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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I never think of looking at those stats. I use the simple method of looking at the posted projects without a filter and scrolling back to one I recognise or until I have gone back a full day, and the previous day is not very many pages back now. Also, I don't get jobs that I do apply for when I used to have a really good strike rate.
I'm the same as Marcus with the delays. It isn't a problem in itself, I don't have kids, it's just me and the cat, and I'm earning money to pay next year's bills rather than next week's, but I worry about how secure it is. I also think that they want to steal the money if they can and if I had accident and was in hospital for 6 weeks I would lose whatever is in clearing. -
Meri, I am going to phone them now. Can I also suggest that we publish another version of your letter with an amendment whereby as many Top Cert/ level 5/ long-standing loyal PPH freelancers as possible sign it, listing their level, occupation, and year of joining PPH? We need names - we need the people that are actually being affected by this to be seen as actual people.
I'm happy to start: Rachel B, joined PPH in 2012, Top Cert level, Voice Over Artist.
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Yes, that's a great idea, happy to be added Catherine A, joined 2015, Level 5, content creator - may be something very similar that outlines your issues and just notes that many others are in similar circumstances (you can add mine if you wish - single parent, only source of income, been reliant on family/friends during these issues)
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OK I've just spoken to customer services and explained in no uncertain terms what exactly is going on from our perspective, and how they needed to address this NOW before they started losing valuable freelancers - they said they have received similar complaints from other users (I bet they have), and that whilst they could not comment as a department (??), they could provide me with an email address to send complaints to - this is part of their marketing dept apparently...not sure why they come into it, but still.
I suggest we have 2 options: We write a joint open letter, and add as many names as possible to it - we can start another post with the title "add your names to an open letter of complaint", and share it across social media too, in the hope that we collect as many as possible. Or, we bombard them individually. Or both, I suppose! I personally think we have more influence as a group than individually, so I would lean towards that option.
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I just want to add my support to request PPH reverse their payments clearing policy to something more reasonable. Each time something is added (usually fees based) I decide to gain more work away from this platform. Then I receive an email with a PPH incentive to send more quotes with reduced fees if I do so. Which is much appreciated.
This new clearance time to get to my hard earned money has now encouraged me to once again spend more time looking for work off of PPH.
PPH please stop biting the hands that feed you.
If I may also give PPH a little advice or share my observations. I notice that there are many jobs posted for £6 - £10 and some of these job postings are for a crazy amount of work for little amount of money. Is this due to people working in Eastern country's are able to work for these low fees due to their cost of living being lower than say someone living in the west? I feel this is a Hugh problem for a company who earns fees from jobs like PPH. Personally I would like to compete for jobs on PPH with people from the western countries. This would make it a fair playing field and would bring in more revenue for PPH. PPH does not make much in the way of fees when a job is posted for £6. I feel here is the problem with a global freelancing platform.
Hope you can follow my ramblings and sorry for any typos.
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OK- I put this together, do you think I need to add/remove/change anything? Shall I leave it here for an hour or so to gather more names or do you think the starting names are enough to post? Hoping people will see it too...
Dear People Per Hour,
We are a group of loyal and hardworking freelancers on your platform. Some of us have been working as freelancers on People Per Hour for over 11 years. For many of us, People Per Hour is our sole source of income and we have poured in years of effort and time to build up our footprint and presence on your platform.
We are writing to you to let you know what damage the changes to your payment processing times 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.
We wanted to let you know just how much havoc, chaos and panic you have caused in our lives since you announced your decision to subject us to the new payment clearance process and times.
We have all lived through a year and a half of the most disruptive time in any of our lives due to the pandemic. We are sure it hasn’t escaped your attention that freelancers have had a rough ride during this time. 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 People Per Hour-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.
For some of us, our families rely solely on the money we earn from People Per Hour and we live from invoice payment to invoice payment and for this, we work very hard. Everyone who has had experiences of being a freelancer knows that cashflow and being paid on time are big challenges. We are hungry, tired, our rents are behind, we are unable to pay our mortgages on time. Some of us do not know if we will be able to pay our internet and phone bills to enable us to keep working on the platform. Some of us have had to use foodbanks and negotiate with landlords and banks, even though we have money sitting in our escrow on People Per Hour that could cover all this instantly.
In particular, we are very concerned and feel let down about the lack of transparency People Per Hour have provided during this time. None of us understand what these ‘checks’ are, and we have been left to come to our own theories.
