UpworkReviews 2,130

Oh well, this is the second time I have been suspended as a client from upwork. Back in 2015 I signed up to do some freelancing, and then to hire some freelancer too. They suspended my account, saying that I have falsified some info. Upon asking what info has been falsified, to this date there has been no reply.

So I sign up another account from my business profile. And after completion of 10-15 hires, which I paid out in full, they still suspend me. What irks is not that they feel something is amiss. That's fine. Gather info and rectify. But what irks is the way they pull the plug. Here is an example:

"I have reviewed all aspects of your account, and unfortunately, you are violating Upwork policies. I regret to inform you that based on that review, it has been determined that your account will not be restored. The policy violation(s) in question lead to this final decision. Please be advised that we may not respond to further requests regarding this issue.

Thank you for your understanding."

The most pathetic of Customer Care Service would find this message repugnant and pompous.

-Does not mention which policy was violated
-Without any communication whatsoever, this is a final termination (not to be restored)
-Informs the client that they will not respond to any request on this issue
-And if that wasnt sufficient birdie in the face, it says thank you for understanding.

People at upwork, understand that you make money from the clients as well as the freelancers. You people live off us, and you do not show a shred of respect. The above message is from 2 days back. The correspondence I had 2 years back was similar. The LEAST you can do in such cases is have a proper correspondence to try and resolve the conflict to re-instate the suspension.

Absolutely putrid! But hey, Thank you for understanding!

I just used Upwork for 2 weeks.

I have hired 3 people on there and they were good at their work.

But Upwork suspended the freelancer's account and my account.

They didn't give any clear explanation about their action.

I connected with their 5 support agents and all of them just said "WAIT, WAIT, WAIT".

I couldn't get their response for over a week.

I have asked the help from their FB page and they blocked me out in there as well.

Just lost $500.

Scam website did their job well!

Stay away from it.

I understand it's a business and it needs to make money but I think the fees are too high for the majority of work that happens. For each freelancer, they take 20% for the first $500, then 10% up to $10,000 and then 5% after that. It doesn't seem fair at all and probably isn't worth doing little projects on. (Being cynical, I'm sure Upwork knew this would be the case and that's exactly why they made it so unbalanced)

I was on it for 2 years, had about 100 jobs, and spent over 10K and, except for only a few cases, most of the freelancers would have only gotten 80% of what I would have paid. In actuality, some of those jobs were probably lower than minimum wage. I'd rather do things on a platform that respects both clients and freelancers.

Also, for freelancers, be aware you will have an insane amount of competition. Unless you can do something which is very particular and a specialized skillset, be expecting to be severely underbid by people willing to do extremely low rates. (Less than $5/hr. Seriously)

They charge too much and they have crappy services. Their website is always down and they are over charging freelancers for their crappy services. One example is today. I have been a freelancer for about 3 years now and upwork took out my payment method and I had to re enter it. So now I can't pay my bills because I have to wait 3 days for my payment method to be confirmed AGAIN and also their support is of no help. Upwork is ripping off freelancers. All they care about is taking money from freelancers hard work.

I've been a member of this site (and a few other freelancer sites for years). Recently I went to site again as I didn't get many (ANY) sales to see what's new.
I was now required to upload a real photo as part of their new requirements. My previous photo was just of a certificate, now I uploaded my real photo... I'm African American (black).

Despite being an approved member before (without seeing my photo), they reviewed my profile and sent me an email in about 30 min stating it was not approved because "they had enough persons with the skills I offered".

I decided to close that account completely and setup a new account with a different email address to add more of my qualifications. Added my same real photo and again in about 30 min got rejected for the same reason.

Wanting to prove a point to myself, I ONCE AGAIN created a 3rd profile. I listed the exact same skills and certifications as the last account. This time I only changed my name and used a Caucasian (white) individual's photo. Took more than 30 min but the very next morning, the profile was approved!

They have rejected a profile twice because of SKIN COLOR!

I understand the need for real photos on some of these site, however if your site & management are RACIST then you are clearly in the wrong business!

IT'S A SHAME THAT IN 2017 THERE IS STILL SO MUCH RACISM GOING ON. AVOID THESE PEOPLE!

I am truly disappointed that my application did not go through. Not because I did not qualify, but because the website/company was not transparent enough from the beginning to make it clear that there was a possibility of not being accepted as a member. I thought that the submission was a checking process to see if we were real candidates. I dont appreciate having to give my private information and picture to a company that had these conditions. It would have been more honest on their part to have screened the career quota from the beginning. I feel that the Upwork site is just phishing for data because even if I close my account, they will still have my data. This is very disconcerting.

I opened an account, uploaded an image of my state-issued driver's license and provided my tax information. A few days later, I received an email that my account was approved. However, when I tried to submit a proposal, I was given an error that my US location could not be verified. There was nothing I could do. I could not call anyone. I sent an email to support. Support would provide false & contradictory statements, one after another. The issue was NEVER resolved.

