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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@Mohamed
maybe you are right and they won't listen but I'd rather take a constructive approach in the hope that they do eventually listen. Put it another way, I would not want to trash a friend's reputation if they made a mistake that could be rectified, I would want to help them put things right.@joseph
whilst the two weeks may not be a problem for me either, it will be a huge problem for those in the early stages of their freelance career yet to earn thousands per month and/or for those with limited other income...and that in itself should ring alarm bells at PPH. Every business - including PPH - needs a steady flow of new customers, but those freelancers starting out will be put off by the new payment terms and will look elsewhere for more attractive terms. -
Did someone not say that PPH had had a warning from Companies House? What if they've had some issues with money laundering or fraud and have been forced to put this new policy in place suddenly? As one of the CS advisors had said in response to Meri's messages, their 'hands are tied'. A bit of transparency would have been nice, but perhaps they thought it would destroy the reputation of the platform.
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@VoiceoverPaul, ALL.
"maybe you are right and they won't listen but I'd rather take a constructive approach in the hope that they do eventually listen. Put it another way, I would not want to trash a friend's reputation if they made a mistake that could be rectified, I would want to help them put things right."
PPH is not a friend to anyone. Or else, would you, for example, support PPH financially if they go into some financial trouble? The analogy you make cannot be more mistaken.
Plus, it's not just about waiting more to get paid; it's about breaking contractual terms without notice. What kind of friend is that you would still be supportive to if he has shown several times (the recent payment policy change is not the first time) that he is rewarding your loyalty with more breaches?
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@Vivky. I spotted the warning at Companies House and mentioned it here. It was a compulsory strike off notice that would have them liquidated if they didn't resolve the issue. There was no reason given for it and apparently they are usually issued for late submission of accounts or other official reporting. It was withdrawn after a day, so whatever it was they were able to resolve it quickly. I looked further back and it was the third that they had been issued since they were formed.
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@ALL.
Let me just put it very bluntly:
All those who still say they want PPH and do not want to make it come to its knees do not actually give a damn about PPH. They just need them. Or rather, they need the customers who come here and have chosen them for years. So, it's a pure matter of interest. To be, it is so hypocrite to act like that because if you just take advantage of any platform and do not expect it to do the same with you, isn't that just the same thing as in a joke I share above where a freelancer expects his customer to be fair and pay on time when this freelancer is using bootlegged software? It's all about being principled. So, I find no reason for anyone "complaining" PPH has taken them by surprise. Now put myself in PPH CEO shoes (as loathsome that is for me, at least). Would you let freelancers working on your platform have all gain and move away from your platform and leave you shout at the wind when you can avoid loss? This is a no brainer. Why do you, those of you who complain, ask PPH to care about you when you do not give them a damn really?
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@Voiceover Paul- you had nailed it and I completely agree. One of the problems is for years we have been managing our finances and budgets using the system that PPH has had in place for years, and then suddenly, without notice this has changed. It will take months for me to recover from this- especially with the lack of new jobs available. Next month I will be repaying everything that I haven't paid this month and so on and so on. I don't have savings and there is only me.
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@ALL.
As you all can see, no one at PPH is preventing you from leaving and no one at PPH is forced to listen to you. What for? If you've a business and you're expected to have customers from whom you take commission but you find people, in this case freelancers, working for you taking these customers away (even before this recent payment policy change), don't you agree with me that PPH has even been generous with you seeing you taking customers off platform and make even more money - although this is a direct breach of a very clear term in platform-freelancer contract?
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@Meri, VoiceoverPaul.
This is exactly what I said about freelancing platforms as addictive (check my earlier excerpts from my planned book). At some point, freelancers are under the illusion of a freelancing platform being permanent and then BANG. This never happened and will never happen. The difference between online platforms and the offline world is that online, it just happens so fast or too suddenly to prepare. Offline however, at least you've some time to process. But even offline work now is becoming increasingly precarious and you can see how millions of people were simply laid off in a blink of the eye. It's the state of global economy, guys. So, do not be tough on yourselves.
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@ALL.
This is how a freelance/offline job dilemma works (correct me if I'm wrong):
1. You are fed up with your corporate job or, in case, you don't have one, you find a freelance platform a "real" break.
2. You join a freelance platform reluctantly thinking of so much work you need to do to earn enough.
3. You get your first order and it sounds like magic. You're excited.
4. You roll up your sleeves and you're very anticipate of great work ahead.
5. You wait, perhaps so long, and you're about to walk out but then you get a second, third, fourth...It's working!
6. You rise in the ranks and you start to make really good money and that is reflected in your life too.
7. You go thorough some cycles of ups and downs but you think that's okay.
8. Now if you're a newbie, you do not pick up the signs and you think, it's normal to get these "sudden" changes. If you're a veteran, you sigh because you know it's going to happen again. that's it might be time to move o or, worse, get back to your crushing corporate job.
