Odesk Jobs and Odesk scam
69Is Odesk freelance job site a scam? This is a question which people have repeatedly asked. So I thought about writing it so that I can help people understand why Odesk is not a scam and how to avoid yourself getting scammed by someone else through Odesk.
 | Amazon Price: $4.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $0.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $2.50 |
 | Amazon Price: $6.99 |
Odesk comparison with Newspaper or Google
I think Odesk can be compared with Newspaper or like Google.
If a person sees a Newspaper Ad about a company that has offered to pay $1 billion and joins the company to find that he is not going to pay him $1, I do not think he can say the Newspaper is a scam? Can he?
Is it possible on the part of the newspaper to go and verify every Ad? May be if they could have done that, it would have been great, but then in reality it is the reader's headache to verify it. However, if we find a fraud, may be informing the newspaper about it may help it review it before placing the same ad again. Whatever the case, we cannot call the Newspaper a fraud can we?
See the Adwords ads on Google? Make money like this and like that and 1000 different type of rotten ads exist... but then Google cannot go after each ad placer and verify the authenticity?
Well... Odesk has a similar role... It helps place Buyer's Job Openings' Ad on Odesk and lets those who are searching for jobs to find it. Unlike a newspaper or an internet ad, here there is an additional advantage where one can know the history of the buyer and provider.
After that it is just like in the real world. There are chances that you may get cheated or you may not get cheated. Odesk cannot go after each provider or buyer to verify if he is not going to cheat.
People who join Odesk are not from heaven. They are from our dirty real world. There may be good ones and bad ones, be it a provider or be it a buyer. There are times when buyer gets cheated and many times when provider gets cheated.
Even the review system cannot be told as foolproof. What if someone does 10 jobs between $1 to $100 perfectly well and gets perfect scores and runs away with the money when he is assigned a $5000 job and paid full advance ?!
My conclusion is that Odesk helps buyers and providers meet each other (and makes money out of it), but anything beyond that is the buyer's and provider's responsibility. It is not a 100% foolproof system, but then it is better than many of the systems for online work and it is progressively being improved based on input.
What do you say....Loading...
There are thousands of satisfied buyers and contractors at Odesk. In the real offline work how many people work with sincerity and dedication?
I did some work for a contractor through oDesk,, My contractor paid oDesk but oDesk will not pay me MY money for a week even though i have connected my paypal account,, Paypal is instant ! why ? they say its "Procedure" I say it that they are COLLECTING INTEREST ON MY MONEY ! I have not RECEIVED one CENT OWED TO ME BY oDESK as of this date,,, DON'T USE oDESK !!
Yes, I would agree that much caution is necessary when using ODesk. I used ODesk on a few small tasks with a few various contractors, and found the results to be mediocre. Then, I had a much larger project to work on and after finding a contractor with many hours and positive feedback, I felt comfortable to hire. It turned out, he didn't do the work, and someone else from the same company was placed onto the project. So much time had already been invested and feeling secure that the contractor's organization would deliver properly, I continued the project. Many months and thousands of dollars later, I'm practically begging ODesk to assist me get this resolved. So far, this has dragged on. We'll see what happens, but I can tell you it's not as safe as an environment as it was made out to be.
Yes, I would agree that much caution is necessary when using ODesk. I used ODesk on a few small tasks with a few various contractors, and found the results to be mediocre. Then, I had a much larger project to work on and after finding a contractor with many hours and positive feedback, I felt comfortable to hire. It turned out, he didn't do the work, and someone else from the same company was placed onto the project. So much time had already been invested and feeling secure that the contractor's organization would deliver properly, I continued the project. Many months and thousands of dollars later, I'm practically begging ODesk to assist me get this resolved. So far, this has dragged on. We'll see what happens, but I can tell you it's not as safe as an environment as it was made out to be.
