I now have had two experiences with deceptive and dishonest freelancers that I connected with on Upwork. In addition, the testimonials that are included in freelancers profiles cannot be trusted since one freelancer wanted a signed, written agreement that I not be allowed to post a negative review of her performance. Furthermore, Upwork deletes posting of negative interactions between freelancers and clients. One freelancer wanted to get paid 50% of the contract upfront, before doing any work, and then asked me to sign an agreement that she could stop work at any time at her discretion, after being paid $12,500.00.
Another freelancer that responded to help with advertising on Amazon, has since disappeared from the Upwork website, but not before he charged me to produce many Amazon Marketplace ads that performed terribly.
In my experience, many shady characters reside on Upwork and while I'm sure some are legitmate, I can say from direct experience that many are not, be aware!
A: No, Upwork is not profitable. In 2022, Upwork's net losses were a sad $89.9 million.
In a time when you should be making money— and you’re not--it’s time to rethink the business model.
FYI: It’s no wonder Upwork is a failing company. The website needs work—but Upwork doesn’t take to kindly to suggestions. For instance, to randomly reset our user privacy setting (to invisible to clients) is nonsense and the sad excuse for doing so is ridiculous. Upwork is not doing anyone a favor by blocking accounts and for such frivolous reasons as it’s just doing dirty to freelancers and employers, alike. Plus, it was very childish of Upwork to suspend my account for suggesting they stop playing with our privacy settings and proves my point that Upwork is useless.
Your account has been suspended. Please contact customer support.
I don’t need to contact anyone. You’re not the boss of me!
Unfortunately, Upwork practices a crude and sloppy way of doing business. To treat its users with such utter disrespect is not good PR, for sure.
It’s no wonder Upwork is suffering big loses when every day it wastes even more money, effort, and resources defending its stupid decisions on too many similar complaints. Without doubt, Upwork doesn’t follow the SDLC or process improvement methodology. And surely Upwork never tests its website properly or with qualified users. And there are other problems with Upwork and its website too numerous to mention.
To be in business for profit or not—Upwork just doesn’t have the know-how to get it right—which is indicative of piss-poor management. Just try to get in touch with them and you’ll find it’s intentionally a big hassle and indicative of people who just don’t give a d**n. So I don’t see this iteration of Upwork lasting much longer as flushing good money down the toilet to support a crap site in dire need of a full upgrade by incompetent folks who are obviously clueless is evidently not the best investment.
Kushtrim Beha charged me for work that was never done, and instead of working on the project for which I paid (under the terms and conditions agreed upon in the contract he signed), he worked on other people's projects. That constitutes THEFT, and it's not reasonable for me to wait for a project that Kushtrim Beha charged me for but didn't deliver.
To be clear, he charged me for work that was never received.
On the 8th of April, Kushtrim Beha stated, "Let's get started the project. In the case I won't satisfy your requirements, I will give you full money back.", thus there is no excuse for receiving a full refund in good faith from Upwork.com but they have not refunded me, so I called my financial institution.
Because he had been billing me without presenting any work for 3 weeks, the contract was paused. Then on the 26th of April, Kushtrim Beha had the audacity to ask me to resume the contract so he could continue charging me for work he never intended to do, as he states, "Hello, can you please resume the contract this week?".
I have asked to see the work and progress, but he only makes excuses for zero evidence he has of performing any work. Everything about his behavior is one of a con artist. When his profile was still visible, his "Job Success" was less than 39%.
I wrote 3 emails to Upwork.com advising that Kushtrim Beha failed to keep his part of the agreement and hasn't been forthright about this process, and encouraged them (upwork.com and Kushtrim) to do the right thing in good faith, and return all the money [$2050.00] in a civil fashion.
Kushtrim Beha hasn't performed any work during the time afforded him and didn't deliver after the week extension. Even after addressing this in a civil fashion, in attempts to rectify the situation, he failed to act in good faith on the contractual agreement. Yes, he signed a contract and I can prove everything, so beware of Kushtrim. He's a scam artist and a thief.
Upwork Global Inc. with it's website Upwork.com provides an online service, which brings together Freelancers and agencies and clients who are offering jobs.
After increasing their fees, Upwork in their terms and conditions currently claims to charge 20% fees from freelancers. But since they are charging 20% of the amount the client is paying, which already contains the fees, the actual fees they charge are 25%.
According to the calculation in the proposals on the Upwork website, between the amount a freelancer gets and the amount the client pays should be the fees or according to Upwork 20%. It has been proven to Upwork, that between the two amounts are 25%, not 20%.
