Be aware of Upwork!

[fadihs]

Hi guys, I discovered that I was charged 3x the amount by Upwork on a freelancer I hired.
I contacted the support, first they deny completely after they say we are sorry we will refund you. One week has passed and still didn't receive my money back.
Today I contacted them again they say transaction failed to your card.
This happening to many people as I searched, please be aware guys and make sure to check all of your transactions carefully if you are using Upwork.

Thanks.

 

[MakeCoolDays]

Like many companies are doing these days, Upwork also is holding lots of people's money, at any given point of time. If they confimed that they will refund you, then most probably they will, but they will refund it at their leisure.
But, it is sad that Upwork initially attempted to scam you and then you spotted their scam.
Upwork seems to be following the footsteps of Paypal towards stealing from it's users.
By the way, Reddit is a popular platform for exposing such scams by these well known companies.

 

[ManageManga]

I think the freelancer pulled the scam?

 

[fadihs]

I think the freelancer pulled the scam?

Not the freelancer, upwork did charge 3x the amount. The freelancer just got the agreed amount in the contract.

 

[ManageManga]

Not the freelancer, upwork did charge 3x the amount. The freelancer just got the agreed amount in the contract.

damn that is bad

 

[folimida]

Like many companies are doing these days, Upwork also is holding lots of people's money, at any given point of time. If they confimed that they will refund you, then most probably they will, but they will refund it at their leisure.
But, it is sad that Upwork initially attempted to scam you and then you spotted their scam.
Upwork seems to be following the footsteps of Paypal towards stealing from it's users.
By the way, Reddit is a popular platform for exposing such scams by these well known companies.

All these big companies like to hold funds from customers to take advantage of high interest rate environment. By holding your funds as long as within legal allowance, they make 'FREE' money without any risk. If upwork still do not refund you, simply go to your bank and cancel the credit card transaction by stating the actual scenario that has happened.

 

[fadihs]

All these big companies like to hold funds from customers to take advantage of high interest rate environment. By holding your funds as long as within legal allowance, they make 'FREE' money without any risk. If upwork still do not refund you, simply go to your bank and cancel the credit card transaction by stating the actual scenario that has happened.

Its not about holding money, the money was already on hold and the freelancer got paid already. But after few days I discovered that I was charged 3x the amount. The freelancer only got the agreed amount in contract, upwork did charge 3x.

 

[folimida]

Its not about holding money, the money was already on hold and the freelancer got paid already. But after few days I discovered that I was charged 3x the amount. The freelancer only got the agreed amount in contract, upwork did charge 3x.

In this case, it seems likely that is was an admin error and not a fraud by upwork. Most likely due to some part of their operation where automation was used without human supervision. In any case, you should report to your credit card issuing bank if upwork is not taking the needful action. You should not be overpaying.

 

[01010010]

All these big companies like to hold funds from customers to take advantage of high interest rate environment. By holding your funds as long as within legal allowance, they make 'FREE' money without any risk. If upwork still do not refund you, simply go to your bank and cancel the credit card transaction by stating the actual scenario that has happened.

I'd like you to explain how they make money while holding funds. Almost every financial corp does this these days. For example, my digital bank account was frozen for one month and during that period they could've utilised my money for something. Same with any wallet/service holding funds or delaying refunds etc. It's all a big scam.

 

[nakamura]

I would handle this quite easily. Make a screenshot/prove that they charged you 3x. Make a screenshot of what you agreed to pay.

Send them both screenshots and tell them to refund the money they overcharged.

If they don't want to, threaten them with a lawyer or directly sue them.

 

[folimida]

I'd like you to explain how they make money while holding funds. Almost every financial corp does this these days. For example, my digital bank account was frozen for one month and during that period they could've utilised my money for something. Same with any wallet/service holding funds or delaying refunds etc. It's all a big scam.

Money don't sit in bank doing nothing except for small amount of money. Even when it is in escrow. Quoting paypal as example, source: https://money.cnn.com/2008/02/26/smbusiness/paypal_float.fsb/index.htm
Quote"Any funds PayPal holds for dispersal are automatically deposited in a corporate bank account, which earns interest, according to Paypal representative Amanda Pires. The money is kept there until it's ready for distribution......counts interest payments on those funds as one of its revenue streams."Unquote

It is either sitting in the bank earning interest or invested into short term money market funds where it can be easily converted back to cash.

On first glance, it seems that this is not a lot of money as we are talking about 0.017% interest rate per month. But when you look at the absolute dollars, holding 100million USD will yield $17,000 "FREE" money without any risk nor investment required.

 

[MV3]

charged 3x the amount by Upwork

Thanks for reporting this.
Out of curiosity, was it 3 transactions of the correct amount, or 1 transaction with the amount tripled?

Do you think this was an "error" done on purpose? Are they currently so desperate to raise cash!?
(It's pure "profit" from people not noticing it or not complaining, and temporary cash otherwise. They seem to find excuses to not refund too quickly, so that may be telling. It's bad business on the longer term, though)

 

[John Cloer]

That's Hilarious

 

[mirrorer]

On first glance, it seems that this is not a lot of money as we are talking about 0.017% interest rate per month. But when you look at the absolute dollars, holding 100million USD will yield $17,000 "FREE" money without any risk nor investment required.

Interest rates are higher these days 2-3% depending on the bank you use, and it is expected to rise further.

 

[Chris Newman]

Upwork is becoming "Down"work, it seems. Sad to see that Upwork is also now attempting their best to scam it's platform users.

 

[Roger Marquez]

I have worked in Upwork almost exclusively for the past 5 years or so and NEVER had any issues.

 

[MV3]

I have worked in Upwork almost exclusively for the past 5 years or so and NEVER had any issues.

Were you ever a PAYING customer? Or you only worked as a freelancer? In the latter case, you wouldn't be in a position to experience what OP described.