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By: sonicmega on May 7th, 2012  |  syntax: None  |  size: 6.43 KB  |  hits: 449  |  expires: Never
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  1. [Freelancer.com: You are now chatting with Arlyne]
  2. Arlyne: Hi there, my name is Arlyne. How may I help you?
  3. Sean Chiplock: Hello Arlyne. This is "sonicmega" from Freelancer. I have a question of serious importance I need to ask you.
  4. Arlyne: Okay, please tell it to me.
  5. Sean Chiplock: Why does the Milestone system allow clients/employers to, apparently, reverse Milestone Payments they've released to talents at any time they wish? As an escrow system designed to protect the value of the client's money and the talents' work, doesn't that defeat the entire purpose of it being a 'secure defense' against theft and scamming?
  6. Arlyne: When a user reverse their payment from their funding source like Paypal, the funds will pulled out of the account.
  7. Sean Chiplock: That shouldn't matter. When a payment is RELEASED to the talent, it is the employer's decision to pay them. They are deciding "I am satisfied, for whatever reason, enough to give this owed money to the employee". That money BECOMES the employee's.
  8. Arlyne: When the user do this it is not just our member's lost but also ours, Freelancer.com gets charged from these payment gateways where they have pulled their funds back.
  9. Sean Chiplock: Does Freelancer actively seek to find out why this happens, and re-obtain those funds, for both their sake and the employee's?
  10. Sean Chiplock: Is there anything to keep a client from posting a $1000 project, getting someone to spend 2 weeks working on it, pay them, and then just take the entire payment back and rip them off of all that time and effort?
  11. Sean Chiplock: It was my understanding that a Milestone Payment was a way of "locking in" money for a project, so that NEITHER the client or the worker have it anymore until either the client releases it, or the talent rejects it.
  12. Sean Chiplock: Why is this not the case?
  13. Arlyne: Freelancer.com does not offer any form of insurance or other Hirer or Freelancer protection which will assist you, because our Site merely provides the online venue for Users to offer, sell, and
  14. Arlyne: buy professional services and we are not otherwise involved in the transactions and interactions between Hirers and Freelancers.
  15. Sean Chiplock: Are you aware that this means it is actually safer for talents to use outside methods of payment and not bother with the projects system on your website, than to risk utilizing Milestone Payments and having all of their money 'taken back' anyway?
  16. Sean Chiplock: At least with Paypal a report must be filed first, which means if it was obvious the work was finished the request can be easily rejected.
  17. Sean Chiplock: You disallow the use of any outside contact details on the website. You make it grounds for account termination, in fact. But then that makes it even easier for clients to simply 'run away' from the project and ignore any future messages.
  18. Arlyne: Because user identification on the Internet is difficult, we cannot and do not confirm each User's purported identity.
  19. Sean Chiplock: Are you aware this is the equivalent of hiring someone into a company without doing a background check or drug test?
  20. Sean Chiplock: And simply 'hoping' they don't cost your company or the talent hard-earned money?
  21. Sean Chiplock: A couple years ago, your support team required I provide a valid form of ID in order to unblock my account after they falsely froze it under suspicion of me referring my own accounts to each other.
  22. Sean Chiplock: Even if that was difficult, it was REQUIRED I sufficiently identify myself before I was even allowed to have my account back, when I had done nothing wrong.
  23. Sean Chiplock: Clearly it was important enough that your company got that personal info from me to allow me access. Can you not do the same for the clients who sign up for your website before you allow them to post projects?
  24.  
  25. -20 MINUTES LATER-
  26. Sean Chiplock: Hello?
  27. Arlyne: I suggest that you lodge a ticket regarding this so that the proper department will be able to give you all the reasons regarding your questions.
  28. Sean Chiplock: The ticket goes through Support. I am talking to Support now, through you. Why are you not able to provide those reasons?
  29. Sean Chiplock: All previous tickets I have filed about non-paying clients have given me the same answer: to try and contact the employer myself, despite them ignoring 1.5 years of messages.
  30. Arlyne: The ticket is handled by the proper department.
  31. Sean Chiplock: Or that Freelancer.com is not responsible, or unable to pursue such issues, because they are simply a 'venue' for work. But you -are- responsible. You are providing the medium by which clients and their talent meet and conduct business. It is your task to ensure that neither side gets cheated out of their investment. That is how you make YOUR money.
  32. Sean Chiplock: Your department needs to seriously reconsider their infrastructure, then. This is a gigantic risk to both your own company as well as a dangerous playground for your employees. It will not reflect well on your reputation.
  33. Sean Chiplock: This Support chat has not been of use or assistance. Neither has the "proper department" in any previous issues of this type. It has been, instead, avoidant or simply uninformed and inefficient in its efforts to protect its own system.
  34. Arlyne: The chargeback issue was also stated in our Terms of Service 7.5.
  35. Arlyne: which you agreed with upon voluntarily registering your account on our site.
  36. Sean Chiplock: I do see section 3.4 regarding the Terms of Service. When were they last updated?
  37. Sean Chiplock: It says January 7th 2011.
  38. Sean Chiplock: I was not informed of the update nor required to re-agree to the new Terms to continue using the website.
  39. Arlyne: http://www.freelancer.com/page.php?p=info/terms look for 7.5 Chargebacks.
  40. Sean Chiplock: This does not resolve my earlier statement. I was not required to re-agree to the Terms of Service updated on January 7th of 2011. The account I signed up for prior to December of 2009 agreed to those terms.
  41. Sean Chiplock: There was no update or notification sent, nor a 're-approval' page forced of the Terms before I could reaccess the website. Legally, it was done without my knowledge.
  42. Arlyne: As stated in our Terms of Service, Freelancer.com's website is dynamic.
  43. Arlyne: Hence, information and features will be added and removed depending on the need and call of the times.
  44. Arlyne: Thank you for contacting Freelancer.com. Please don't hesitate to contact us again if you have any other questions or concerns.
  45.  
  46. Arlyne has left the conversation
  47. Click here to leave a message
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