Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
They have stretched themselves thin with the acquisition of vWorker (formerly Rentacoder.com) and now members who have cash in their freelancer.com accounts are suffering because they can't withdraw. The cash is only there on paper but there's really no cash to withdraw.
Freelancer is Losing Money?!!
They increased the minimum amount allowed when withdrawing from 200 to
500 dollars.
They did this suddenly and without warning. In the month of November the minimum was still 200 by December it had been upped by 300 to 500 dollars. Members were not warned or given any due notice which is a shocking departure from how freelancer.com operates.
They did this deliberately to forestall the anticipated holiday withdrawals by members. They increased it because they knew members would still be looking at the 200 dollars benchmark against the holidays. They would not have known and since they were only planning with the 200 dollars in mind, they would find themselves stuck and unable to withdraw once they attempted to. Could it be that there's no money to withdraw in the first place and that is why it was so suddenly increased without prior notice? This is very plausible.
The only place they showed that the money had increased was at the withdrawal page where they are meant to enter the amount they want to withdraw. That is where they quietly placed a tiny "min. $500".
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
Members who are now aware of this changed and made attempts to contact the site got another shock; they were ignored. Usually, the feedback system is one of the strongest aspects of freelancer.com. Aside from the automated response that will respond once a ticket has been submitted, a reply from a staff comes in less than 24 hours and if you do not respond the ticket or issue you contacted them about will be closed with another email informing you that it has been closed because they are assuming you were okay with their response since you did not follow up or reply. It has always taken 24 hours from the first submission from your end to the email informing you that the ticket has been closed i.e. when you are
satisfied with their response or don't respond to it.
Members who have complained about this increase have not been given any form of response save for the auto responders even beyond the 72 hour mark. Meanwhile and to underscore that something really underhand is going on, they are responding to other issues within their normal
time cycle.
They are stalling and don't have any ready answer or excuse for the increase because they know they have gone against their own system. If there was money in the coffers, they would have avoided this embarrassment but as things stand, they figure silence would there must the problem go away.
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
They picked the softest target. They picked those whose complaint would not be heard in countries they want anything negative to be said of them which include Western European countries, North American with Australia and New Zealand.
Most from these countries use PayPal. The problem did not affect PayPal users as such but those who send money directly to their bank accounts (domiciliary bank accounts). Most of these ones don't even
use PayPal. Most of the people who do this make up the bulk of freelancers who seek employment on freelancer.com. They are the foot soldiers that take the less than minimum wage jobs and are mostly from Third World countries. They are also the majority of the workforce on freelancer.com that they site pride themselves with as they advertise cheap labor to potential employers that are mostly from the countries and regions mentioned earlier.
These are the people they targeted. These are the people that scrounge their way up the 200 dollar mark and these are the people's money they probably took and dipped into when going for Rentacoder.com (vWorker).
Now there's no money in the account of these foot soldiers and the best way to deal with this is the shoot the minimum up so that a large percentage of them won't be able to withdraw and only a few of which they already know since they know just where to put the new benchmark or minimum amount allowed to be withdrawn so that most would be cut off; from 200 they added 300 more to make it 500 dollars...? It’s Christmas.
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
They are coasting along and have decided who will suffer and be prevented from withdrawing money? They seemed to have picked those who would least complain and whose complaint won't amount to much. They are probably looking to lock things down until the holiday period, when they know they'll get the most pounding because of massive holiday withdrawals from people who have rightfully earned their money from the site and paid all their dues to freelancer.com.
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
Is a reversal in sight? Probably not. They might put off the reversal until after the holidays if enough people complain for them to even come out to say they want to reverse it. But they would have still
succeeded in coasting along and would have probably bought some respite by not allowing people to withdraw when they really wanted to.
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
The increase of the minimum amount that can be withdrawn from 200 to 500 dollars would mean more money from the banks for them. They would have more interest because it would take longer for freelancers.com to make that amount hence interests accruable from the amount lying in the bank would be more. They are now free to use the money to do more with the bank and make more out of it since it will stay longer with them.
The only people that this new policy has benefited is freelancer.com. They may not have the money with them now but they are in a position where they can get away with almost anything. Who will hold them
accountable?
