An Open Letter to People Per Hour: Please Comment Below on Payments
Dear People Per Hour,
I wanted to let you know just how much havoc, chaos and panic you have caused in my life since you announced your decision to subject us to the new payment clearance process and times. If you are a freelancer reading this, please comment below so we can try to support each other and so that we can let PPH know what damage this is causing us and that we, as freelancers, are not only the lifeblood of the platform but also real people with real lives and families to support.
I am a freelancer, but I am also a single parent to two young children. We have all lived through a year and a half of the most disruptive time in any of our lives due to the pandemic. I am sure it hasn’t escaped PPH’s attention that freelancers have had a rough ride during this time. I am mainly referring to the UK here as that is where I am from, but I am sure these problems are global for freelancers. As freelancers, we did not enjoy the benefits of furlough, of the Job Retention Scheme and many of us were not eligible for government grants or benefits. As we start to move out of the pandemic, many of us are reeling from the effects and have now been served a huge blow by PPH-a platform that is supposed to support us as freelancers and make our lives easier-by making us wait up to 18 days to receive money we have earned and worked hard for.
I don’t know about other freelancers, but my family relies solely on the money I earn from PPH and we live from invoice payment to invoice payment. We don’t live beyond our means, there is only me earning money and I work very hard.
On Friday, I came to the realisation that due to the new payment clearing processes, we did not have enough food to last us the weekend, let alone 18 more days. My rent was due on Friday, and I have not been able to pay that. So, we are hungry and on top of that I am now really anxious about not paying my rent. I earnt enough money this month to pay my rent and buy us food and everything on top, but it is sitting in my PPH account, and I cannot access it. This morning, my son’s school had to arrange a delivery from our local food bank. I have never, ever had to ask for anything like this before, but we had no choice.
I have not heard anything from PPH that makes me understand why they are doing what they are doing. I simply do not believe that in the world of instant payments, high tech and on-demand services why they need to hang on to our money for 18 days. It just won’t work for me in the long term, but at the moment, I am wondering what we will do in four days’ time when the food runs out, when I can’t pay my internet bill leading me not being able to work at all and when the stress of this will just be too much to bear.
I hope people don’t think I am being overdramatic, for some freelancers this will just be a frustrating experience, but for some of us, this is having real life, damaging effects on our lives and the lives of the people we love- and I am sure I am not alone.
Please comment below and tell PPH how this is affecting your life if you can.
Yours Sincerely,
Meri Williams
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@Nancy
No, Nancy. I've done my own homework. It's the same person. Plus, the whole point about being focused on the CEO is not to discuss his education but to show so many "gaps" about PPH. You can see so many changes, so many unanswered questions about this company. So, it's not the person per se here that I care about. It's about all these inconsistencies.
Now, I cannot possibly imagine someone freelancing with a company which happens to be in the same country as she or he is and she or he has been curious to at least know where they are actually or how they really operate.
You see my point?
People who want to protest against PPH policies do not meant to hurt any freelancer at all. In fact, they are trying to protect them from more abuse. Why would any one want to be abused in such a way even if she or he needs this freelance job? We're all having issues and may have our own problems but to just pretend not to see what is so obvious is to be hypocrites.
PPH really should be brought to its knees. After all, PPH is not the only platform out there!
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@Marcus. "Maybe Thrasos is Xenios's Dad Mohamed and it's not unusual for a business to have a different trading and registered address..."
That's very true. Once again, my point is about these FREQUENT changes. PPH is not a stable company. The whole point here is not about details per se. It's about identifying patterns through details.
@ ALL. Plus, do not you all guys see all these consistencies about PPH? I not that obvious enough? There are so many "unexplained" changes in policies. Even more surprising, not a single person from PPH is trying even to reach out and answer any of our questions? Is that normal?
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@Nancy
Why do you really care to stay on this platform? You can see the level of abuse here. So, if your customers are actually so loyal to you, why do not you just take them with you to any other platform. I think any professional freelancer can work anywhere and I do understand that to build a great profile needs some time, but it's not just about building a great profile. It's about not being abused. How do you know Nancy you'd not be abused here by having more fees to pay to withdraw your money or any other crazy thing they come up with here?
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Hi Meri,
Like you I am a single Mum to three teenage (expensive to run!) children and get no financial support from my ex husband. I have a part time employed job, from which I have been on furlough since the start of the pandemic. Because I earn just less than half my earnings (on average) from my self employed job, of which PPH provides approximately half my monthly income from) it means I haven't been able to take advantage of the Self Employed Support Scheme either.
It is incredibly frustrating and impossible to financially plan for, as you know PPH sales come in peaks and troughs as it is so there is already a level of uncertainty, by adding to this a wait over 2 weeks to receive cash that has been earned over several weeks prior is totally unacceptable.
I don't have a solution but am willing to put my name to any vote/petition and to be heard alongside my fellow freelancers.
All the best, Janette
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If we can bring this conversation back round to people's personal experiences, and how this new policy has impacted them, that would be useful. Meri's original intention was to encourage PPH to support their sellers, and help us allow the platform to thrive for everybody, and to highlight that we are real people with real families.