It appears they may be a bankruptcy waiting to happen.

TOTAL MORONS work in their Support group.

Since 2008 I have been an active member (as both a client and a freelancer) of Elance and then Upwork (when my account was moved over)

As a client, I have continued to hire freelancers over that period, the most recent being in August this year. I have received 5 star reviews on all of the projects I have been involved with

As a freelancer, I have chosen not to work for since my account was moved to upwork, but on Elance I performed many projects. Of those employers who left reviews all were very positive and almost all were 5 stars - but the work history has now mysteriously disappeared from upwork despite being there yesterday

A few days ago I decided I would try working as a freelancer again. I applied for several projects in a day. Hours later my account was suspended without explanation.

After banging my head against the wall with support I was eventually told that I was not qualified to be applying for these jobs because the number of jobs that I was applying for was too great given my work history - exactly how this is related to my qualifications for the job I have no idea!

When I appealed I was then asked to provide evidence of my qualifications. I sent them evidence of my three applicable degrees which were received from top ranked universities in Australia. Shortly after I was simply sent an email stating that the review had been completed and my account was permenantly closed!

I have an established work history with freelancers - my CLIENT account is also suspended - and now I am unable to engage them again? The ENTIRE purpose of upwork is to provide a fair and safe marketplace. After a business starts hiring people on upwork they are counting on them to maiintain that fairness. Our company has invested in developing relationships and a shared body of knowledge with our freelancers. Suddenly, and only because I decided to start applying for jobs on a single day, I find myself permenantly banned? How?

After repeatedly asking them to refer me to the section of their terms and conditions which I have supposedly violated, I have received no response. Upwork seems to have a grossly warped sense of what it means to have commercial integrity. VERY disappointed.

Contact support. All they did was reactivate the same system. So i asked them to do it manually instead. They responded saying THEY couldnt verify it either and need more docs. I looked at the doc list and the first thing listed was MY ID! The same one no one can verify, even though it says OREGON across the top and has my name on it. Ive emailed back saying that im not moving forward to find addtl doc till they can assure me that my id wont be a problem.
If i had another form of id, i wouldve used it. For an easy app, this sure is complicated.

I have used Upwork for years and was very happy until about 1 year ago. An example, after having a job posted 1 week, I upgraded the posting for $29.00. This would get me "great talent", personal up work counselor to help in the search. Not only did I see the exact same candidates that I had on the free, the counselor was a joke... "Do you want me to resubmit your posting"? "Ummm, no I think I can do that myself". After 2 days and no hires I asked for a refund, asking them to compare my paid vs free (the same), they declined. Talent has gone way down as well because they charge freelancers so much!

Upwork is ruining their own brand.

Experienced, skilled freelancers are giving up on Upwork, it is an inferior freelancing platform and the company is very difficult to work. It has turned into a sweatshop, low wage joke!
Example: Hiring clients looking for the most experienced freelancers from US and paying them an average of $6.72 an hour.
Most people would conclude that Upwork is the worst freelancing platform. They are driving their reputation and brand down the drain.

For serious professional freelancers it is a negative to be associated with Upwork. Freelancers and serious hiring clients - go elsewhere. Don't waste your time.

Where do I begin?
Customer service? NOT!
Transparent? NOT!
OK, the good stuff. I have never had a client who did not pay. Gotta know this, almost all my freelance clients came from Elance. My five ThrowUpWork clients have been very good to pay.
The major problem-the so-called Job Success Score. This is life's greatest mystery. For some reason my score dropped below 77. Invites are pretty much non-existent now.
ThrowUpWork reassures us that scores above 75 are good.
Oh? Every job proposal has the little button activated, the one for a score of 90 or better.
They obviously have a lack of mathematics knowledge because 90 is NOT 75.
I raised the issue on the message board. The response from ThrowUpWork?
'Life's not fair!' Seriously.
But there is a remedy. An email said if I upgrade to a higher-level account my status will change.
Not a surprise! First, ThrowUpWork takes 20% of what I earned and now there is an attempt to squeeze more.
I apologize for giving one star but as we all know there is no negative-star feature.

FedUpWork

I've been using it for about 2-3 months now and I'm not a fan. Way too crazy with monitoring you. For hourly work they make you download a time clock which will take screen shots of your computer while you're working every 1-10 minutes at random. Total invasion of privacy and feels like the employer is standing over your shoulder. Also, they have to "review" your account and it takes 24 hours+ to do so, which will make you loose opportunities to other bidders for lucrative jobs. There's a way better way to do this that respects the privacy of the users and doesn't tie their hands so much. They also take 20% of your income for your first $500 in profit, and then lower the rate after that to 10%, which can be a lot depending on what you're doing.