Upwork

Think you're able to rely upon freelancers' past client feedback? Think again.

From an upwork support agent: "Top Rated freelancers and agencies have the opportunity to remove feedback from one job so that it is not listed in their profile or considered in their Job Success Score. They can only do this once every 10 jobs had ended and after 90 days."

So my written feedback and scoring left for a provider was deleted by the provider. I wasted my time crafting my considered feedback, and now prospective clients to this supplier will be none the wiser.
What a JOKE upwork's feedback system is!

On a more minor note, upwork's practice of making you click on a button each and every time you click a provider's link to check their sample work is a frustrating waste of our time. Do upwork not know how the interwebs works?

As long as Odesk & Elance lasted, they were good platforms with excellent and genuine projects for freelancers. However, a clever shark seems to have taken over and blended into the current Upwork format. They never allow projects to be awarded to you if you are from outside US and can perform better than US freelancers. They somehow surreptitiously curtail and edit the client-freelancer communication. And then like predatory hyenas wait to suspend freelancer's account after a superficial review where they entice you to reveal and send them your degrees. Beware, their practices reflect they are about to finish as an honest business platform.

Upwork won't give me my earnings. The only way to reach a human is on a subdomain with an HTTP login prompt that belongs in the 1990s, like they're trying to make it more difficult for users to reach any actual support. They provide certification for race and orientation. I didn't know I was joining the Nazi Party. They withhold earnings without warning for no good reason. They are some lying woke thieves at Upwork.

As a business owner, I considered Upwork as an unreliable and unsecured platform to hire freelancers. Do NOT waste your time using this platform. It is too risky, and I won't recommend it to anyone. A total waste of time especially when you're running a business. Lots of scammers at this platform and this platform do not have a real dispute resolution procedure. I contacted Upwork's staff, but they were very unprofessional and failed to assist with the issues that I've raised to them.

Upwork is a business platform that benefits from connecting freelancers and clients. For me, it essentially does 90% of the work for my business's inbound marketing by finding amazing clients and actually having them come to me. They have some fair built-in protections for both sides. I have personally benefitted quite a bit from it, though I understand that isn't everyone's story. The fees and rules seemed a bit steep and strict at first, but they make sense from a business point of view. The platform seems to reward proactivity and consistency through certain badges and the lowering of fees. In this way, the best can hopefully rise. I recommend giving it a try and then forming your own conclusions.

Freelancer, Malek A, overcharged me for work that there is no way to check. Went on vacation in middle of job. Then when it came to testing his work took it offline and blackmailed me to only restore our server to test it if we pay full overcharged amount. Asked me to pay not on upwork but with bitcoin. Upwork customer support did nothing and took his side. The freelancer only had a couple of small jobs for little money, which were probably planted reviews. Got scammed but very dissappointed because upwork didn't do anything. Still lost a lot money that I paid directly through paypal because upwork won't ask back for money from freelancer. Never in my 70 years have I been treated so poorly by a company. See screenshot of my chat with customer support where they say they can't do anything.