A revolution with a misplaced sense of fighting for justice (based on things that are frankly, incredibly libelous) is no help to people who have spent years building up a profile here, and would have to start again completely from scratch elsewhere if the platform suddenly went under - this would barely affect the company, who have many interests elsewhere, but would devastate individual freelancers with families to support. So lets just sit that one out for a while, shall we?
If anyone else would like to offer experiences and suggestions, please don't be put off by the middle section of this thread!
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I started to write a bad review on Trustpilot but stopped, because I didn't want to drive potential sellers away. I still come here first for it because it is still better than the alternatives, even now. The buyers that have stopped coming here are not coming to me via some other route.
What do we want in the short/immediate term to make things better? Meri's original post highlights the payment delays and the real life problems that it is causing. If the clearing period was removed we could carry on as before. Even adjusting the thresholds and the times could improve it. If a freelancer earning a lower amount got a 3 day clearing period, would that help people who are currently struggling with the 14 days? Adjusting times and thresholds could be done without an overhaul of the system.
PPH will change their position sometimes. Recently I was having problems with certain file types being blocked in the workstream and project descriptions, and after some correspondence I notice they have changed it back. -
Hi @Simon dont write the whole bad comment just mention the issue with 1 star ⭐ .because we dont have any other option to record our protest as You see all community post regarding this issue the PPH cs not respond a single message. on other issues post cs respond but on this issue they are not responding and when we contact on chat they respond very rudely so we dont want the lose of clients on PPH but we also dont want this bad and ridiculous payment delay act .2nd thing if every freelancer want lose of PPH client then freelancer can do and have more option as You invite their regular clients on other platform and enjoy 0% fee on each work as like PPH also offer same invite clients and dont pay the fee of each work of that client we have same offer from other platform too .but truly any freelancer dont want this so we have only one option is trustpilot to PPH listen our voice and restore old payment procedure we will change our feedback and ratting .if not then we will move on other options .Hope You understand .
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Hi all- I completely agree with Nancy, Rachel and Simon and thank you for your input Janette- it was that kind of experience I was hoping people would record here- to let PPH know how much this is damaging our real lives. I don't want PPH to be brought to its knees, I want it to work because when it does work it is great.
We need PPH to notice us and to read what we are all going through and to change their policy. So, if anyone else has any experiences they can tell us about how their lives are being affected by this change it would be great and thank you all so much for your input.
As ever, the silence from PPH is deafening. I am sure they are reading this but their policy seems to be never to comment or offer any real, honest and transparent explanation of why they are doing what they are doing. I am pretty sure they are hoping that we will all forget about it and accept the changes.
What strikes me is that I am left with the feeling that PPH really don't like their freelancers. That we are trouble, not worthy of respect or being looked after. I always had that niggling feeling that they held us in some kind of contempt, but cannot work out why. Does anyone have any ideas?
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I see 2 emerging groups here: one is vindictive and is seeking to PUNISH the PPH site/company even if it means we lose everything - or perhaps they feel like they have nothing to lose. (I know I'd lose all the reviews I've garnered and all the clients I've gained since I joined in December 2018). There is also the the group that has a more sober approach and is more interested in a solution than punishing the company. I think I'll go with the latter.
Right now I have a thousand questions about a site I've bragged about as one of the best freelance sites in the world, and hope this is a temporary rough patch, even though I can't even begin to understand their weird newfound 'don't care' attitude. Their new rules make zero sense - it's like self-sabotage. Starting all over again seems like a very high price to pay just to punish the site. Besides, if you continue working here those bad reviews will merely drive potential buyers away - sort of like shooting yourself in the foot.
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I think we need to remain focused on freelancers and their experiences. I don't want to start all over again and there is no guarantee that ongoing clients will follow us. We need them onside, alienating our clients isn't going to help. Getting their support, encouraging them to question PPH and to fight in our corner for the improvements to the system is much better. I know there is at least one seller that has spoken up on this thread in our defence, we need more to do the same. Bringing down PPH is self-sabotage, it can and has worked for everyone, we just need it too again.
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Joseph, Catherine- completely agree. I think Nancy said earlier in the thread that she has built her entire business model around PPH, and so have I. I am not interested in revolution- I just want to be able to feed my kids and pay my rent and internet bill so I can carry on working on the platform. And I want to pay it with the money I worked hard to earn, which is just sitting there.
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Yes, Meri, you're right. I have 11 years on PPH and had built up a successful income stream to where I'd become the main family earner.
I took on a large typing job. It's taken a while to complete. By the time I've finished it, received funds and had them cleared, it will be at least six weeks.
PPH, can you see how your new policy affects cash flow. Whilst working on one project, there's no other means of income, and since you've decided that funds take two weeks to clear (despite having been in Escrow for two / three weeks), this causes mayhem. We're without money. Aside from this project, I have over £400 in PPH from work already completed. I can withdraw £27 at the moment. Do you really think it's satisfactory to treat your loyal freelancers like this? Do you even think it's sustainable? Please have a rethink for everyone's sake.
