any copies of my IDs or other sensitive documents, because of 2 reasons:

1. such request is simply illegal - IDs are highly sensitive personal documents, and only official state institutions can demand for it - not private companies as this one.

2. at least ninety percent (90%) of Freelancer.com customer support are outsourced to namely India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, etc. This means that their customer support is based in these countries. Any documents that you upload to Freelancer.com, can be accessed with one click by hundreds of 3rd world nationals, who can (and will) easily abuse and forge your ID and use it for financial crimes or terrorism.

Like I said, I have been hiring freelancers for many years, and I know these tactics in and out. However, I must say that Freelancer.com scores highest, as the most fraudulent site of them all. I am going to draw their criminal practices into the daylight. Already in 2015 they were sued and sentenced to pay a compensation to one freelancer whom they were abusing.

If you are a freelancer or a hiring party, remember, that I and my freelancer are not the only people whose money have been literally stolen - Google up "Freelancer.com“ and „scam", read Wikipedia and all the review-websites out there- there‘s only negative reviews, mixed up with some very few positive reviews, usually written in poor English, and certainly not by Freelancer.com itself. A pure scam site.

An update will follow.

Hello my friends. I hope you are doing great. From personal experience, just recently I have hard times with Freelancers.Com

They won’t give me my money that I worked for in a valid contest. They have to give me 166gbp. But they are scam, they told me that the contest was closed to protect me as a user. This has no relevance or logic..

Short story: I have entered in a contest, with prize 500gbp to create design for an employer. The contest was guaranteed (this is a safety measure to guarantee us the freelancers that the money will be paid to us, for sure, meaning the prize will be awarded 100% even if the employer does not decide a winning design). I have uploaded many valid entries, me and other freelancers.

The contest holder (employer) had 14days to decide the winning design, but unfortunately he did not pick one. So the prize must be split between the active entries. Meaning me and 2 other freelancers had active entries for the contest. I have talked with one of the support team and assured me that the money will be splitted in 3, after another 14 days. It has been passed these 14 days, and yesterday when I wait my part of the share 166.66gbp, I see the contest deleted and no money in the account.

Their explanation: “we understand your concern on this contest. However, it is better to remove the contest that will cause liabilities to users and to us even if the contest is guaranteed. We are protecting users from this kind of contest as it will create issues in the future.”

Are you kidding me?? And so they took our prize money and for what?? Avoid them !!! They are scam and they make the rules but they do not respect the rules nor the terms and conditions. In their terms and conditions specify that guarantee prize means the money will go to the freelancers 100% !!

Horrible site. Criminal. Thieves. Dubious customer service and worst platform you can ever depend on.

I have worked with freelancer.com for 7years. Seven good years of my life went down with this company.

Before then, I signed up with script lance site which later sold to them my info was transferred to freelancer.com by chance( I didn't just find myself there intentionally considering the circumstance)

The first few months, I discovered their non-refundable commission policy which they use to scam both buyers and workers. They can collect lots of money from your account without explanations. after a task is done, they will still collect money and when an employer files a chargeback from the bank, they won't investigate the issue but claims 50% of the charge & give the employer 50% whereby encouraging work without pay while they accomplice the employer to steal from you.

Most case, if you get a new employer who didn't know anything about freelancer.com tricks and weakness, you will get paid but once you meet their partners in crime, you're screwed for good. A lot of stuffs are going on there that I wonder why the crime investigation team on the Internet haven't shutdown that site.

The latest scam plot between freelancer and the employers is to claim that milestone is released to you while the employer file for a chargeback from the bank and receive a total refund and you lose your file to them.

I have struggled with this issue for months now and an employer I worked for 4months ago with good review given to me, didn't file a chargeback but there is an issue of chargeback filed by freelancer on behalf of the employer.

How did I find out, I talked with the employer and he told me clearly that he didn't have any issues with me. In fact he still appreciates the task I did for him. I asked him to contact freelancer.com and he did but they asked him to provide vital government based info with other credit card details and he sensed the fraudulent plan and refused. The employer replied to me with this comment

"That site is evil"

he encouraged me to use other platform but I wanted to get to the root of the matter by contacting freelancer.com customer service who claimed that the employer refused to further verify his identity.

I asked them what that has to do with the chargeback claims (because it's obvious the employer didn't file dispute and the task I did 4months ago. Till now this people haven't replied, they took 350 Australian dollars from my account and refuse to give me back my money.

They money I worked for was collected from me without any explanation or reasons.

I'm tired of this system that I wish to report them to all reputation sites on the internet because that's not the only bad experience I had on freelancer.com

Please don't mind the good reviews you see around. Freelancer.com paid some people to write good reviews to promote their site. While most of the bad reviews you're seeing is real.

Freelancer is design to drain your hard earn money. The exchange rates are too low and unreasonable.

I have 300+ USD on my account and I earn it for 3 sleepless nights and when I withdraw they ask me to wait for 15 days. I'm so happy and then the next day when I logged into my account. The nightmare started "ACCOUNT CLOSE". My hard earn money is gone.

I will never use freelancer again. I hope talented freelancers will stay away from this site.

When will authorities take action agaist those bastards.

I have freelancer.com account for how many years but I never tried to apply with them but a month ago I tried my luck since I am looking for a job. I got hired as a Virtual Assistant and I thought the company was legit.

I am reluctant at first because their pay rate is very high, but because I needed a job I did continue to work with them, the created a Slack account as means of our communication, they even had a WorkSnaps to make it look legit, they also let me sign the NDA and TAX form so I really thought that this is legit.

