Upwork (formerly oDesk)
Is This Your Business?1.3
3.0
Overall Score
Liam Young
The first was a I had the wrong type of account because I was a company, however in their own terms and services which told me I should have read first it states if you are a only an individual and not a group you can have the type of account I had, something I pointed out them.
Then then they tried making the excuse it because more cover letter to bids was me actually trying to solicit freelancers to do some work for me. Due to the legal implications by their false claim at this junction, I went back a very stern yet professional letter with details on how false a claim this truly was. (Luckily I keep records of my bids, documents submitted and a template of the cover letter encase I need to take further action).
Finally because they knew the claims above where false they then finally said it was actually due to using the three words “Us”, “We” and “Our”.
Many may not have the same prob as me but personally I'd avoid them like the plague.
10 years ago
Robert James
While I admit the site has provided me with a great opportunity to expand on my career as a writer, I have to say the recent changes are quite detrimental to clients and freelancers like me.
It's specially bad as the site seems to lack transparency when it comes to changes and bugs as well as how it often always favors the clients particularly with its feedback system.
It used to be better when it was less micromanaged and less automated i.e. when it was oDesk and Elance.
11 years ago
Jean Sutherland
Since the change to Upwork the site has become a disaster. With an 8 year history with Odesk I can see a massive failure with Upwork.
Messages from clients go missing or are delivered days or weeks late.
No protection for freelancers who do Fixed Price jobs unless it's a very large sum of money. Arbitration costs $291 when there is a an unresolved dispute. Client simply disputes the job product and gets their money back.
90% of the jobs are bottom feeding clients who want to pay as little as possible. $3 an hour and up.
The search for freelancer algorithm they paid $1 million for does not work, even though designed by Stanford University, and they do not seem to care. If you search for an expert in a certain area they will recommend $3 an hour freelancers from India.
Good freelancers have extreme problems getting jobs.
Full time work is not possible anymore.
Customer service is dreadful. Copy and paste answers and workers who have no clue how Upwork actually works.
Scammer clients are now flooding the site and pose serious problems for all freelancers.
New clients are causing major problems with refund demands and freelancers lose their money.
You cannot trust a new client unless it is an hourly job.
The website constantly crashes and is offline for long periods of time.
Time tracking is not working correctly.
Elance freelancers were merged into Upwork and they are very unhappy with the platform.
North American freelancers are finding it very difficult to find good jobs.
Upwork refuses to scan for scam jobs and let's them posts. When reported it takes 3-5 days for a scam job to be removed.
Customer service can take weeks or months to get back to you when reporting serious issues.
The Job Success score is the worst part. Freelancers lose % points for things they have no control over.
Client does not leave feedback...your score will drop.
If there is a dispute, even though you are found to be in the "right", you will still lose job success points.
Clients are blackmailing freelancers once a job is completed in order to not pay.
In no way do I recommend this site now that it is Upwork. Odesk I would have recommended.
Senior management seems to be completely out of touch with clients and freelancers.
Senior management does not seem to understand the problems nor the seriousness of the situation.
Good clients and freelancers are leaving in large numbers.
11 years ago
susan
I have been freelancing over the UpWork platform for past 2 years. I am done with it.
The jobs on offer are increasingly just low-balling clients who want cheap, cheap, low-quality labour. Many of the “Clients” are just middlemen who posts a false on-line profile as, for example, a translation company, attracting clients that need translation work. They then post the jobs on UpWork and hire cheap UpWork freelancers, then run the documents through their language software and send a low-quality product off to the original client. Can you imagine the kinds of profits they are able to make on that? I have seen examples of big public work documents that were posted for translation by a middleman. These would cost upwards of $5000 in professional translation services. On UpWork, the middleman can find a freelancer willing to do the job for maybe $300. I too would love to be a middleman!!
I have asked UpWork what they are doing about these situations, and get nothing but standard corporate answers back from their helpdesk which also appears to be populated by lowly paid, poorly informed staff. And yes, mostly it's just copy and paste of their "policies".
What a joke. And that's after paying 10% of my earnings to them + the standard fees for pulling your pay out and a lousy exchange rate etc.