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Well said Nancy. Each project I do takes about two weeks to complete and I am very lucky that I have clients who have sometimes booked a couple of months in advance. So I often have about £3,000 sitting in escrow from projects waiting to be completed- sometimes for a month or more. Why can't this time be used to clear the funds? Why is it only once the invoice has been approved? It makes no sense.
PPH- please listen to us. Any freelancer in the world will tell you cashflow and where the next payment is coming from is the hardest thing about being a freelancer. You are supposed to make our lives easier, this is why we give you such a huge chunk of commission. Instead you are making our lives harder. Please reconsider and please join in this discussion.
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I agree with all of the above, we need to pressure PPH somehow to reduce this 'clearance period' to maybe 24 hours. Most of us have been on PPH for a long time so we should be "trusted freelancers" and no money laundering issues should arise, as they can check our history..... correct me if I am wrong.
Why do I need to wait almost 3 weeks for my money for a project which took me 2 hours to complete? Totally baffles me.
I have been posting this thread, and another one I created on LinkedIn, tagging Peopleperhour, Xenios and hashtagging too. No response from anyone, other that buyers and other linguists.
I have 1 current project on PPH and when this is finished that is me done with this portal. Had enough! Thieving robbers!
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@ To everyone who is not interested in the revolution
you talk to yourself, the PPH do not react to you, you can beg them further, what will change?I see 2 options for further development of events:
1. PPH understand that they are losing more than they receive and return to the previous rules (but I do not believe in it)
2. If PPH are not complete idiots, they will try to sell their business to someone else in order to avoid responsibility and extract at least some profit (I also don’t believe in this). Thus, the new owners will have the opportunity to put things in order and preserve what has been created for many years.p.s. stop lying to yourself and hope that everything will work out with yourself, hope kills the mind.
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I am so sorry to hear that you are going through such difficult times as a result of PPH's new payment policy, Meri, and to everyone else who is struggling as a result.
I too have been a loyal freelancer on PPH for over five years and have also completely built my business around this platform. I have always been fairly happy with the service until now. I am so shocked and disappointed by the way they have suddenly changed their policy without any forewarning. It definitely seems that there is a complete lack of honesty and transparency, which is causing even more concern.
My partner is the main income earner in our household, otherwise I would be in the exact same position as you, Meri, and that's a terrifying thought. No one should have to go through such an ordeal when they have worked so hard for their earnings.
I sincerely hope that PPH can find a way to improve this new policy or go back to the way things were, as I dread to think how this will affect the platform in the long run. I wouldn't want PPH to be brought to their knees, as I can't bear the thought of starting again either. I've spent years building up my client base and feedback, and I've never had the same success on other platforms.
I hope PPH will listen to our grievances and provide the support we all deserve.
Take care,
Vicky
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I agree with Joseph & Catherine too but have a nasty feeling it's wishful thinking to hope PPH will return to how it used to be. I still hope so and I'm not abandoning it altogether.
If you rely on regular PPH clients for the majority of your work your choice is to find some way of coping with the new delays or ask these clients to bypass PPH and work direct with you instead but in the past a good chunk of my PPH income has come from new clients and these jobs seem a bit thin on the ground at the moment.
It is infuriating when you've done the hard work and can't get your hands on the cash when we've become used to waiting no more then 48hrs but 30 days is fairly common business practice - perhaps we just have to get used to it and PPH will bounce back somehow and maybe tweak their payment setup with a Milestone option like Upwork which could help freelancers' cashflow. I went through the fury stage a few weeks ago when this started, now I'm just baffled and intrigued at what's going on...
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@Thorsten. You are exactly right. The money laundering argument doesn't make any sense at all. Real checks for money laundering would be done once, the first time a freelancer tries to withdraw money, and possibly again if they wanted to set up a new withdrawal method.
As far as I know, nobody has had a reply to explain what it is that they are checking or why. I have a possible theory that WorldPay have imposed it on them as part of their new payment system, and if that is the case they can change it and reduce the times, reduce the amounts, give some freelancers approved status if they have completed enough projects or been here long enough. It doesn't have to be like this.
If they think they have dodgy dealings going on with the platform, fine, check everybody, but do it once and then it's done. -
The worrying thing for me is that this thread is now three pages long and PPH still have not commented. For a company not to attempt to refute allegations *on their own support forum* smacks of a business that either doesn't care or is incompetent.
(Different Simon to the one above in this thread)
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Hi 'different' Simon- yes, it is incredible that they are not commenting, but I cannot remember them doing it before when a lot of us were very angry about the fees being increased. They appear to be like the Royal Family-never complain, never explain. But they could really do with being transparent with us all right now and as the other Simon says, giving us a right of reply and engaging in dialogue with us about it.
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Only 3,600 jobs available today for a pool of more than 10,000 freelancers if we're to believe the website.
Personally I wouldn't risk doing large jobs on PPH now even with trusted clients. Who knows what's around the corner? I could cope with delays but it feels like any money put into PPH now is in jeopardy.
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