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Well, first let me say that my experience as someone who has hired on freelancer has been very good. I have found some excellent developers there. But I'll al

by dhimes 9y ago

Well, first let me say that my experience as someone who has hired on freelancer has been very good. I have found some excellent developers there. But I'll also point out that (1) I spec my projects pretty carefully, almost to the point of 'hell I might as well build it myself'; and (2) I pay. And when the project is harder than I originally thought, I don't say "tough shit you signed a contract dumbass" but rather I pay more. I treat the contractors more or less as contract employees, and myself as a project manager. Second, as others here have pointed out, there is a whole lotta "I'll just skip the details here" in this story. But what strikes me most is that here is a guy who is raising a voice in the hacker internet community about a company with the intent of either warning us of a dangerous situation or hoping to get some community pressure on the site to get his money out of them, or perhaps both. I have no problem with either of those things, and actually appreciate the first. What I do have a problem with is how little effort (apparently) went into the piece. It's like a stream-of-consciousness ramble about the bad things happening to him, including the piece about the issue leading him into depression. It's just not....professional. It makes my spidey sense tingle. I wish him the best but I'm a bit skeptical that we've got a balanced view here, and half of me is thinking that if this is how he approaches things then the complainants may have a point.

deleted 9y ago
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wolco 9y ago
After this review you are going to have a tougher time finding skilled resources on freelancer.com The protection afforded to you as the buyer does not extend to the seller. There are better places like upwork for additional protection for developers. But yes he does seem a little depressed but that says more about the top 5% earners on a site like this. This is what it looks like after 5 years on freelancer.com
- dhimes 9y ago
  I've used upwork too and had no problems there (it used to be called something else- elance maybe?). I use the sites for more than coding. I also get copywriters there.
mbostleman 9y ago
As I read through the comments I was composing in my head almost the identical response as yours. Thanks for saving me the time. My spidey sense started to tingle around "I'll spare you the details", then I was curious as to the other side of the story when I read "I must have stepped on a few toes". But once I got to the father dying and the bad car accident that caused all savings to be depleted by medical bills I suddenly felt like I was reading some phishing email scam, so I pretty much stopped there. I didn't get to anything regarding depression and I'm happy I didn't. I agree, it's good to have experiences out there so that people can evaluate - it's just that this really poor execution.
- ryandrake 9y ago
  Yep, he "will spare you the details" of the actual issue, and instead rants about his feelings, his irrelevant personal problems and life events. Then, when he attempts to explain what they said, he couches it with 'They didn't use these words, but it was the gest(??) of it". Lots of red flags.
  - mrcarrot 9y ago
    He meant “gist”.
notatoad 9y ago
yes, it seems entirely likely that freelancer.com is awful and online marketplaces withholding payments for nebulous reasons is a real problem, but i have a hard time trusting this review. Specifically, this: "The first time I asked for the reason I was told that there's no reason and that I should keep working, then I was told that because a client complained, and in another occasion, i was told something else that I can't quite remember" Freelancer.com is "ruining your life", but when they explain their reasoning to you, you "can't remember". I call bullshit. In the scenario the author of this review is trying to paint, you don't just forget the rationale they give you.
- JamesBarney 9y ago
  As someone who has been bounced around customer support before I can testify that I have forgotten reasons they've given me for why they weren't able to help me.
  - notatoad 9y ago
    when they don't want to refund me $50, sure. But if they're holding $3600, i think i could probably pay attention to what they're telling me.
- muddi900 9y ago
  I got Shingles because of stress caused by some arbitrary blockage of payments from one of my service providers. I'd say remembering bullshit excuses they gave me was quite difficult.
  - dhimes 9y ago
    In the future when you find yourself in this situation, start a paper-trail immediately. Write down the results of communications; keep a folder; etc. If it gets truly ugly and you have been calmly but deliberately and thoroughly taking notes it can be quite intimidating. Think: Mueller investigation of Trump. With all the shit they were throwing at him, he just quietly went about his work in a very methodical, detailed way.

by dhimes 9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

wolco 9y ago

After this review you are going to have a tougher time finding skilled resources on freelancer.com The protection afforded to you as the buyer does not extend to the seller. There are better places like upwork for additional protection for developers. But yes he does seem a little depressed but that says more about the top 5% earners on a site like this. This is what it looks like after 5 years on freelancer.com

dhimes 9y ago
I've used upwork too and had no problems there (it used to be called something else- elance maybe?). I use the sites for more than coding. I also get copywriters there.

mbostleman 9y ago

As I read through the comments I was composing in my head almost the identical response as yours. Thanks for saving me the time. My spidey sense started to tingle around "I'll spare you the details", then I was curious as to the other side of the story when I read "I must have stepped on a few toes". But once I got to the father dying and the bad car accident that caused all savings to be depleted by medical bills I suddenly felt like I was reading some phishing email scam, so I pretty much stopped there. I didn't get to anything regarding depression and I'm happy I didn't. I agree, it's good to have experiences out there so that people can evaluate - it's just that this really poor execution.

ryandrake 9y ago
Yep, he "will spare you the details" of the actual issue, and instead rants about his feelings, his irrelevant personal problems and life events. Then, when he attempts to explain what they said, he couches it with 'They didn't use these words, but it was the gest(??) of it". Lots of red flags.
- mrcarrot 9y ago
  He meant “gist”.

notatoad 9y ago

yes, it seems entirely likely that freelancer.com is awful and online marketplaces withholding payments for nebulous reasons is a real problem, but i have a hard time trusting this review. Specifically, this: "The first time I asked for the reason I was told that there's no reason and that I should keep working, then I was told that because a client complained, and in another occasion, i was told something else that I can't quite remember" Freelancer.com is "ruining your life", but when they explain their reasoning to you, you "can't remember". I call bullshit. In the scenario the author of this review is trying to paint, you don't just forget the rationale they give you.

JamesBarney 9y ago
As someone who has been bounced around customer support before I can testify that I have forgotten reasons they've given me for why they weren't able to help me.
- notatoad 9y ago
  when they don't want to refund me $50, sure. But if they're holding $3600, i think i could probably pay attention to what they're telling me.
muddi900 9y ago
I got Shingles because of stress caused by some arbitrary blockage of payments from one of my service providers. I'd say remembering bullshit excuses they gave me was quite difficult.
- dhimes 9y ago
  In the future when you find yourself in this situation, start a paper-trail immediately. Write down the results of communications; keep a folder; etc. If it gets truly ugly and you have been calmly but deliberately and thoroughly taking notes it can be quite intimidating. Think: Mueller investigation of Trump. With all the shit they were throwing at him, he just quietly went about his work in a very methodical, detailed way.