Charged more than the invoice amount
I got a proposal at $165, BUT when I paid for it I got charged $173,85. It tried first with VISA card and got charged the extra same amount as for PayPal.
WHY?
Please let me know asap!
Thanks!
Best Regards
/Sandra
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I have a serious issue with the accounting in Switzerland. We have tried to check and detect the commission fees related to a hourly/project by checking every transaction made. It's a real nightmare and a lack of transparency.
In fact, by downloading the "buyer fee" receipt, on the downloaded PDF you will see a general description "Buyer Fees for Deposit to Unassigned Funds".
It's very difficult / impossible to discover the exact amount declared by PPH and related to a project / hourly.
Even worse, even by understanding that there are at least 3 layers of commission fees for the sellers ( depending on their subscription date), as buyer it's impossible to control what's the percentage applied to the case.
We cannot check if the commission fee automatically taken from PPH is really correct in accordance to the Seller's commission fees plan.
As buyer, if a commission fee is applied over the seller's invoice, we have the right to receive a clear invoice form PPH indicating:
- the commission fee amoutn
- the commission fees plan which is applied for this Seller
- the project / hourly which is related toI really don't want to think that this could be a trick found by PPH for generating small repeated hidden income, impossible to control, at least buyer's side.
No company doing serious accounting can accept such documents. They will never correspond to the effective transaction made by credit card.
I really hope to be wrong or do a mistake by using the PPH portal functions. But I see that I'am not alone with this issue.
May we receive an official answer, explaining how to download a complete invoice per single project, commission fees included, as it should be? -
I have asked them for this too. I was quoted £80 and the credit card amount is showing as £88 so our Financial Controller needs to reconcile an accurate amount. I have asked for how to download an invoice which reflects the additional 5% 'fee' (extortion) but have not heard back from them yet. It's very frustrating!
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Sadly, there have been numerous buyer complaints about this issue.
Despite the fact that the 'Help' Guides still claim that buyer fees are not charged for the basic PPH service, the Terms & Conditions now list 'Buyer Fees' of 10% for all payment methods.
These used to be called 'Payment Processing Fees' and became 'Buyer Fees' after it recently became illegal to charge such fees for payments involving the use of credit cards.
Before that change, there was a FREE option of payment by bank transfer which was dropped.
Before credit card fees were made illegal, PPH claimed (and still do in the help guide) to be 'passing-on' these fees though, in the 'passing', these fees increase from around 3% to 10%.
Most buyers who claim that these fees are 'hidden' are directed to the 10,000+ words of Terms & Conditions which buyers are deemed to have accepted, even where the change was made after they accepted the bid on which these fees are being charged.
One PPH support response to me claimed the following:
1/ these are not 'hidden' charges because the total figure is shown at the 'checkout' stage - most people would consider that fees should be shown at the 'bid acceptance' stage.
2/ it is acknowledged that the Help Guide, stating that 'no fees are charged to buyers' is incorrect and this is 'scheduled' for correction.
To my mind, 'scheduled for correction' is not good enough - if there is a written statement on the website that no buyer fees are charged then buyer no fees should be charged.
It is simply dishonest to write one thing is the 'large print' and then rely on a contradictory statement in the 'small print' to negate this.
Perhaps a buyer with in-house legal resources should challenge this - for most, it's not worthwhile for the sums involved so they 'vote with their feet'.
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Sadly, there have been numerous buyer complaints about this issue.
Despite the fact that the 'Help' Guides still claim that buyer fees are not charged for the basic PPH service, the Terms & Conditions now list 'Buyer Fees' of 10% for all payment methods.
These used to be called 'Payment Processing Fees' and became 'Buyer Fees' after it recently became illegal to charge such fees for payments involving the use of credit cards.
Before that change, there was a FREE option of payment by bank transfer which was dropped.
Before credit card fees were made illegal, PPH claimed (and still do in the help guide) to be 'passing-on' these fees though, in the 'passing', these fees increase from around 3% to 10%.
Most buyers who claim that these fees are 'hidden' are directed to the 10,000+ words of Terms & Conditions which buyers are deemed to have accepted, even where the change was made after they accepted the bid on which these fees are being charged.
One PPH support response to me claimed the following:
1/ these are not 'hidden' charges because the total figure is shown at the 'checkout' stage - most people would consider that fees should be shown at the 'bid acceptance' stage.
2/ it is acknowledged that the Help Guide, stating that 'no fees are charged to buyers' is incorrect and this is 'scheduled' for correction.
To my mind, 'scheduled for correction' is not good enough - if there is a written statement on the website that no buyer fees are charged then buyer no fees should be charged.
It is simply dishonest to write one thing is the 'large print' and then rely on a contradictory statement in the 'small print' to negate this.
Perhaps a buyer with in-house legal resources should challenge this - for most, it's not worthwhile for the sums involved so they 'vote with their feet'.
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It's an insane system and makes accounting a complete faff. Separate invoices raised for these fees with zero link to the job they're associated with and this cryptic description: "Buyer fees for Deposit to Unassigned Funds" have put me off massively.
One job down and I'm looking elsewhere.
As for the email I received asking whether i would recommend the service to others, the answer was a resounding NO.
Shame, as the platform seems fantastic.
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MIchael
It's astonishing that, despite a deluge of complaints about the poor quality of PPH service and support, we still get these stupid 'how did we do?' emails.
Reminds me of a recent message from Microsoft asking if I would recommend Windows 10 to friends.
That seems like a good way to lose friends.
I have completed my first couple of jobs through Upwork recently and the quality of service and support is a 'quantum leap' better.
As yet, they don't have a lot of UK work for my skills but, then again, the amount of relevant work on PPH has declined rapidly in the last few months.
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Hi, Ive just paid an additional 11%? on top of the service i was quoted, I was quoted £135 for the service and when i checked my bank account £149.70 was taken. When i paid the invoice nowhere did it indicate that there would be an additional fee for using the service, or at least i couldn't see it, (it wasnt made clear or set out). The final total to pay was stated as £135.00
I agreed to pay the amount of £135.00 and therefore expected that amount to come out of my bank account. It was a complete shock to see that a fee had been added outside of the amount i had agreed to pay. The fee should , in my opinion, have been added to the quote/ and most definitely on the invoice at the time of agreeing to pay the invoice. Thus allowing me to know that a fee for the service was included and it would be this much. The amount i had agreed to pay was the £135 not £149.70. Id likely have paid the fee or looked at getting a cheaper quote to accommodate my budget had this been apparent at the time of agreeing the quote/service.
Whilst it is in the small print that a fee will be charged (having looked after the event) surely it should made clearer and be included in the quote.
I cant fault the work that the person did for me but the added fee without disclosure has tainted the experience somewhat. Thankfully i dont think i need to use the service again but i will certainly let folk know that there are hidden costs. (and yes i appreciate its in the small print but come on who reads those and why wouldnt you just add the fee at the time of the quote? or make it VERY clear that a fee of ?? will be added on top of the service providers quote)???
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I've now stopped using PPH for this reason. Every month it made my accounting a nightmare. Trying to match up invoices for charges PLUS the freelance never worked. And they never actually tallied with what was taken from the credit card. If PPH sorted this system it would be a great service. Until then, it's just not worth the hassle.
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