We have not heard anything from People Per Hour that makes us understand why you are doing what you are doing. We simply do not believe that in the world of instant payments, high tech and on-demand services why you need to hang on to our money for 18 days. It just won’t work for freelancers in the long term, but at the moment, many of us are wondering what we will do in a few days’ time when the food runs out, when we can’t pay our internet bill, or rent or our mortgages leading to us not being able to work at all and when the stress of this may just be too much to bear.
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. We have been left with the impression that People Per Hour doesn’t care about its freelancers and that you do not consider us important.
We would like you to consider as a matter of urgency the following points:
- Restore the withdrawal and payment processing times to 48 hours
- Engage in meaningful dialogue with us about why this decision has been made
- Stop penalising freelancers who do not earn above your self-imposed ‘threshold’ to benefit from the 7-day withdrawal process
It is in our interest as freelancers for People Per Hour to be a success. We can help you do this, but not if you continue to treat us in this appalling way.
Freelancers and buyers- please comment below if you can with your name, when you joined People Per Hour, what CERT level you are and what your line of work is. If you are able to, please also comment and tell People Per Hour how this is affecting your life. The comments below are intended to do just the above, if you would like to enter a more general discussion there is one happening here:
Yours Sincerely,
Meri W, joined PPH in 2013, Top Cert Level, Business Plan Writer.
Rachel B, joined PPH in 2012, Top Cert level, Voice Over Artist.
Thorsten H. t/a HPD Translations, Joined PPH in Aug 2019, Cert Level 5, Owner/Consultant/Translator HPD Translations.
Catherine A, joined 2015, Level 5, content creator.
Simon C, joined PPH 2016, Cert 5, Programmer.
Marcus B, joined 2015, top cert, print design, audio & video services.
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"Clearing periods only limit the withdraw of funds from PeoplePerHour. Earnings are added to your available balance and can be spent within PeoplePerHour instantly."
The highlighted text from their policy also needs to be addressed. Fraud is very bad... unless that money is coming to us, in which case it's okay ;)
Disgusting.
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Meri I think that's fantastic. I agree Dan's point is a valid one that should be added, and also the fact that timescales for these checks vary wildly depending on how much you have earned - if it's a series of checks, it's a standard procedure for all, surely. But you've nailed it. I think we should post it, encourage people to add their names and details in the comments and we can collate and email (the email address I've been given is community@peopleperhour.com by the way, in case anyone wants to express themselves individually).
I'm going through the individual messages of complaint in this Payment Enquiries section and encouraging people to join the conversation here, but once the letter is shared, I'll go through again and encourage them to sign their names.
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I am happy to continue to monitor the forums as this continues - if other people can share the letter to their twitters etc once it's up (I don't use Twitter so can't be much help there...), with some useful hashtags, to see if we can gather up anymore folk. I wonder if it's also worth approaching some press about it - it's a fine line between wanting to be noticed and taken seriously by PPH, and not wanting to trash PPH and shoot ourselves in the foot in the process...But we need answers and resolutions...
I'm not sure how else we can contact other sellers...
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I am a TopCert and don't agree with the poor communication but there are clearing periods with other freelancer sites such as Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer. My own website via stripe holds funds for 7 days so I am not against it personally.
I am just more annoyed by poor support (not enough staff - customer service), lack of any moderation of new foreign freelancers (fake portfolios or plagiarised offers - mine our continually plagiarised) and they should be championing real wages so the $10 services should be removed or limited.
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@Rachel @Meri but this email address is the same email of this community section email address not the payment relevant department email but anyway send and also post this on the blog post where they inform us this ridiculous act by Declan who is the new brand manager .
this is the link
https://www.peopleperhour.com/blog/product-platform/freelancer-payments-process/
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Please share throughout the forums and on social media...
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@sehrish I know - it's not ideal that it isn't an individual, but I still think a direct email with multiple signatures will get put in front of management - the woman on the phone said that management had already been alerted to the complaints coming in.
Another thing she said, which I forgot to mention - I asked what actual checks were being made during this clearing period, and she said they were internal procedures so she wasn't at liberty to say. I highlighted when you are carrying out these "internal procedures" with other peoples money, it fosters an atmosphere of serious distrust, and that we should have the right to know. All falling on deaf ears, I know. But all we can do is unite, and try to make our collective voice heard.
@adam Clearing periods for a specified set of procedures, fine. But not 18 days, or even 7 days plus processing time, frankly. And not when no explanation has been offered up as to what the checks are, and why they are only coming into play in year 14 of operating.