They have stretched themselves thin with the acquisition of vWorker (formerly Rentacoder.com) and now members who have cash in their freelancer.com accounts are suffering because they can't withdraw. The cash is only there on paper but there's really no cash to withdraw.
Freelancer is Losing Money?!!
They increased the minimum amount allowed when withdrawing from 200 to
500 dollars.
They did this suddenly and without warning. In the month of November the minimum was still 200 by December it had been upped by 300 to 500 dollars. Members were not warned or given any due notice which is a shocking departure from how freelancer.com operates.
They did this deliberately to forestall the anticipated holiday withdrawals by members. They increased it because they knew members would still be looking at the 200 dollars benchmark against the holidays. They would not have known and since they were only planning with the 200 dollars in mind, they would find themselves stuck and unable to withdraw once they attempted to. Could it be that there's no money to withdraw in the first place and that is why it was so suddenly increased without prior notice? This is very plausible.
The only place they showed that the money had increased was at the withdrawal page where they are meant to enter the amount they want to withdraw. That is where they quietly placed a tiny "min. $500".
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
Members who are now aware of this changed and made attempts to contact the site got another shock; they were ignored. Usually, the feedback system is one of the strongest aspects of freelancer.com. Aside from the automated response that will respond once a ticket has been submitted, a reply from a staff comes in less than 24 hours and if you do not respond the ticket or issue you contacted them about will be closed with another email informing you that it has been closed because they are assuming you were okay with their response since you did not follow up or reply. It has always taken 24 hours from the first submission from your end to the email informing you that the ticket has been closed i.e. when you are
satisfied with their response or don't respond to it.
Members who have complained about this increase have not been given any form of response save for the auto responders even beyond the 72 hour mark. Meanwhile and to underscore that something really underhand is going on, they are responding to other issues within their normal
time cycle.
They are stalling and don't have any ready answer or excuse for the increase because they know they have gone against their own system. If there was money in the coffers, they would have avoided this embarrassment but as things stand, they figure silence would there must the problem go away.
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
They picked the softest target. They picked those whose complaint would not be heard in countries they want anything negative to be said of them which include Western European countries, North American with Australia and New Zealand.
Most from these countries use PayPal. The problem did not affect PayPal users as such but those who send money directly to their bank accounts (domiciliary bank accounts). Most of these ones don't even
use PayPal. Most of the people who do this make up the bulk of freelancers who seek employment on freelancer.com. They are the foot soldiers that take the less than minimum wage jobs and are mostly from Third World countries. They are also the majority of the workforce on freelancer.com that they site pride themselves with as they advertise cheap labor to potential employers that are mostly from the countries and regions mentioned earlier.
These are the people they targeted. These are the people that scrounge their way up the 200 dollar mark and these are the people's money they probably took and dipped into when going for Rentacoder.com (vWorker).
Now there's no money in the account of these foot soldiers and the best way to deal with this is the shoot the minimum up so that a large percentage of them won't be able to withdraw and only a few of which they already know since they know just where to put the new benchmark or minimum amount allowed to be withdrawn so that most would be cut off; from 200 they added 300 more to make it 500 dollars...? It’s Christmas.
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
They are coasting along and have decided who will suffer and be prevented from withdrawing money? They seemed to have picked those who would least complain and whose complaint won't amount to much. They are probably looking to lock things down until the holiday period, when they know they'll get the most pounding because of massive holiday withdrawals from people who have rightfully earned their money from the site and paid all their dues to freelancer.com.
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
Is a reversal in sight? Probably not. They might put off the reversal until after the holidays if enough people complain for them to even come out to say they want to reverse it. But they would have still
succeeded in coasting along and would have probably bought some respite by not allowing people to withdraw when they really wanted to.
Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
The increase of the minimum amount that can be withdrawn from 200 to 500 dollars would mean more money from the banks for them. They would have more interest because it would take longer for freelancers.com to make that amount hence interests accruable from the amount lying in the bank would be more. They are now free to use the money to do more with the bank and make more out of it since it will stay longer with them.
The only people that this new policy has benefited is freelancer.com. They may not have the money with them now but they are in a position where they can get away with almost anything. Who will hold them
accountable?
