Crappy customers, wasted proposals

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Burcea
I have been on this platform for over a week now. I kept applying, but out of let's say 10 proposals, 2 were rejected. But the rest of them never even got seen by the client. I really doubt those people are real customers since I was always among the first 5 freelancers to apply and the projects are still pending after more than a week. Another one said ok, let's work, he had a fixed price, and because he kept saying that there is a way to send him the document to revise and pay it, I did. Then he told me to send another proposal so that he could approve it and pay me... I was like.. Heeello you had a fixed price for this...anyway he sent me some screenshots of what appeared to be a freelancer sending him a second proposal (which he approved) , it seemed the same project for a comic script, but instead of 85 euros, his fixed price (!), that freelancer sent a proposal of 9 EUROS (!!!) .. I tried to send another one for 30 euros, since I wanted to get SOME money and a review but... It didn't work because his project was still opened and I got an error. And that is what I kept telling him, that he needs to give me the project so I could get my money... So in the end I got no money or review. Which is really crap. I reported him of course, but it was really annoying to spend time and a proposal. It seems very weird what he does and I really believe he is fooling both freelancers and pph. I couldn't figure out exactly what he is doing because I am too new to this.
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10 comments

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  • Official comment
    Panos

    Hello Burcea,

    thank you for this information and I am sorry for this negative experience with this member.

    You did very well to use the REPORT function. Nevertheless, for situations such as this one, as it is of a confidential nature, it would be optimal if we investigate this matter through our Customer Service Department.

    Therefore I took the liberty to create a ticket, as to check this issue you have encountered closely.

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  • Ian

    I agree with Burcea,  the original poster. I think this platform is a complete scam, with "jobs" only available to those who pay a subscription fee.

    I too have wasted time filling out proposals, meeting the minimum acceptable charges, and providing free information in the proposal. It's a complete waste of time as far as I can see.

    Also, as a test, I signed up as a buyer of services, and posted some fake jobs.

    Literally 1 micro second after posting I got multiple replies from india and Pakistan, and even Afghanistan.

    How on earth is this possible, there is NO WAY that anyone could have responded so quickly to my job offer test post

    I have turned off all notification emails from this site and i am getting bombarded with spam from pph.

    This site is a SCAM

     

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  • Burcea

    :)) Ian, that is exactly what I did. I tried the "other side" to see what happens and in 5 seconds I got a proposal from a guy from India. The very very weird thing was that my ad was "being evaluated". So from what I understand it wasn't even live, and yet that guy managed to send a proposal...to be honest I stopped searching here because I stand no chance in front of those human robots that appear to be online every second and bid instantly on every single project. I actually saw one guy, every time he was there, no matter the project, he already bidded on it. And I saw on YouTube how they work. They have pre-made proposals and they just copy paste them. And I don't work like that, so if a project just appeared, in the minute it takes me to write a proposal, there are already 10 submitted ones...
    Yesterday, while on another freelancer platform, I saw an add that came from the same woman who posted it here and for which I applied 10 days ago, but got no response, even though my profile was matching her demands (specific ones) 100%. So there you go. I have spent too much time browsing and bidding forever just to get no answer whatsoever. I mean, f that, I have 10 years of experience behind me, and if that doesn't matter one bit for these people posting jobs here, then good riddance.
    Clients seem to think that if you are new here you haven't worked in the real world either and you just jumped from your diapers straight on pph or any other freelancer platform out there...
    I don't think it's a scam, but it's definetly only for those that are sticked to the screens of their phones or pc's, have no life and are willing to work for 2 dollars/hour or write articles of 2000 words for 7 dollars and so on. Hell I saw one project saying to write a 30.000 words book for 25 dollars (!!!) and people actually bidded on it??? Who would do something like that, and what quality does that client think he is going to get??... Anyway, for me this is a closed chapter.

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  • Ian

    I agree with you 100% - Its almost like a fake post AI algorithm.

    Your point re: not using a template for responses …..EXACTLY !

    How can anyone seriously respond to a bid without asking questions, or with only the briefest of explanations.

    I saw one this morning, and in the time it took me to type a question asking for what the requirements actually were there were 5 bids on it !  (the ad said basically - I need a new website, have a look at the existing one and quote me !!!!!).

    I actually do think it's a scam, its generating fake job offers to lure people in and then get a sub out of them to get a "real" job, of which there probably aren't many.

    It's also a closed chapter for me.

    Good luck out there !!!

     

     

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  • Burcea

    You too, and if I may say something, please don't support this slavery that is happening in the freelancer world, and keep your rates at a decent level.

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  • YannisS
    • Edited

    Hi Burcea and Ian,

    I'm really sorry we have failed to meet your expectations. It is true that we need to improve in several areas and the issues you have mentioned are known issues, already in our roadmap to address.

    The project award funnel, which entails both buyer's (buyer posting a project and receiving proposals) and freelancer's (freelancer sending a proposal to a public project) journeys, is one of the most significant funnels in our platform. Hence, we have decided to run an extended investigation on this funnel, identify the most significant pain points our users have and fix them. 

    I understand your frustration, as your points are pretty valid. Also, I am quite happy that I will run this project (it kicks off next week) so that we address the most important pain points that you have on this funnel. As we will need to talk to users who are affected and have valuable input to share with us, would you like to participate in this project and help us fix these issues? If yes, I will contact you some time next week in order to schedule our interview sessions. Of course, you will be rewarded for your time.

    Once more, thank you for providing your feedback - keep it coming!

    All the best,
    Yannis Sliman
    Product Manager @PeoplePerHour

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  • Burcea

    Hi Yannis, I agree to help you on this. I am sure that you are aware of the competition and also by the amount of unhappy freelancers that went to other platforms.
    And I know that this is a big company, but that doesn't mean that the owners should rely on this thing by itself, I mean even Facebook started to go down in time because they didn't improve and they didn't take into consideration their users oppinions. I know there are hundreds of thousands of freelancers happy to work for nothing, but why not try and aim for more professional ones? Because that will also bring more important customers. Sorry for what I'm about to say, but after doing some online research I saw that 7 out of 10 freelancers wouldn't recommend PPH.

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  • Adam

    Hi Yannis

     

    I agree with these other buyers as a TOPCert freelancer it is frustrating when there are people that just spam or jobs with little or no details on. I raised an issued with PPH support over this last year when I posted for a social media manager. Strictly said in the advert, UK only, and was spammed with around 15 non-UK freelancer who couldn't speak hardly any english and their proposal were terrible. I was also being contacted continually by the sellers off the site too and your support team at the time was not interested.

    I have to say though as a freelancer that some of the ideas being put in place do sound good and hope you do another offer like in July soon, and the support of people like Natalie at PPH is great to have :) 

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  • YannisS

    HI Burcea,

    Great! I will email you within the next couple of weeks in order to schedule a call.

    We are aware of the market, as well as where we stand at the moment. We have adopted a more user-centered approach which we have already put into practice. Our goal is to make our happy users stick with us for many years to come and address our unhappy users' pain points swiftly. We are confident that we will succeed in this adventure, but we need your support and patience. 

    Talk to you soon.

    All the best,
    Yannis

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  • YannisS
    • Edited

    Hi Adam,

    Yes, these are known issues that have been bothering our users for a long time now. This is why we are addressing them by running the project I mentioned above. As your input is highly appreciated, would you like to be part of the solution? We will schedule a 1h call to discuss on certain issues, mainly what has been mentioned in this thread.

    We have some surprises in the pipeline, so stick around! 

    And yes, Nat along with the rest of our CS team are doing a great job, and we are happy to have them. :)

    Thank you,
    Yannis

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