Upwork is all about making money on the platform. It is not a true freelancer meets clients community. Despite everything they try and tell you. Of course, we all should know better, but I always have hope that someone is actually trying to do things right out there. UpWork fits right in with Uber, AirBnB – they are all trying to get rich on the back of the rest of us.
11 years ago
LHarper Charleston, SC
After several successful years of contracting on oDesk, I was a little leery of the merger with Elance. Expansion and growth are not always well-handled in such scenarios. When the merge turned into a new company - Upwork - it was to be expected that there might be a website glitch from time to time.
Upwork, however, has become a fiasco. The website goes down 2-3 times a week, and they lie about it being "for routine maintenance". Customer service is handled via robotic copy-paste postings of policy pages.
Freelancer success ratings have become based on an indecipherable algorithm that depends solely on client feedback. If clients don't provide specific feedback, your ranking drops - regardless of your success - and regardless of the client's rating of your services.
Upwork further throttles their freelancers by hiding half the proposals submitted for any given job. Clients can't see all the options and professional contractors can't be considered for work projects well within their wheelhouse.
Communication between contractor and client depends on a message system that is often delayed.
Lowballing is rampant. I had an invitation to interview, from a client looking for highly experienced people. He stated in his invitation, however, that he wasn't willing to pay anyone more than he'd been charged on FIVERR for the same services.
Whatever Upwork's CEO and her drones believe they're doing, the reputation is tanking. I'm out, and I don't recommend the site to clients OR freelancers who expect a professional or positive experience.
11 years ago
Anne B Kingston, NY
They were far better when they were oDesk. The new combined "community" is flooded with low cost freelancers. My old good clients are now "trialing" low ball offers, and then coming back to say they made a mistake. The new platform is a disaster. In fact, I'm posting this negative review while I wait for the "upgraded" slow loading, constantly crashing platform to load itself again. Customer service is useless. Their preferred "customer experience" score is a joke. It seems to be solely tied to how fast you reply to a message. The message board is such a mess that most clients request we use personal email. I'm definitely looking for new resources.
11 years ago
Christina Elizabethtown, PA
I signed up for both Elance and oDesk a few years ago but primarily use Elance. I got an email spouting how great Upwork is, that freelancers get more money for jobs than Elance. Currently, I am not happy that these two are merging.
1. The jobs I am seeing on Upwork for photography and even photo editing are showing budgets of $5, $10, or less than is reasonable for that type of work. There is some low ball bidding on Elance but clients are willing to pay more than that for the most part.
2. The Upwork site is hard to navigate and to see things whereas Elance is more straightforward.
3. I have come across several problems with Upwork where I contacted customer service through their email option. I have never received any replies at all or even acknowledgement that an email was received and they were working on my issue. I can't even access the messages page. I just get the circling busy icon and some trivia fact.
4. One of my issues had to do with the membership I pay on Elance not transferring to Upwork. With no help from Upwork, I had to contact Elance customer service for help. He was able to get my membership level transferred, but it has once again been demoted back down to basic level. I just emailed customer service but I won't hold my breath that this will be resolved by them.
Because of all the reasons above, once Elance ceases to exist, I don't plan to look for jobs on Upwork. It just isn't worth all the trouble and having the most awful customer service I have known.
11 years ago
Chris Kortjohn Cincinnati, OH
I have to be honest. As a freelancer who has worked on upwork/odesk for the last 3 years full time i can honestly that if you are also a freelancer, do yourself a huge favor and go to freelancer.com or another site. Upwork does not care about you, you are a number to them. you will never be able to speak with anyone who can do anything. their customer service is a screen, not a solution. they will make decisions that are good for 60% of people and devistating for the other 40. they test poorly functioning beta code in real time...no body would ever do that that has sense in their heads.
they constantly rebrand to escape the horrible ratings they get yet they never make any substantial changes that would keep them from getting horrible ratings.
upwork/odesk is nothing more than a battleground where you will go up against 100 people for the same job paying 1/2 of what it pays everywhere else. It is the walmart of online job services. they have a forum that has about 20 active users. if you know anything about forums youd know that is laughably small. the reason is cause they wouldnt DARE make their forum actually readable by the public and such is the case. community.upwork.com is the forum and it is completely private. it was designed so users could get all their problems off their chest without damaging upworks reputation. the reason only 20 or so people out of tens of thousands of members
actively use it is because NO ONE who isnt logged in and an active member can see or read what they say.
you have a much much much better shot just googling open jobs for your niche or profession.
believe in yourself and sell yourself. you dont need odesk just like you dont need an STD or head trauma. i am not trying to be mean and i am not mad at upwork specifically right now, just being HONEST. You need upwork like talented musicians need an agent. they are in it for NOTHING other than themselves. their track record shows it and my 25 out of 25 unsolved problems in their help center shows it.