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Well done Rachel- what was your impression of speaking to PPH on the phone? Is it the same kind of experience you get from emailing them which is pretty dire?
Also Adam, I get what you are saying, but I do agree with Rachel. It is very unequal and doesn't support freelancers, which is really what PPH are here to do.
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@Yuriy, Meri, Marcus, Simon ("Original" and "Copy"), Catherine, Rachel, Nancy, Joseph
Revolution vs. Reform
This is how our discussion has come down to, according to Joseph. I believe PPH MUST be brought down to its knees. Period. For those of you who still believe in The Queen of England, go ahead and send as many petitions and ask for as many requests you want. The Throne has been around for centuries: People go but the Throne stays. Now it's really high time to reconsider and ask a very basic question many of you, who have been here for years before me, should have asked when you've seen, more than anyone else, things getting worse and worse:
Why PPH - and, for that matter, any similar platform - would always choose NOT to listen to freelancers and go ahead with whatever changes?
I see so much anger, so much stress, so much pain - for years. Still, many, including even Meri who started all this, see some "hope." Well, like Yuriy said, "hope kills the mind" and it's so baffling that people who have suffered most still believe PPH would even give a damn.
For those of you who still believe in The Reform Way, let me share a story with you about payment (I've seen REALLY a lot) since you Reformers appear to believe in sharing stories so perhaps - perhaps! - PPH might listen.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm someone who has seen it the hard way being scammed and told the very exact explanations PPH is now selling to freelancers. Once upon a time, I signed up for an "academic help" platform (yes, the kind of platform helping students cheat by turning in papers claimed as their own). That platform was Acematiks: https://www.acematiks.com/.
Getting rosy messages and promises about a "lovely" future collaboration, I waited for two months before I got my first order. Guess what? It was one for a PhD student on dietary supplements. The instructions were clear enough and, experienced as I am, I completed it in less than 24 hours. Then, a series of endless requests for revisions started to trickle in. To cut a long story of revision short, it took me 4 more days to do more revisions until the dashboard on the Acematiks platform accepted my work as "final" (Does that sound any bells for you? Automation??
Now, here is the juicy part. Sighed in relief I thought I will get paid now that the order has been delivered and marked as completed. Guess what? Well, I was told by CS staff I need to wait ONE MONTH until my money is in via PayPal. That did not sit well with me, revolutionary as I am. So, I went on in a campaign of name-and-shame. I did not leave any single review platform (including Trustpilot) where I said ALL. More, I reached out to the landlords where this company has offices in different cities worldwide (something I shared with you on an earlier post) to let them know of Acematiks practices. The landlords, usually companies running whole buildings (such as the ones I've shared with you above for PPH at Queen's Gate) was shocked and asked me for my detailed personal information to report the company to local authorities in each country I contacted them in (I focused on their big markets: United States, the UK and Canada). The result?
I found my email flooding with messages from senior CS and even account managers at Acematiks almost begging me to remove ALL reviews I shared everywhere. Even more, I found my money ($420) for one order transferred (lo and behold) in less than one day - not a whole month. Does that tell you anything?
Now, reflecting on this experience I decided to translate a book, Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass, (from English into Arabic), about the very things all of you guys are talking about here: abusive payment systems of unscrupulous online platforms (work including, for example, photo labeling for AI recognition purposes, writing mills [aka academic help companies], etc., etc.). You can find Ghost Work at: [https://ghostwork.info/]. You can also find a note about the authors in the last link.
SO,
To those of you who are still under the delusion of any possibility for Reform, if you guys accept to be an "underclass," I do not.
All comments welcome on my post.
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This is sad. I am a new user and I was happy to get 2 jobs done and the suppliers have realsed thier cash but I am unable to pull it out to my payoneer account. I contacted them via FB/Twitter and email and I am yet to receive feedback. If we can't get the cash on time after the commissions they deduct what's the use?
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@ALL
Ah. I almost forgot to say:
Those who still believe in Reform and making "our voice heard" at higher levels, do you know I've already emailed PPH CEO several times on his personal blog (https://www.xeniosblog.com/)?
SO,
Clearly, our voices are heard, Reformers, but we are just being ignored.
You want more? Some sensitive content, I believe, I share here about PPH and its management is not published and is shown as "pending approval".
So, you guys still believe no one at PPH is not listening? They do but they do not give a damn. Getting PPH on their knees is the most intuitive thing to do. I know from experience.
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