I hired Omar Edwards from Shabz Design to make 2 pages on my Facebook for $20 and 100 fans on facebook for $4 ($0.04/fan). This was one of my first posts on oDesk so I made this an hourly job instead of fixed because I figured I would get quoted an amount of hours which I can then make a milestone for these certain hours. We agreed on $24 and spoke back and forth on oDesk and skype. He finally messaged me on Odesk on March 3 stating he has completed the job. I reviewed and had a few changes which he complete quickly. So I went into payments to make a milestone and I submitted a $24 bonus on accident instead of closing the job and submitting $24 for this fixed job. He did not mention anything about the hours, and I failed to change this to a fixed job. So I contacted support through live help and told them I made a payment but it is not being released. Here is the conversation which was fairly short since I was on my iPhone:
Allan: Hello, Alex D. Can I help you with anything today?
Alex D: ID 11272872
Allan: hi is that a contract id? please hold as I check that on your account
Alex D: I hired as hourly but I paid worker as fixed price.
Alex D: But it says I paid as bonus
Allan: I see - I'll check your payments as well.
Alex D: And it will not release
Allan: yes when you pay a fixed price it is usually called a bonus payment
Allan: oh ok
Alex D: And I already ended and we left feedback for eachother
Allan: is that the $24 payment?
Alex D: Please release payment
Allan: yes sure I will go ahead and ask finance to charge your card
Allan: one moment pls
Allan: glad to report that your card was charged successfully
Allan: thanks for contacting oDesk today!
After the payment was released, I felt comfortable telling the agent that my job was complete and I wanted to release payment. Keep in mind I work 15 hours a day, and I use oDesk as support to get my work done and depend on oDesk agents to help or catch mistakes if I speak with them. That is what sets apart good customer support from horrible support. So thinking everything was ok, I left very good feedback. After I received the 100 fans from Omar Edwards, I turned on my own Facebook fan account from an external website. This website is where people with fanpages can exchange fans/likes. You can gain anywhere from 30-100 fans in one single day. They just constantly stream in as long as you have enough credits in your account which I had plenty. I had paused it so I can see if Omar's (Shabz Design) fan technique really worked and it did. I received about 120 fans and it slowed down so I un-paused my own fan account to begin exchanging fans on my own and went up another 300 fans in approximately 3 days. So I decided to ask Shabz Design to give me another 400 fans at $0.04/fan and he said I already owed him for 300 fans. He saw my facebook fanpage and claimed it was him that got me 300 more fans and I should pay what I owe. I told Omar Edwards we agreed on 100 fans and that is what I paid you. He disagreed so I took screenshots of my account and showed him 5 pages of fanpage likes that I have received on my facebook fan exchange account on an external site. I have proof of building my own fan base and showed him but he suggested that it was him as if he is the only one who knows how to obtain facebook fans. I used him for additional fans because I like to use different methods of obtaining fanpage likes. After I told him I will not pay him for work I did myself and work that we did not agree on, he told me his charge for fans is $0.12/fan instead of $0.04/fan. He said he will not charge me the same price as before so I told him I will no longer need his service.
After we spoke I begain other work and did not pay much attention to oDesk because I had to attend to other very important matters in my business NOT knowing that the job was still open and the $24 I had paid him was still considered a bonus and not as a final payment. Approximately 8 days later I receive notice from oDesk that I was charged for $35.55! So I logged in to see why this was charged to my account and noticed Omar Edwards from Shabz Design summed up $0.12 x 300 fans = $36 so he logged on oDesk and logged 5.33 hours @ $6.67/hr which = $35.55! Very clever way of taking advantage of someone who just began using oDesk and made an honest mistake of paying him the wrong way. He saw that I was inexperienced with oOesk and deliberately logged on to oDesk to log hours which we never agreed upon. I take this no other way then theft. If you leave your wallet on a table, and turn your head for a second, it may get stolen. Maybe it is a bad idea to put your wallet on the table in the first place, but steeling the wallet is a crime regardless of where it is. IT IS NOT YOURS!