11 years ago
Nomi Milton, FL
My first week on Upwork was excellent. I got a quick response to a customer service issue, and the multiple talents I hired for my job were almost all perfect in their execution of the tasks. My problem started at the beginning of the second week, however. My account was flagged for suspension on allegations that it was "linked" to the other accounts that I hired. The ToS does not use the term "linked" to describe the situation where one person owns or controls multiple accounts, so I was very confused when "linked" was used to describe the suspicious behavior in the initial email about my suspension. The ToS needs to clarify this language immediately, or the customer service reps need to use different language to describe what they mean by "linked." Because of this, my account was also flagged for verification. I have now submitted my verification documents 3 times. The first time I was declined was because the name on my profile did not match the name on my documentation. Upwork needs to make this requirement explicit in the ToS as well as when an individual signs up for the service. It wouldn't take very much work to have the statement "You need to use your legal name in these fields as it appears in identifying documentation, which may be requested of you at a later time" or something to that effect. The second time my verification request was rejected, I had scanned and uploaded a billing statement, but it was rejected because it was not in color. The guidelines about verification documentation do not state that the documents MUST be in color; they state that you must not ALTER the color. I cannot help that the statements were mailed to me in black and white, and it's bizarre that Upwork would decline it on that basis alone. I also find it appalling that the issue of color would not have come up during my first attempt. If they had told me the second document was not suitable, I would have found an alternative for the second attempt, rather than now having to submit a third time. Meanwhile, my job has been stalled for a week.
Overall, from a client's perspective, I don't feel Upwork wants or appreciates my business. I do not sense any urgency on their part to resolve my account status. To a degree, I even feel I am being toyed with by faceless entities who get to enjoy anonymity when I cannot. As a client, I am bringing money to the company. In return, I expect better treatment.
11 years ago
Stephanie McHugh Houston, TX
As a freelance writer, I depend on oDesk to keep the paydays coming; and I haven't been disappointed yet, not in five years as a full-time writer. Highly recommend.
12 years ago
Kimberly Mitchell Orlando, FL
SAVE YOUR MONEY- HIRE A WEBSITE DESIGNER DIRECTLY! I hired freelancer Courtney Clark to design our new business website. He was not an adviser or consultative once I signed the contract. Recommended the DIVI plugin, and then after much more research found out on my own that it would not fulfill our needs. Sold me a bill of goods! Do not hire this person or go through this company. They do not vet their freelancers.
6 years ago
Jacobrobot321 Folsom, LA
I use upwork to freelance my music, this as well as fiverr, both are great ways to get your material and services out there, though the start is very tough.
6 years ago
Martin Monsey, NY
I got scammed thousands of dollars on Upwork when I spent thousands on Upwork for a freelancer who claimed he could deliver my project as described in the project description with detailed deliverables.
Upwork confirmed that I was scammed, did nothing to help me dispute the charges and the freelancer is still active on Upwork scamming other clients.
6 years ago
lostaznfound@yahoo.com Chicago, IL
Poor process in general, demands a lot of unnecessary private information that they don't really look at other than just saying I have a record of you in our system. Don't use ever if you are hoping to keep any kind of privacy. Also 0 support service that responds slow and just overall unsupportive if your salary is on the lower end (I've heard if you are spending/earning more on upworks they will tune in faster, which is understandable yet disturbing).
8 years ago
Dimi
Not a pleasant experience at all. Let me list the drawbacks and why you should never use this platform:
-very, very low-paying jobs
-high Upwork fees (around 25-30%)
-terrible customer support, actually I think they don't have any.
I just want to point out that I have earned some money there, finished successfully quite a few projects, have not been suspended so far. It's just not worth the effort.