Upwork is offering international services. For the European Union it is mandatory for the offerer to reveal all fees and taxes to contract parties before a contract is confirmed. Also, it can be considered best practice and reasonable for proposals and contracts. The tax statements are missing in various Upwork offers and according pages. Also, VAT is charged to the freelancer, not the client.
Furthermore, Upwork provides 3 different payment statements. The proposal, the offer contract and the actual payment. For example, the proposal states 20% fees but calculates 25%. The offer contract then states 11.43% fees, while in the payment a total of 31.58% fees are deducted. Constant in all 3 cases is the amount the client pays.
Upwork has been informed about this and while there is proof of them admitting, the fee statement in the offer contract is a known issue, a month after opening the tickets, the only changes are, that the according support ticket has been closed several times (daily), the account of the reporting member has been "temporarily supsended" and the member has been locked out of the support platform for reopening tickets the support didn't reply to.
Also, Upwork is commiting tax fraud. They do it by twisting the transaction history of the freelancers account. For the same reason, the freelancer is charged with 25% fees instead of 20%.
The client offers the job. The freelancers sends an application along with a proposal. The proposal showing what the freelancer gets, the Upwork fees and the total amount the client is paying. The freelancer does the job. The client pays to Upwork. Upwork deducts the fees and taxes and after a 5 days security period adds the rest to the account of the freelancer.
The transaction history states something entirely different. Upwork treats everybody as a client. An easy way to find proof for this statement, is to compare membership payments with receiving job payments. While in reality the freelancer pays membership fees but receives a client payment for a job, Upwork treats both the same way. In both cases the freelancer is charged VAT. Also the support claims, the freelancer is a client. This way they charge more fees from the freelancer, while saving taxes.
The transaction history in the account of the freelancer says, the freelancer first gets the payment from the client. In a second transaction, the freelancer pays the fees to Upwork. This way Upwork can charge 20% of the amount the client is paying, instead of 20% of the amount the freelancer requested and gets. Also, since according to the books the freelancer is now paying the Upwork fees, Upwork charges the VAT to the freelancer and only for the Upwork fees instead of charging VAT for the full payment amount to the client.
While in real life only 2 transactions happen and only one that includes the account of the freelancer, the transaction history of the freelancer's account shows 3 transactions for 1 contract. Proof actually disappears after 5 days, when the money is added to the freelancer's account. Because there is proof in the "Pending" amount.
After the confirmation of the client, the freelancer's account for 5 days shows one pending amount in the according section and no according transaction of the same amount, but on the other hand the same section shows 3 different transactions, none of which showing the transfer of the actual pending amount.
Due to this tampering with the transaction history, not only do they charge more fees to the freelancer. Also, since they receive the first real payment from the client, they should charge VAT to the client and pay it to the IRS where the client is located in. For the full amount the client is paying. But since they twist the transaction history, they charge the wrong VAT, to the wrong person and pay it to the wrong IRS, plus claim, the freelancer now has to pay the VAT for the full payment amount to the client's IRS.
This has been reported to the support. The primiary reply of the support are general statements and references to the terms and conditions, along with repeating descriptions of what they do. But after a month of discussions, no actual action has been taken and no problem has been solved.
Full proof, along with how the support is handling according reports and the resulting account suspension can be found on upworkfraud.byethost4.com, where an according case has been described in detail, and proof in form of screenshots has been provided.
I'm getting fired for hiring him. After a few months of what seemed like a well written piece of code was live, we had a pornographic image set which would flash on all of our screens at apparently random intervals. Our it staff found it to be from code Joe was contacted to write. I'm disgusted.
My Upwork.com account was shut down due to a reputable client in the LA area. They were 100% legit, huge marketing firm, even tried working with Upwork, Inc to resolve their account but apparently Upwork Inc kept asking for more and more information.
Finally, they closed both of our accounts. They removed ALL approved payments, over $2000 from other clients as well, not just mine.
The ticket started off saying we have a problem with this other person's account, you can continue working. It turns out that while I was making money during the 16 day investigation, they decided to close my account and remove all my earnings :(.
Very unethical business practices. They do not give any proof that you have violated any terms. I have no idea in regards to the other client other than they are quite big and there was nothing to hide; but let's say even if the client was breaking the terms, I shouldn't have my account closed and my money removed.
