Got ripped by an Odesk contractor

virtualc08

Supreme Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
1,380
Reaction score
959
Just wanted to rant a little bit about an Odesk contractor I recently hired. Wasted about $400 on him.

He seemed like a professional guy initially but the way he used to talk was very rude. Since he was from Egypt, I thought english is not his first language and maybe that's why he talks like that.

Once the project was done i asked him for a few changes and one of them was a simple one , just change the font to Open sans. he said the font is already Open Sans. I said can you point me where I can see it says Open sans and he was like when I say its open sans its open Sans. I told him I cannot go tell that to my client. Then he was like, ask your client to check it himself and if he cannot then he should shut up. This is when I lost it and told him to talk properly. Now he says he won't work on it.

I have paid some more money for his another project where he basically has just designed a page. That's it and he says he won't work on that too.

This is his Odesk profile : https://www.odesk.com/users/~0135ef7b46d30b903d

Is there anything I can do to either get a refund ( even partial will do ) or teach him a lesson .

Thanks you all.
 
I think you should complain to Odesk and they must have some kind of feedback system. Give negative feedback and his ratings. If he has any rep, it will hit him hard. Such guys don't deserve to be awarded any projects (unless, of course, if expectations were not properly set between you two).
 
I hate Odesk.
tumblr_lwhws0CwQf1qenw12o1_500.gif
 
Just complain to odesk, their customer support is very nice, you can ask for a refund and they will check and if its reasonable they will get it for you.
 
This guy has 63 - 5 star ratings, sounds weird that he acted that way! And he has been on odesk for since 2009+ There should be a better way to sort this out. You can express how unhappy you are and what level you are going to take things to , write a negative blog post about him and his services. Negative reviews about people tend to index very fast for some reason :) He will eventually get in touch with you to get that removed!
 
This should be a lesson. Never release services on a site like this until everything is 100% done.

When I hire programmers on sites like that, even when it seems like they've done everything I will still hold the money for a day going through and checking to make sure there absolutely isn't any issues. Once you release the money to them don't expect them to work on your project anymore - they will be on to the next one.
 
I think you should complain to Odesk and they must have some kind of feedback system. Give negative feedback and his ratings. If he has any rep, it will hit him hard. Such guys don't deserve to be awarded any projects (unless, of course, if expectations were not properly set between you two).

The problem with Odesk is that even if you provide a negative feedback they can make it private and nobody will be able to use it. I am not complaining about his quality work but he should have shown some degree of professionalism when it comes to dealing with things. He was like this project is over, good luck with the modifications. Just because the project is over doesn't and cannot mean that he just disregard me like that. That was no way to treat a client.


https://www.odesk.com/users/~0135ef7b46d30b903d
Just complain to odesk, their customer support is very nice, you can ask for a refund and they will check and if its reasonable they will get it for you.

I hope so. I am waiting in line in the queue to get this thing sorted. Atleast a partial refund will do .

Thanks for the support.

This guy has 63 - 5 star ratings, sounds weird that he acted that way! And he has been on odesk for since 2009+ There should be a better way to sort this out. You can express how unhappy you are and what level you are going to take things to , write a negative blog post about him and his services. Negative reviews about people tend to index very fast for some reason :) He will eventually get in touch with you to get that removed!

Exactly. I mean being such a reputed guy he should have shown some kind of maturity and professionalism. His behaviour didn't reflect well on him. Regarding the negative blog post, I mean how many people would actually care to research about a particular contractor outside of Odesk?
 
Used Odesk myself, you can complain to them and they do take action. Leaving the contractor a shit feedback does not help because the contractor can remove the message you leave thus no one is the wiser. One of the pitfalls of Odesk.
 
Have you Hired him on Hourly Basis? I always pay when my work is done, after seeing the quality and after he meets all my conditions.
 
What kind of project did he do for you???
 
Maybe he was one of the protesters that made Time Person of the Year in 2011 and his outlook on life changed! :)
 
Used Odesk myself, you can complain to them and they do take action. Leaving the contractor a shit feedback does not help because the contractor can remove the message you leave thus no one is the wiser. One of the pitfalls of Odesk.
yeah I have contacted support let's see what happens. The negative feedback thing is as good as not having , I don't know why they do that.

Have you Hired him on Hourly Basis? I always pay when my work is done, after seeing the quality and after he meets all my conditions.

Yeah , but he didn't clock anything. He just asked me to pay 50% upfront and then 50% after the work is done.

What kind of project did he do for you???

Website design.

Maybe he was one of the protesters that made Time Person of the Year in 2011 and his outlook on life changed! :)
What???
 
It is unusual especially while you gave a contract for a tangible job like web development. Odesk, elance freelancers usually do such works efficiently. This is your bad luck. But one thing I must say....these sites are not very dependable for abstract works like statistical analysis. In that case you can depend on statlance from tutorteddy.
 
I've had these types of experiences multiple times on Odesk. It usually only happens when I ignore the usual warning signs. My recommendation, don't go with anyone where there's a big language barrier, hire someone with good reviews, be willing to pay more and not low ball the contractors as that will only discourage them from wanting to work for you, and request updates daily. If they start messing up, fire them and move on quickly.
 
he seems hard working from my point of view from his profile
 
Back
Top