8 years ago
Christopher Binns
Upwork rejected my application. I have superior writing capabilities and access to online databases like EBSCO Host. I could have brought excellent writing and content creation skills to the platform yet they rejected my application because they have too many writers. How is that possible? Why not let employers decide? I suspect they rejected me because I have started my own SaaS for business development, not at all in competition to Upwork. I guess I should have lied and showed myself to be less capable of delivering quality writing and online content.
8 years ago
David
I worked in Elance some years and all was great, but when instead of Elance to appear Upwork everything went badly. The management Upwork ruined two great site Elance and Odesk and create some terrible under the name Upwork. Instead of correcting their mistakes they raise fees, banned freelancers... Freelancers not fault that your business is failed, it is your unprofessionalism
9 years ago
Megan Langen
Began to set up an account and was unable to finish it that day so I set my profile to private and wrote "under construction" in the bio area because it was a required field. I did not enter any other info other than education, contact, and the skills from Upwork's predetermined list. The next morning my account was suspended permanently for violating their terms. The only response to my email asking what terms were violated was that my account was plagiarized and it was highly unlikely they would respond to any more emails I send. Smh
9 years ago
Timm Hogerzeil
NOT cool at all. Sooooo crazy expensive and bad that almost every job I have put there was problematic.
Their review system does not work as it is easy to manipulate.
The best place to lose money and not get nothing in return, but trouble and waist of time.
We use a lot of freelancers and get much done like this … just Upwork is on our blacklist and no one in the company is permitted to use them.
We only had bad experiences with them … so NO more!
9 years ago
Michael San Francisco, CA
They suspended my account because I left a 5 stars feedback for a client and then I requested him to do the same if possible! yes they suspended my account for this simple request! their support team just copy and paste a message in my ticket without any clear reply. they are so rude and implacable. I am really disappointed to continue to work on this platform. my job success is 90% with +300 five stars feedback from 2 years ago. Do not waste your time please. UPWORK IS A BIG SCAM.
9 years ago
Abdelkader Soudani
Just a horrible unprofessional nightmare, they suspenede my account for no reason other than they saw it was best fit to do so
I had customers seeking me up on there so I created a new account using new email, it got suspened
I created another account after months, it got again suspend and they still to this day haven't responded to a single support ticket
absolutely unprofessional, I'm glad to be gone, but this way? no I'll go and tell the world about them if this is going to be the end
9 years ago
TC
Fund released by upwork even though the freelancer has admitted over the messages/submission that the first (and only) design submission has to be completely re-created. The submitted design was taken from stock photo site so I have politely explained that we prefer original creation or more modification.
After waiting for a month, he sent another message (Via Upwork) admitting that he doesn't have time to do so and Upwork has still released the milestone fund.
10 years ago
Boris Rojas
I am a customer that been hiring freelancers in Upwork for long time. I was totally satisfied with everything until one of the freelancers threated me to damage my website if I don't change my review that for her understanding was really bad. I gave her 3 stars but she wanted 5. I contacted support and the only thing that they will do something is if I show a prove of the damage she made. The whole idea to contact support is to avoid this to happen but they won't do anything until the damage is done.
10 years ago
Hiro
I believe this platform is good for someone who live in the third-world countries. I offered a very reasonable price to my potential client (even half lower than the minimum wage in North America), when we almost agreed, they told me that they just got a really good offer by other freelancer. I don't even believe who would accept the price lower than what I offered. People can see tons of very low budget jobs on Upwork, some of them are dramatically rediculous. Worst of all, for the first $500, freelancers have to pay 20% commission. It's totally not worth it.
10 years ago
Sophie
As a freelancer am always available to help clients with their assignment. I provide quality work at a low cost and I feel happy that I assisted entrepreneurs start business by writing business plans, and the students I have worked for score Grade A all of them. Do not be frustrated again by getting poor quality or losing your money to freelancers who have no qualifications. Contact me on sawfykagwie11@gmail for quality services. Thank you
10 years ago
Jes Morganton, NC
This company is horrible. They do not pay everyone (even within the same place of employment) on the same day. Some of us gets paid Tuesdays, some Fridays. ALL THE TIME. We should ALL be paid the same day. NOT to mention the absolutely PATHETIC OUTRAGEOUS fees they deduct from your pay. If you get paid 500 there is automatically 25-50 taken out. That's 200 dollars a MONTH that would help my family. Upwork is so ridiculous.