Upwork Global Inc. Reviews
I now have had two experiences with deceptive and dishonest freelancers that I connected with on Upwork. In addition, the testimonials that are included in freelancers profiles cannot be trusted since one freelancer wanted a signed, written agreement that I not be allowed to post a negative review of her performance. Furthermore, Upwork deletes posting of negative interactions between freelancers and clients. One freelancer wanted to get paid 50% of the contract upfront, before doing any work, and then asked me to sign an agreement that she could stop work at any time at her discretion, after being paid $12,500.00.
Another freelancer that responded to help with advertising on Amazon, has since disappeared from the Upwork website, but not before he charged me to produce many Amazon Marketplace ads that performed terribly.
In my experience, many shady characters reside on Upwork and while I'm sure some are legitmate, I can say from direct experience that many are not, be aware!
Re: Upwork Complaint
Q: Is Upwork profitable?
A: No, Upwork is not profitable. In 2022, Upwork's net losses were a sad $89.9 million.
In a time when you should be making money— and you’re not--it’s time to rethink the business model.
FYI: It’s no wonder Upwork is a failing company. The website needs work—but Upwork doesn’t take to kindly to suggestions. For instance, to randomly reset our user privacy setting (to invisible to clients) is nonsense and the sad excuse for doing so is ridiculous. Upwork is not doing anyone a favor by blocking accounts and for such frivolous reasons as it’s just doing dirty to freelancers and employers, alike. Plus, it was very childish of Upwork to suspend my account for suggesting they stop playing with our privacy settings and proves my point that Upwork is useless.
Your account has been suspended. Please contact customer support.
I don’t need to contact anyone. You’re not the boss of me!
Unfortunately, Upwork practices a crude and sloppy way of doing business. To treat its users with such utter disrespect is not good PR, for sure.
It’s no wonder Upwork is suffering big loses when every day it wastes even more money, effort, and resources defending its stupid decisions on too many similar complaints. Without doubt, Upwork doesn’t follow the SDLC or process improvement methodology. And surely Upwork never tests its website properly or with qualified users. And there are other problems with Upwork and its website too numerous to mention.
To be in business for profit or not—Upwork just doesn’t have the know-how to get it right—which is indicative of piss-poor management. Just try to get in touch with them and you’ll find it’s intentionally a big hassle and indicative of people who just don’t give a d**n. So I don’t see this iteration of Upwork lasting much longer as flushing good money down the toilet to support a crap site in dire need of a full upgrade by incompetent folks who are obviously clueless is evidently not the best investment.
Kushtrim Beha charged me for work that was never done, and instead of working on the project for which I paid (under the terms and conditions agreed upon in the contract he signed), he worked on other people's projects. That constitutes THEFT, and it's not reasonable for me to wait for a project that Kushtrim Beha charged me for but didn't deliver.
To be clear, he charged me for work that was never received.
On the 8th of April, Kushtrim Beha stated, "Let's get started the project. In the case I won't satisfy your requirements, I will give you full money back.", thus there is no excuse for receiving a full refund in good faith from Upwork.com but they have not refunded me, so I called my financial institution.
Because he had been billing me without presenting any work for 3 weeks, the contract was paused. Then on the 26th of April, Kushtrim Beha had the audacity to ask me to resume the contract so he could continue charging me for work he never intended to do, as he states, "Hello, can you please resume the contract this week?".
I have asked to see the work and progress, but he only makes excuses for zero evidence he has of performing any work. Everything about his behavior is one of a con artist. When his profile was still visible, his "Job Success" was less than 39%.
I wrote 3 emails to Upwork.com advising that Kushtrim Beha failed to keep his part of the agreement and hasn't been forthright about this process, and encouraged them (upwork.com and Kushtrim) to do the right thing in good faith, and return all the money [$2050.00] in a civil fashion.
Kushtrim Beha hasn't performed any work during the time afforded him and didn't deliver after the week extension. Even after addressing this in a civil fashion, in attempts to rectify the situation, he failed to act in good faith on the contractual agreement. Yes, he signed a contract and I can prove everything, so beware of Kushtrim. He's a scam artist and a thief.
Upwork Global Inc. with it's website Upwork.com provides an online service, which brings together Freelancers and agencies and clients who are offering jobs.
After increasing their fees, Upwork in their terms and conditions currently claims to charge 20% fees from freelancers. But since they are charging 20% of the amount the client is paying, which already contains the fees, the actual fees they charge are 25%.