9. People diverge here. Some accept it as part of life. Some not. But in all cases, a sense of permanence, whether in freelancing or a so-called "stable" corporate job is lost.
10. Some get back to "normal" (i.e. corporate life). Some just hang on to any hope of more permanence in freelancing, away from desk jobs. As a matter of fact, it's a constant dilemma and, depending on each freelancer's combination of circumstances, a freelance/offline job dilemma might never be resolved. It's up to any freelancer's own will and what s/he thinks.
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@Mohamed.
I wouldn't really call myself a freelancer. That is a term that is used by other people to describe me. I'm a software developer and I'm self employed. I trade under a company name but there is only me here. I used to work for someone else, doing something else and I was about to lose my job and was also getting stressed with too much commuting, so I was looking for something else I could do. I decided to try writing software and selling it online, and eventually I got established with a range of off the shelf items that I could sell through a website.
I have always offered bespoke programming services and I have done work with a website designer friend and for people coming through my website. Over time my standard products have been selling less and I've tried to branch out into something else. I'm finding it much more difficult to market my skills directly and that is why I use these freelance sites.
It's more complicated than that. I had spent time trying to find work on these freelance platforms years ago, before I started selling my own stuff and I found them a good source of ideas because I got to see what people wanted. That was in my mind when I started looking at them again and I have developed skills to try to match the type of work available.
My best platform for work has been PPH but I have always felt that I'm earning between a quarter and a half of what I'm worth. I have picked up some good clients here where I have been paid a good rate and I'm always looking out for another, as well as scratching a few hours work here and there. If I can find a better source of work, I will use it.
I am aware that I can earn a lot more stacking shelves in my nearest supermarket than I can using PPH and the others, but I have decided against it. If I had kids to feed and a mortgage to pay I would have to go out and get a job, but I'm trying to avoid that. I'm getting to the age where I could almost mange without any more work, but ideally I need a few more years like I had about 3 years ago.
The Covid pandemic has made a huge difference. Before it, I was getting some decent work coming through PPH, but once all that kicked off the new work stopped coming. I was hoping it would pick up again but I don't think the sort of buyers I was working with are using PPH now, so I have to look somewhere else to go and find them. -
@Simon
That's pretty much detailed. Thank you. Still, whatever you call what you've done over the years - "freelancing," "independent contracting," "gig work," etc. - it all boils down to the same thing. That said, I see the difference in the AMOUNT of work you can secure, not the PATTERN of how you work compared to other "freelancers." I also see and can fully subscribe to what you say about changing circumstances, particularly during recent pandemic. And since you've opened up and been detailed enough, I'll do the same and follow up with a post about my "professional life."
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@Simon, ALL.
My story has so many twists. I studied at four universities, as I said in an earlier post, in Egypt and USA. On many accounts, I'm not considered a typical "Egyptian," something Meri was able to detect, at least from the way I write. That said, a combination of really long and good education, much traveling and big companies I worked for, I have always been in the mood of being empowered, if not spoiled. Still, I have always ben eager to test new waters. So, I started "freelancing" by writing academic papers in 2005-2006 for US-based platforms. I believe my writing style showed to be so good I quickly managed to write theses just as you'd put on your shirt or fit a bra to your breast (if you're a woman or queer). So, over the years, I started to move more towards "freelancing" doing so many things: translation (I've 15 books translated into Arabic from English: Check this link including only 12 and 3 in press), writing academic papers and, once in a while, doing business communication training at corporate sections of language learning companies here. More, I've continued to pick up more skills in Egypt and abroad (specially the US) by taking courses in many areas: international marketing, intercultural communication, visual literacy, etc. Meanwhile, I was moving more to content strategy and web publishing and working for leading media companies here, I was able to pick even more skills. My "professional story" (something like "human journey" as you watch it on National Geographic) is so long, but to cut it short, I can say, with a fair about of balance, I'm now a "full time freelancer" across different platforms. To me, I can so easily switch back to a "corporate life" but NAH. Enough. It's not just about corporate but also age and what I expect ahead. I just want to retire (early) with some chick (I mentioned in an earlier post I used to have a French girlfriend but actually I used to have many; still, I'll settle with one now). I'm super interested in Latin American "curves" (who is not?). This is what I have (just an approximate conception of a woman I'm going to settle with soon - and she's Argentinian, all the curvier)
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@Simon, ALL.
Sorry, I missed including the link to my translated books in my last post, if you're at all interested to take a look. (All inside covers include titles in English so you know what that book is since most of the content in the link is in Arabic.) Here it is:
https://www.hindawi.org/contributors/52050270/
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@ALL.