10 years ago
Sharon Asbury Charlotte, NC
I just joined Upwork a few days ago as suggested by my client that I'm independently contracted through. Was expecting payment prior to signing up for work completed. Was told that Upwork had several payment options to help with receiving payment. I have money sitting there and unable to get access to it. I have bills that need to be paid and Upwork acts as if the money is theirs. I will be filing claims with the Better Business Bureau.
10 years ago
JP
Horrible. I don't know if I will ever see my money again.
There was no work done and customer service doesn't care to give a refund. Modria management repeatedly asks the same questions and it's been 1 month that I haven't received a refund. I released funds to the freelancer before work was started and now I'm stuck with this idiot upwork holding my money ?
10 years ago
Gen Herres Kingston, PA
Well the latest HORRIBLE idea in the long list of HORRIBLE ideas (creating upwork being the first, getting rid of elance being the second), they will be doubling the fees. 20% fee on the first $500 of EVERY client. Not on the first $500 of the month, but on EVERY client that you start. Apparently they really really want people to leave the platform.
Also TONS of downtime, lost messages lately. They went from the top of the heap with Elance to the bottom.
10 years ago
James Baysinger Knoxville, TN
Upwork is nothing compared to Elance. I made thousands of dollars on Elance, and I would say at least 80% of the projects advertised were real.
On Upwork, they cater to low-quality, low-budget projects for $1 per hour and other ridiculous budgets that make talented freelancers like me sick.
I would do anything to bring Elance back, Upwork looks like a site ran by kindergartners.
10 years ago
ivonne Hollywood, FL
So not use upwork. They stole my money and have no costomer service. 3 emails no response. I pay to get my website sone. After being charge 48 hours of work they have done 0 changes done to my website. Stole my money. This is a scam. Use any other company. I lost 2 weeks of work and my money. Filing a complain with paypal but since it is a service is hard to prove that they did not do anything.
10 years ago
Jen Notsaying Rochester, MN
I've been increasingly annoyed with Elance turned Upwork for a while now. Today was absolutely the final straw. After ridiculous downtime, delays in access to payments from work done, substandard skills tests, and fees that approach 25% of total earnings, they managed to find the straw to break the camels back. Something seems to have happened with their direct deposit to my bank at the time stated. It was hard to set up receiving payment at all and now even when they say they deposited money to my account, my bank records indicate it has still not been deposited. I am fed up with this site.
10 years ago
Gabe Peoria, IL
I was a top rated freelancer for a long time, until I got a bogus review from an unorganized client. This put me right under the top rated program upwork now has, and I stopped getting views. I contacted customer service, but they were not help as usual. Customer service has always been a joke, and their time tracker has always had ongoing problems. The free structure needs to be worked on, also. If they listened to the community and upped their minimum of $3/hour, the site would be much better and effective for everyone involved. I left recently and couldn't be happier.
10 years ago
james
Company is horrendous.
They suspended my account and seized my funds, giving little to no explanation as to why.
They said they were investigating the issue then just ignored me.
I can't withdraw my funds as they suspended my account.
Don't waste your time here, as soon as you have earned a decent amount they will just seize your funds and fail to provide any customer service or assistance.
Public be warned this is a crooked service!
11 years ago
Nick Indellicati Lake Worth, FL
I began using upwork 3 moths ago for the first time. They recommended a freelancer to me to get my task done; therefore I went with him. As my contract continued my freelancer guaranteed that my project be finished within budget. At the end of my project my freelancer didn't finish the contract as promised and upwork did nothing. Company is hoax and doesn't guarantee nothing.
11 years ago
RobertS Brooklyn, NY
After freelancing on elance.com for 10 years and making over 100K I was informed the company got sold to Odesk to become Upwork. Since the merger my income has dropped dramatically. I get a few invites for projects that pay $5-$25. I thought there must be an error until I researched the site and discovered that Upwork is managed by eastern European business men, and best suited for 3rd world markets. Upwork is totally useless for western Europe, Australasian or American freelancers.