In addition to that, they have given me a company's website where I can see that all names and pictures on Slack communicator are also the one on their website. I was doubtful sometimes because they have broken English to the fact that the company they represent was based in CA U.S.A but still continue with the task they are letting me do.

This week should be my first month where I should get my salary but what happened was they have deleted the Slack account we use to communicate so I just realize I was scammed by this people. They may not able to get money from me but I have given my effort for a month that is 10 hours shift per day.

This is a lesson learned for me to be more keen in accepting jobs from an employer. If you are in doubt of the company look for them in Facebook and message them directly or reach their company website if they really hired for a freelancer. I would not recommend you to look for a job in Freelancer.com.

Did a job with a person who after I paid the money to Freelancer then came back and tried to get more money to fix mistakes he himself made !! Promised 3 day delivery after 4 weeks nothing finished. Then to fix his mistakes wanted more money !

They know FL is holding your cash and the way FL is set up the worker gets paid even with poor performance !!

Do NOT is FL who grabs $ and does not support customers. Use Hubstaff where you control all payments period ! Freelancer is biased to the worker and so they attack the worst of the worst !! Hubstaff you control the total payment process so there you get confident and competent workers !

Freelancers use Freelancer.com because they know they will get paid regardless of performance thus this site gets the worst of the worst !!

FL is a pure scam to get $ wherever they can and do nothing to support employers.

The site is constantly creating fake project in order to get people click on it so they get instant project fees taken out from our account and then disappear and never talk to you. Yes you heard me the site is hiring people to scam the honest worker.

Even thought there is also independent scammer that create fake account for phishing There is no point for whoever to create fake projects without at least sending link or talking to us, so once you clicked on accepting project boom they got your money and nobody else but freelancer.com is going to see the color of that money.

Even employer pay fees for accepted project so you don't need to be a genius to understand that most of the fake project are from freelancer.com itself. It now happen almost every time you get hired (by honest employer) and complete a project they will try every time to get that money you earned it is more than shady its inhuman.

The only advice I can give is to never accept a job from someone that want to hire you for a job you didn't apply. overall stay away from this website there is far more better such as Upwork.com

This company is worse than anything. They close your account and take your hard earned money without any reason. I think I should report them to the labor department.

An absolute scam!

I'm in the USA and was seeking some freelance design work. I put a project out there, and paid the fees for a recruiter and NDA. My credit card company sees the site as a scam (the company is based in Australia), so I had to have SEVERAL conversations with the fraud division of my credit card company to get access to card released for use.

For the site itself, 5 days into the project (and after I had paid $400 for services), they tell me that I need to "verify" my identity with by providing legal documents such as my passport, or national identity card, or drivers license - and that I need to take my picture with these documents. Also, that I also need to provide proof of my address, including such items as my bank statements, utility bills, or other government issued ID.

They claim that they are trying to make sure their freelancers are "safe", but frankly, they had gotten a $400 payment from me which cleared my bank. There is nothing else they need - they are just trying to steal your identity.

It's a scam. They have "freelancers" bots that take on your project, charge you "processing fees" and a day later refuse your project, but keep the fees. I tried about 5 people in a matter of a single week.

THEY ALL PROMISED that they have skills to complete your project. A day later they turn it down, but the processing fees no one sends you back. Plus, they sell your phone number. After I enrolled with them, I'm getting 5 millions junk calls from India. It's a SCAM!!!!

WORST experience possible. The freelancers, the website, customer service all of them are so unprofessional and disrespectful. I hate to expose people like that but they were so disrespectful. @sidrasadaqat(allsolution) she did the whole thing wrong and wasted so much time.

On top of that, she didn't refund me back on my card. @topacademictutor(atif) he accused me of cheating out of nowhere. @assignsolver(faisal) he did it wrong and begged me to give him a 5 star review even though his work did not deserve even 4 stars and he changed my review without my consent.

This website only adds frustration and wastes your time. If you use the website don't take these three freelancers. I do not recommend using the website though. You don't only pay for the freelancers for their work but you pay an extra fee every single time you create a milestone and they keep charging 60C, 50C, and more for about three to four days.

As a Freelancer just starting out and completing a Master's copywriting course, it seems a lot of the jobs, once you place your bid, a few minutes later, don't exist.

Some of those listing projects, only want to chat with their WhatsApp. And after 5 or 6 bids, most of them "don't exist" popup, Freelancer wants you to pay a fee. I would try some place else for a job. I would not recommend them to anyone at this point. I will be canceling my connection with them.

I'm glad there is a site like this to warn people.

Freelancer.com is most definitely a scam for employers. After we hired 2 designers for 2 different projects, and then funded the projects, their "support team" locked our account for "ID verification".

Drivers license, photo of the account owner holding a photo of their drivers license, then a photo of the account owner holding a photo of the drivers license and a piece of paper with their code written on it, bank records, paypal info, property records and to explain why you're transactions are coming from an address that doesn't match the property on your records; these are all things they ask of you in a lengthy process, one-by-one to hold your funds indefinitely.

They hope that you'll get so frustrated you leave the funds in their accounts and just toss it up as a loss. DO NOT USE THEM FOR PRICEY GIGS.

Too many scam proposals, not enough proposals for jobs on photo editing, video editing.

hired a gentleman to do some advertising for my products. after two weeks, no sales whatsoever?

Freelance needs to allow the buyer to provide periodic feedback.

Run as fast as you can away from it. It's a nightmare and I lost money. All that is needed to say.