According to the calculation in the proposals on the Upwork website, between the amount a freelancer gets and the amount the client pays should be the fees or according to Upwork 20%. It has been proven to Upwork, that between the two amounts are 25%, not 20%.
Upwork is offering international services. For the European Union it is mandatory for the offerer to reveal all fees and taxes to contract parties before a contract is confirmed. Also, it can be considered best practice and reasonable for proposals and contracts. The tax statements are missing in various Upwork offers and according pages. Also, VAT is charged to the freelancer, not the client.
Furthermore, Upwork provides 3 different payment statements. The proposal, the offer contract and the actual payment. For example, the proposal states 20% fees but calculates 25%. The offer contract then states 11.43% fees, while in the payment a total of 31.58% fees are deducted. Constant in all 3 cases is the amount the client pays.
Upwork has been informed about this and while there is proof of them admitting, the fee statement in the offer contract is a known issue, a month after opening the tickets, the only changes are, that the according support ticket has been closed several times (daily), the account of the reporting member has been "temporarily supsended" and the member has been locked out of the support platform for reopening tickets the support didn't reply to.
Also, Upwork is commiting tax fraud. They do it by twisting the transaction history of the freelancers account. For the same reason, the freelancer is charged with 25% fees instead of 20%.
The client offers the job. The freelancers sends an application along with a proposal. The proposal showing what the freelancer gets, the Upwork fees and the total amount the client is paying. The freelancer does the job. The client pays to Upwork. Upwork deducts the fees and taxes and after a 5 days security period adds the rest to the account of the freelancer.
The transaction history states something entirely different. Upwork treats everybody as a client. An easy way to find proof for this statement, is to compare membership payments with receiving job payments. While in reality the freelancer pays membership fees but receives a client payment for a job, Upwork treats both the same way. In both cases the freelancer is charged VAT. Also the support claims, the freelancer is a client. This way they charge more fees from the freelancer, while saving taxes.
The transaction history in the account of the freelancer says, the freelancer first gets the payment from the client. In a second transaction, the freelancer pays the fees to Upwork. This way Upwork can charge 20% of the amount the client is paying, instead of 20% of the amount the freelancer requested and gets. Also, since according to the books the freelancer is now paying the Upwork fees, Upwork charges the VAT to the freelancer and only for the Upwork fees instead of charging VAT for the full payment amount to the client.
While in real life only 2 transactions happen and only one that includes the account of the freelancer, the transaction history of the freelancer's account shows 3 transactions for 1 contract. Proof actually disappears after 5 days, when the money is added to the freelancer's account. Because there is proof in the "Pending" amount.
After the confirmation of the client, the freelancer's account for 5 days shows one pending amount in the according section and no according transaction of the same amount, but on the other hand the same section shows 3 different transactions, none of which showing the transfer of the actual pending amount.
Due to this tampering with the transaction history, not only do they charge more fees to the freelancer. Also, since they receive the first real payment from the client, they should charge VAT to the client and pay it to the IRS where the client is located in. For the full amount the client is paying. But since they twist the transaction history, they charge the wrong VAT, to the wrong person and pay it to the wrong IRS, plus claim, the freelancer now has to pay the VAT for the full payment amount to the client's IRS.
This has been reported to the support. The primiary reply of the support are general statements and references to the terms and conditions, along with repeating descriptions of what they do. But after a month of discussions, no actual action has been taken and no problem has been solved.
Full proof, along with how the support is handling according reports and the resulting account suspension can be found on upworkfraud.byethost4.com, where an according case has been described in detail, and proof in form of screenshots has been provided.
I'm getting fired for hiring him. After a few months of what seemed like a well written piece of code was live, we had a pornographic image set which would flash on all of our screens at apparently random intervals. Our it staff found it to be from code Joe was contacted to write. I'm disgusted.
Erik Manuevo is bringing down Upwork.com
My Upwork.com account was shut down due to a reputable client in the LA area. They were 100% legit, huge marketing firm, even tried working with Upwork, Inc to resolve their account but apparently Upwork Inc kept asking for more and more information.
Finally, they closed both of our accounts. They removed ALL approved payments, over $2000 from other clients as well, not just mine.
The ticket started off saying we have a problem with this other person's account, you can continue working. It turns out that while I was making money during the 16 day investigation, they decided to close my account and remove all my earnings :(.
Very unethical business practices. They do not give any proof that you have violated any terms. I have no idea in regards to the other client other than they are quite big and there was nothing to hide; but let's say even if the client was breaking the terms, I shouldn't have my account closed and my money removed.