5 ms·

Update #2: The CEO has called me and notified me that the first wire was held up at an intermediary bank in California, and has been resent. They have also refu

Update #2: The CEO has called me and notified me that the first wire was held up at an intermediary bank in California, and has been resent. They have also refunded the $ 1,000.00 project fee back to the client so that he can pay that to me as well. After numerous emails and support tickets and live chat conversations that didn't provide any answers, Matt Barrie finally gave me an explanation at 10:30 pm when he called me. The explanation given for why my driver's license was rejected was because their manual states that potential counterfeit ID’s would have a brown background in the photo section of the driver's license instead of a white background. When I renewed my license a few months ago the DMV gave me the option of using my recent license photo or take a new one. I opted to use the old photo. It's a black and white photo as far as I can tell, but according to Matt Barrie the background of my driver's license photo appeared to be "brown." I think it's a rather ridiculous reason for why they rejected my ID, it clearly does not look like a brown background photo and is in fact my valid New York ID issued from the state. Regardless, they should have told me this immediately instead of giving me the runaround for days and holding up my payment. They also should have done this verification process before I began working on the project and before I waited for 2 weeks for the first wire. They also never requested that I do a keycode verification where I hold a sign using the unique keycode they give me and holding up my ID. I am displeased with their handling of this, but thankful that my client is dependable and professional and has opted to continue this project off of freelancer.com. I regret that these are the actions I had to take in order to get freelancer.com to clarify why they were holding my payment and rejecting my ID. I am lucky enough to be working with an understanding and motivated client who has gone out of his way to help clear up this situation. He was gracious enough to advance me a payment this evening even though he is still awaiting his returned funds from freelancer.com In the future, I hope that freelancer.com will be more direct with their customers when issues like this arise. I also hope that everyone who is having a similar issue gets it resolved ASAP without it having to come to this ugliness. My wife and I cannot thank all of you enough for your support. When companies won't do the right thing, it's good to know that the power of social media can help keep them accountable.

hga 12y ago
"They also should have done this verification process before I began working on the project and before I waited for 2 weeks for the first wire." While we can see from your case many problems of their waiting, I don't think it's economic for them to do a Know Your Customer (KYC) process until there's enough money on the table. Surely many if not most if not the vast majority of freelancers signed up on the site will never receive enough money to require this. They'd have to not only get hired for a project, but also not get stiffed by the client. The inexcusable thing is of course is that once they had thousands of dollars in their hands (albeit since it was from a credit card, subject to a charge back, which I'm sure is one of the reasons they resolved this in your and your client's favor), their KYC "process" (not sure their's deserves such a grand name) was so bogus, inconsistent and opaque. There's a slight excuse for the opaqueness, implicitly telling you to Photoshop your "brown" photo section background into something more acceptable would negate that metric's usefulness, but ... well, they could have told you something that would have prompted you to go to the DMV and get a new license with a new photo (you could tell them you lost your old one). E.g. "your photo on the license doesn't pass muster, why don't you get a replacement with a new photo" ... although that wouldn't necessarily work in my home state of Missouri, they have metrics for when they'll take a new photo and refused to the last time I renewed it (and for what it's worth, it has a deep blue background, one would hope that's OK by them...). "They also never requested that I do a keycode verification where I hold a sign using the unique keycode they give me and holding up my ID." There are two issues here: sending money to the right person, which I suspect was never in serious doubt, and sending money to a legit person, which is what the "Know Your Customer" words of art are all about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer

hga 12y ago

"They also should have done this verification process before I began working on the project and before I waited for 2 weeks for the first wire." While we can see from your case many problems of their waiting, I don't think it's economic for them to do a Know Your Customer (KYC) process until there's enough money on the table. Surely many if not most if not the vast majority of freelancers signed up on the site will never receive enough money to require this. They'd have to not only get hired for a project, but also not get stiffed by the client. The inexcusable thing is of course is that once they had thousands of dollars in their hands (albeit since it was from a credit card, subject to a charge back, which I'm sure is one of the reasons they resolved this in your and your client's favor), their KYC "process" (not sure their's deserves such a grand name) was so bogus, inconsistent and opaque. There's a slight excuse for the opaqueness, implicitly telling you to Photoshop your "brown" photo section background into something more acceptable would negate that metric's usefulness, but ... well, they could have told you something that would have prompted you to go to the DMV and get a new license with a new photo (you could tell them you lost your old one). E.g. "your photo on the license doesn't pass muster, why don't you get a replacement with a new photo" ... although that wouldn't necessarily work in my home state of Missouri, they have metrics for when they'll take a new photo and refused to the last time I renewed it (and for what it's worth, it has a deep blue background, one would hope that's OK by them...). "They also never requested that I do a keycode verification where I hold a sign using the unique keycode they give me and holding up my ID." There are two issues here: sending money to the right person, which I suspect was never in serious doubt, and sending money to a legit person, which is what the "Know Your Customer" words of art are all about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer