Upwork

Company discriminating workers based on their nationality. I have received an email saying that my account would be suspended because I'm Russian. Even though Russian people have no real control over the current events we are still being made feel lesser than other nationalities. Would never want to have any dealings with the company promoting national discrimination.

Just to be clear I'm referencing this company:
655 Montgomery Street, Suite 490, Dpt 17022, San Francisco, CA 94111
© 2022. Upwork® Inc.

Scammers paradise. Marketplace listing fee was over $150 ridiculous! Upworker didn’t follow instructions correctly but was being paid 3 x what other employer was offering for basic admin thinking I’d get a great VA stick to onshore employees it’s better ‘ your bank account won’t get scammed. I’ve had to cancel my card.

Started sending me SPAM newsletters, wouldn't unsubscribe me, ignored attempts at contact. I have never used their services but that doesn't stop them harassing you. They do not respect privacy.

Upwork restricted my account, said I must provide government ID "under the ‘Know Your Customer’ USA Patriot Act", the same act that authorised the indefinite detention without trial of immigrants.

Using upworks has been a nightmare. So call specialist with tonnes of reviews (now I know to be fake) on there, who are obviously incapable of completing the work. Once you have signed up with your card, they charge you automatically and there is no way to rectify it because upworks has literally no support at all. BEWARE - DO NOT USE THIS DODGEY PLATFORM.

Upwork has decided to block freelancers from Russia, this decision will vilify normal every day workers that are not responsible in anyway for the attack against Ukraine. I used a very skillful Russian developer for my business software and he doesn't agree with what his Government is doing, but he will get punished by Upwork anyway. Shame on you! I will look for alternatives next time when looking for a freelancer.

I recently just hired someone to build a website for me. I was very clear in what I wanted and had 60 people apply. One guy assured me he could do the job and showed me why he could do it. Even though I was sceptical I went with him.

He tried to make me pay upfront even though we agreed to pay him once the job was done.

He then created the payment anyway and said accept it once the job is done. Not telling me that if you leave it - the funds get taken out automatically! Managed to stop that from happening!

He then sent me 2 drafts of work and it was completely not what I asked for. At all! He as so far from what I asked for, I decided to cancel the contract.

2 reasons - time is money and he can’t do the job!
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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.

Once, I tried to hire a freelancer from Upwork, eventually, I found the freelancer make the faked leads, then refund was processed. A few days later, I realized that Upwork charged $77 from my credit card as member fee, there is no notification, not pre-information indicated but took your money away. Compare with other freelancer websites, I suggest you take extra care if you need to use Upwork.

Firstly the pricing is in USD but this isn't made clear. And when you decide how much to pay the freelancer, Upwork ads extra fees without making this clear. So you think your spending $250 but it turns out to be $382.40!

Fake profiles & unverified locations.

Many profiles being displayed on Upwork are not genuine, do not believe anything you read is actually true of the stated profiles. These many fake profiles lead to under qualified persons obtaining contracts that they will never be able to complete correctly.

Ok many of the profiles on Upwork are genuine but trying to work out what is real and what is deceptive is an impossible task. Upwork don’t appear to care about this huge problem they have at present of scammers with fake profiles operating on their platform.

These resumes posted and stated country locations by freelancers are not being checked by Upwork correctly.

The dispute resolution facade
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I am a writer of Children's books and use Freelancers from overseas as it assists people in need. However just recently these platform Freelancers are charging Australian prices and therefore it is no longer profitable and we are being taken for a ride in my opinion.

We can now hire within our own countries as it is just as expensive and I believe we are being taken advantage off.

Consider the USD against AUD