Featured Offer Scam

On 8 April 2020 I created a new offer and paid the additional US $17.95 fee to have it "featured" for 7 days.  Shortly afterwards, I did a search for "google analytics" (my 1st tagged keyword) on the offers page.  My offer came up #183 in the search results -- that's the middle of PAGE 8 -- with the default sort order by "relevance".  Even after checking again dozens of times over the next several days, I NEVER saw my offer appear any higher than page 8 in the results. 

Seriously?  That's the return on my $18 investment?!

I opened a customer support ticket for this issue on 9 April.  Two or three days later, I got a vague reply from someone named "Tanya" which did not answer my question in any meaningful way or provide a satisfactory explanation as to exactly how the featured offer service works or what the tangible benefit is.  I replied back with several follow-up questions but have received no further communications from her after more than 8 days.

To make matters worse, PPH is continuing to take money out of my account which I never initiated or approved.  So far, they have debited another US $17.95 plus two more separate payments of US $14.95.

Since 9 April, I opened 3 more customer support tickets requesting a full refund and an explanation of the charges.  Each time, Tanya simply closed the ticket and marked it "Solved".  Never once did she reply to the ticket or attempt to address my concern -- let alone give me a refund.

Someone please tell me... 

What do I have to show for all that extra money, the vast majority of it simply stolen -- that's right, this is outright theft -- from my account without authorization or approval?  NOTHING!!!  10 days and US $66 later, my offer has received a whopping 15 VIEWS and ZERO client inquiries.  Nice.

People per Hour is an utter SCAM, pure and simple... 

The entire platform is designed to take advantage of honest, hardworking freelancers who are simply trying to put food on the table.  First, when you initially sign up, PPH gives you the option to "fast track" your application by paying a $13 surcharge (sadly, I fell for that one, too).  Then they hit you up with more exciting "opportunities" at every turn.  Posting an offer?  Want anyone to actually SEE it?  Great, just pay us another $18 (no wait, make that $36... $51... $66...) and we'll move you to the top of the list.  Never mind that the "top" actually means #183 on page 8.

Aside from preying on the freelancer community, People Per Hour has the worst customer service I have ever experienced.  Don't take my word for it -- look at the hundreds of similar complaints posted all over their online forum.  Or look at SiteJabber (https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/peopleperhour.com), which gave PPH 1.8 stars -- ranking it 76th on the list of freelancing sites and noting that most of its consumers are "generally dissatisfied with their purchases".

Do yourself a favor... 

Don't fall for the "featured" offer rip-off or countless other scams advertised throughout PPH.  Better yet, simply close your account (as I intend to do) and take your valuable skills elsewhere.  There are many other legitimate freelancing sites out there -- including Upwork and Toptal, to name a few -- which don't engage in these kinds of shady practices or exploit their own users to make a quick buck.