I then contacted oDesk to file a dispute and they told me my time for dispute was over!? Here is the ticket conversation:
Ionie: Hello, Alex D. Can I help you with anything today?
Alex D: Hello I have a feeling the worker I hired has manipulated odesk to charge me $35 today but I already paid him $24 for the work he did. Unfortunately it was done as a bonus since I am very unfamiliar with odesk. So we left eachother feedback and that was it. Now I have a new charge for hours that we did not agree on
Ionie: One moment let me check
Ionie: May I have the Contract ID please?
Alex D: His name is Omar Edwards from Shabz Design. He made 2 pages for my Facebook page for $10 each and he got me 100 fans for $4. Each fan was $0.04
Alex D: I am on my iPhone. I am not sure if this chat will end if I try and go to another page
Ionie: No need
Ionie: one moment please
Ionie: So the agreed amount you had with him is just $24 is that correct?
Alex D: Yes only $24. I asked for more fans but he wanted to charge me $0.12/fan and I said no I will not pay more. So I deleted him from skype because I did not appreciate the price spike. He claims he gave me more fans then 100 which is not true so he probably thinks I should pay. We only agreed on 100 fans for $4
Alex D: And 2 pages for $20. I would also like to take back my feedback if possible because this is not professional to do.
Ionie: unfortunately you hired him under an hourly contract which is a guaranteed payment it means everytime a contractors log in they will get paid per hour
Ionie: you will need to speak with your contract to process a refund
Ionie: as employers review period for the week he worked for was already ended yesterday
Alex D: Well can you see screen shots? He didn't do any work. The job ended a while ago before I left feedback
Ionie: Unfortunately time given to you to dispute charges for the week he worked for already ended yesterday so we cannot file a dispute any more
Ionie: it is the emcccccccbpnffketrrhinglugccnkcrinvnuounjjtfnfvjf
Ionie: employers responsibility to check the work diary during the review period and file a dispute between that time as well incase there are issues on the work diary
Alex D: I have all logs of skype messages. I will try and ask this thief to refund but if he says no, I am calling my bank to file for a charge back and I have all conversation logs to prove the work ended before I paid him $24
Ionie: What you can only do now is to contact him and ask for a refund
Ionie: Problem alex is you hired him under an hourly contract it is stated on our policy that hourly contracts are a guaranteed payment. So what ever agreement you have with him if you hire him under an hourly contract and contractor logged in he will still be paid
Ionie: Contract that you should have offered shoukld be fixed price if it will be a task something like a commission basis'
Alex D: Yes and I will also call my bank to file a charge back and I'll discontinue using odesk. This is not fair. I will not participate with a company that does not help claims such as mine regardless of the dispute time. I was unaware and did not receive any notification that I was being charged. I thought once you pay and leave feedback the work is done. I did not make a milestone or agree more hours.
Alex D: I asked to change to fixed but this is not possible. You can see our conversations in inbox. I don't understand why odesk cannot in
I never heard such a thing, google or a magazine does not charge me money for proudcts these Fraudsters or "make 1000' per month" companies advertise. Comparing ODESK with a magazine, ODESK CHARGES YOU BY THE HR for the so called services they never provide. They are a scam, a fraud and I warn everyone, they will make a customer sign 20 page contracts and they could never get their money back, there is no one to talk to,and this is how they make their money.
How can anyone write this? if you did not hire them yet you are warned,, you will never ever be able to get your money back ever,, I was charged for 80 hrs of work and nothing was ever done, absolute theft, yet they told me ohhhh we just provide the programmers, however they charged my credit card every week even though nothing was done. A fraud is a fraud, a scam is a scam.
I've been looking for good unbiased info on O Desk and found some here. Thanks.
RieAvis 5 days ago
Have you checked out www.Staff.com ? This is another site for work from home jobs. It is similar to oDesk but for full time work only.Employers who are seeking to outsource their jobs can choose from the pool of talented staff, while jobseekers can look for opportunities here.