Odesk Scam - DON'T USE ODESK.com **Odesk Scam Warning**

Odesk isn`t a scam, but you`ll hear a lot of stories gone wrong because of the "hiring process" wasnt done correctly or not enough due diligence.

You can try to sue, but if your out of the country, your out of luck. You need to be there present for small claims court, and filing needs to be done in the city of where its located.

Check out ripoffreport.com for other similar stories. I hope we can all learn from this lesson.

 

Yea... He's in new Jersey I'm in Ohio.. it was a 150 dollar gig... going after him is a loosing battle. Will take whatever steps I can but yea... I got boned.

 

Odesk always protect contractor on hourly jobs. You should always monitor contractors are doing the right work.

 

Uhm... Yea.. whatever... signed up for Elance hopefully it will be better there... fulfilling my Odesk contracts and not looking for more work on Odesk. Getting boned SUCKS.

 

hmmm, interesting story but for me the odesk is not a scam.

 

It's to bad you didn't do it by the hour, under US law the way oDesk is set up you are actually an employee. This articale has a nice brief description (http://www.freelanceuk.com/news/4018.shtml ) of how the IRS views Contractor vs Employee. Here's a link to the IRS site ( http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html )

I used to post in the Buyers section of the oDesk forums that buyers where opening themselves up to lawsuits or additional tax obligations buy "monitoring" the providers, most of my posts where removed in 5 minutes or less and the account blocked. I would be interested to see what would happen to oDesk if providers from the US, petition the IRS to evaluate the oDesk system.

I believe oDesk would lose and all their buyers would be on the hook for back taxes.

I never liked oDesk, whats the point of being "Independent" if your a slave to the clock?

Good luck.

 

Main method hire the contractor carefully,Odesk is the best place you can watch working procedure.Serious contarctor never do these scamming task.

 

I have just lost $680 to Tecriti Consulting as well.

I joined ODesk to get a website made for me - narrowed it down to Tecriti because I had
clear communication with one of their client services guys Jithin Babu. According to
our original discussion, the website should have been done by the end of February but
come early April and the delays answering my emails are increasing longer and longer,
and he kept losing my project details, forcing myself to repeat what it is I want.

AT OVER ONE MONTH LATE...

The quality of the webdesign was poor. Certain Jquery work that was to be done
was clumsy and badly done, unusable. My emails aren't getting answered. The website
was a long way off from being done. Yet I was getting rushed to agree that we had
reached certain milestones in the project.

TWO MONTHS LATE...

I'm getting angry at this point.
I'm escalated to their business manager. Anoop Vattoly of Tecriti Consulting begins to explain
that my only options are to either accept a low standard of work, or pay them extra $244 to get it done right.
Exasperated how late this is, and being asked to pay even more, the conversation starts
to break down.

Ultimately because I refused to pay more, there was no agreement and guess what-

I lost my money, and have nothing to show for it!

No comments on Odesk though, it's not really their fault I think?

As said, "these guys are true scumbags, watch out for them"

I agree. Feel like I've been stolen from.

 

I have used Odesk for over 3 years and have been very happy with the quality of work... I never pay per hour though... just give a price i want to pay for the job and that's it. You're going to get scammers every where you go... you just need to use your head

 

It really is bad, i have same bad experince
i paid newbie there he run and never complete the task
and never get return from odesk

 

you can always limit your weekly hours. this way u don't have this kind of surprises.

 

Odesk have been working on trying to avoid all scammers but we have to admit that it is difficult to achieve since most scammers are really good at what they do and they can definitely find a way to get past the odesk security (if they have one).
Reviewing the applicant's background, employment history and employer's feedback can be a good way to avoid getting scammed. I also know a job site that gives the employer a chance of trying out an applicant for 10 hours, it's to make sure that you've hired the right employee for the job. I find it pretty effective, it gives you assurance that you've hired not only a competent and a reliable employee but also a staff that's trustworthy. I hope it helps.

 

Few... and to think that I almost accepted a job there just the other day.

I know a few people who have been successful with it though.

 

Been using Odesk for 6 months now. So far, so good. But that isn't to say that bad things can't happen.
I think the lesson, here, is to be careful who you deal with.

 

In my opinion scam does not happened only on oDesk, it also happens on other freelancing sites. I believe that there are some but not totally all of them on that site. Lesson learned from this experience is, don’t give your 100% trust on people when hiring on credible sites. The best way to do before hiring freelance workers is to screen them first because sometimes conducting only an interview and checking their resume is not enough. The key in order to work with freelance workers effectively is through constant communication, which can help you know the progress of work.

 

You're a funny guy. The link was dated 2009 and i don't think oDesk haven't corrected this issue already. Forget the past man and move forward, hatred will lead you to nothing.

 

but you should remember that there are lacks of very faithful and responsible workers in workers. Its simply the greatest freelancing site ever.

 

Recently did extensive research on "fair" pricing of a project. Posted it on odesk for a fixed rate. Mostly non-us applicants, most wanting to increase the fixed rate by the odesk cut and all with 4 stars or better (out of 5) ratings. I selected one who agreed to the fixed rate without adding the odesk fee. He assured "satisfaction" and once hired he only communicated to try to get skype ID, email, phone number etc. I did not give any of that information. Finally, he said he wanted the price increased three times. I asked for a detailed proposal to help me understand the process and what was required. He stopped responding. I interviewed people I knew who used odesk. They said this happens a lot. If you hire someone else, you can be required to pay for the job more than once if the first contractor tells them he was working on it... etc. I tried to get odesk to help find out if he was working on the project or not. odesk NEVER updated a help ticket, never addressed the issue, etc. They told me if I wanted to "leave feedback" when I ended the contract, I had to make a payment of $1. I did and the feedback was not posted and the contractor's ratings never reflected the score I gave him. oDesk is a significant risk for the client. The rating system is skewed and they do not handle help desk tickets and client concerns adequately. Very unfortunate. Thanks for the info here. I hope this helps others.

 

^
so you wanted moon and stars for $1 ? and still unhappy ?

 

Thanks for the reply that there was something perhaps unrealistic about my paying $1 to post a comment. I am not sure why a client has to pay any money to leave feedback when the contractor was hired and did no work. Better yet, I paid the $1 and then they did not post the comment. The result is that the statistics on the contractors can't show accurate feedback because they only post feedback and calculate rating stars when there is a payment. Additionally, the feedback is only used if they like the feedback and ratings. The statistics also do not show how many contracts they were hired for and never completed/attempted. The actual job I posted was for over 3 figures and the amount was based on sound research. The three times that amount without a proposal of a clarification of why the amount would go up so much from the contract was an indicator of a scam. A reputable contractor can easily explain what changed the cost of the project. The odesk process seems flawed in many ways. Thanks for the comments here though. I'd like to hear more about odesk from people who use it regularly.