Just a passing thought I find very interesting to include in my planned book about PPH: This tread, as I mentioned earlier has been transforming many times now into so many things. Given more recent posts, I believe it's now becoming more of a "confessional" thread about work, love, life and more. Is it not interesting that even people who have been around on PPH for so many years are only opening up now when PPH is taking a darker turn in its journey?
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@Meri, Eric & Karen
"I cannot understand why the clearing period can't start once the client has paid the money into escrow. "
"I'll be forever stuck in the 14 day waiting period for every client. Even if they paid the deposit. So the deposit makes no sense then."
The reason is very simple given all the thoughts we've put in here: PPH simply wants to delay money withdrawal as much as possible so they have "additional cash" to count on to protect them against any possible fraud (if that's even the reason) they might be exposed to. So, you can see, they are just "retreating" and, as they told Meri, they say "their hands are tied" by outsourcing tasks that they used to do internally. Who knows what else is going to be outsourced/subcontracted! It seems like PPH is turning in a real ghist town with no one (not even bots) actually freelancers can talk to.
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That's exactly right for two reasons.
1) Let's say the client "deposited" the money, then it's found to be fraud AFTER you completed the work. That actually happened to me. PPH apologized but said the buyer's credit card payment was flagged as fraudulent - after I completed the work!
So there is really no deposit protection. As such, I am better to use another freelance site that really does get the deposit upfront.
2) If we freelancers can't depend on payment when the work is completed, then why would we consider using PPH. If we have to ALWAYS wait two weeks based on OUR earned income. This makes no sense. IF we earn a lot for PPH over the last weeks, THEN PPH will risk the credit card charge back?
And that is what I am sure is going on. It's not fraud, it's charge backs.
valkyrie at lightbolt com
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@Eric & Karen, Meri, ALL.
YES. Chargeback. What else? This is the word you always hear especially when you use PayPal. No wonder, a 30-day period is a "standard" to actually withdraw your money on many platforms. That makes you think: so what THE HELL PPH was claiming to do then when they said "deposit protection"? That is, what "guarantees" sellers had anyways to make sure the deposits from buyers were not going to "chragedback"?
What an irony! It seems PPH is now doing the right thing when all of us do not want them to do it and when we were happy withdrawing our money, we were under the false impression that deposits were protected. What an irony!
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@Eric & Karen, Meri, ALL.
The chargeback assumption introduces a whole new narrative to PPH new payment clearance policy. So, to stay competitive and lure more sellers and buyers, PPH has built a reputation of "(really) fast payments" (within 48 hours or less). Now that regulators have supposedly been alerted to this or have noticed, they are now asking PPH to extend payment periods to sellers so buyers (whom I believe some of them might have complained to God knows what UK financial investigation or consumer protection agency) can get their money back if they are not satisfied or according to "industry standards." I guess this puts PPH in the corner even more because, looking back, PPH has been engaged for so long (Gosh!) into misleading sellers (and possibly buyers) about its payment processes. What a story!
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There are 2 types of chargeback. There are the fraudulent ones that are caused by someone using a stolen card, and the ones where a genuine buyer is challenging the payment.
If it's fraudulent there are often warning signs, such as a buyer making several attempts with different cards before one is accepted. Another cause of suspicion is when the IP address resolves to a different country than the one where the card is registered. A transaction is much less likely to be fraudulent is the user has an email address that is a company domain, rather than a free address, like Gmail. Some transactions are guaranteed by the card issuer. In fact this is getting increasingly common. PPH has access to this information, but we don't. We would if we were dealing directly with the buyers.
The other types of chargeback could be an issue if some buyers are not receiving their projects. It is a fairly simple process if goods or services have not been supplied but it's a bit of a grey area if the complaint is about quality. If PPH are getting too many chargebacks whoever has their merchant account could put them under pressure to do something about it. -
@Simon, ALL.
It does not make any difference what type of chargeback it is. The point here is about using a chargeback policy in the first place. This is the root of all evil since PPH has not had apparently a chargeback policy and freelancers have been left under false impressions of PPH being competitive and having deposit protections.
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@ALL
The more I look more closely at this unfolding drama, the more I see a next box office hit I can write a script for. Honestly, I have to thank each and everyone - including, no less, PPH - for this wealth of writing material. Why would anyone, I wonder, need to watch Netflix if PPH is having all the thrill here?
I miss popcorn really with all this going on.
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There is a very applicable proverb here "don't bite the hand that feeds you", but PPH here is biting big chunks and people are abandoning the site in droves....
This will be a BIG part of it:
Has anyone noticed that we've all been forced to accept the new T&C?
We are forced to accept and no option to opt out has been provided, forcefully making people accept new T&Cs is against the law, but correct me if I am wrong.
I am only using PPH currently to be able to keep following this (and other) thread(s), I am not bidding on new projects and have completed all my ongoing ones. All monies earned has been withdrawn too.
I have enough work to keep me busy until the end of the year, outside PPH.
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