11 years ago
Sebastian Koylerian
This company has no proper systems in place. It is very difficult to know the status of the project submitted to the client. Though I have submitted my first project to the client one month back there is neither any response from the client or the company. Though active work status show the project - pending, the pending projects under my work status shows 0. Fail to understand how the system work or the functionality of the company is lopsided.
11 years ago
Michael Naim Los Angeles, CA
Up-work has a terrible accounting flow, i hired someone hourly basis, but was also lured to put some weekly amount that i was led to believe was the weekly cap, I was given weekly report of all her hourly work very neatly with corresponding accumulative hours and total amount billing all the while with no mention of the weekly that she was getting on top of it.... She got paid 3 times the amount. and when i complained the rep sided the law... that Up work has crafted.as legally binding, they would not even tell her anything... they knew well the obvious incongruity...
11 years ago
Lindsey Fairfax, VA
Before you can bid for jobs, they have to approve your profile. Well, you submit it for approval and they tell you that you need revisions with some vague reasons. You edit your profile, resubmit, they tell you it needs revisions again and gives you the exact same vague answer. I modeled my profile after a few active members on Upwork and it still wasn't approved. I've lost count of how many times I've had to edit my profile. This company is ridiculous. Who cares if my profile sucks? If it sucks, then I'll deal with not getting jobs. It's not their problem
11 years ago
Iddi Ganguma
Worked with it as oDesk. Had VERY good feedback from people I worked for. When it changed to upwork, my account was suspended. They refused to give me a reason why. And when I insisted they close my account, they wouldn't let me close. Bad, bad, bad people.
9 years ago
abbie martin
tried to dispute my freelancer's hours and searched for the correct and most recent help doc even on the web/outside of upworks to help me and - all help documents are out of date. Tried to contact the 24/7 phone AND CHAT, they were saying "having tech issues and to check back later". now for 4 days!!!
9 years ago
Sheraz Inayat
their management is stubborn, irresponsible and arrogant management. when they decide to push someone off the bridge, they do it anyway possible. they give stupid/funny/baseless reasons to explain the worst decisions they make to screw someone who worked on their form and relied on them for years. even though he had a great work history.
9 years ago
Bruce
I don't recommend this platform.
Really Bad Platform,
It's only for the client, don't consider the needs of the freelancers,
for example, if the client dispute for the developer's work, Upwork only consider the client's need, not consider the freelander's side, although the client is faker, liar.
9 years ago
Galena Ivanova
If you have an issue with a freelancer they replay that is your problem if 14 days are gone and they leave you with the issue. There is no security they also took all the payment even before I aprove the job and after they wrote that i can't leave a negative feedback to unresponsive freelancer. Elance was much better
10 years ago
Amir Ghorbani
Worst Freelance Website
They just want freelancer conceive clients to spend money, so site will get the money and freelancer, but when it comes to support and security of your money and job you expected to have, they do nothing, even their support system doesn;t reply your requests.
10 years ago
Leonardo
The take 20% of all transactions, bunch of scammers!
and if the client doesn't approve the work right aways it takes me several days to get the money out, and they even charge me to send the money to Paypal, yes! after the 20% cut!
10 years ago
Ryan Tooes
Terminated my account due to a client error. I was not allowed any appeal or investigation; just an erroneous judgement made against me, which affected my livelihood! When pleading with support I faced nothing but copy and pasted responses; absolutely unacceptable!
10 years ago
Steve Price Gilbert, AZ
I was billed for 12.5 hours of work that I did not approve, and when I disputed it they sided with the Freelancer, even though my proposal CLEARLY spelled out exactly the terms of the project and another freelancer completed the same exact project exactly as I'd described and did so promptly. They have lost a long-term client because of this
10 years ago
Veiko Herne
I'm not sure how long authorities are allowing their illegal (demanding escrow without having financial service license) and criminal (monitoring private converstations, which are subject of NDA) to continue?
More about my experiences in my blog: http://www.veikoherne.com/2016/07/upwork-illegal-services-are-paradise-for-scammers/
10 years ago
Zyrel E
I had a terrible experience with this company they take my earnings of $400 almost a month work and the agents are very disappointing to handle issues. All i can say is this is a greedy company only looks for their own interest. I want to report this company for what they have done to me.
10 years ago
