Add your names to an open letter of complaint on new payment processing times
*****ATTENTION FREELANCERS AND BUYERS******
Please read our letter of complaint below and comment 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. This will be left up for a few days and then we will send it to PPH's complaints department and Head Office. 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:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 PPH’s 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 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.
For some of us, our families rely solely on the money we earn from PPH 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. There are many things we don’t understand and People Per Hour have not been forthcoming with any transparency. For example, you state "Clearing periods only limit the withdraw of funds from PeoplePerHour. Earnings are added to your available balance and can be spent within PeoplePerHour instantly." This makes no sense to us, you are saying you need extra checks before we can receive our money due to fraud, but yet we can freely spend the money on your platform. In addition, many of us are confused and frustrated by the fact that timescales for these checks vary wildly depending on how much a freelancer has earned - if it's a series of checks, it's a standard procedure for all, surely?
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.
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.
Sehrish Mushtaq, Cert 5, Photoshop Expert ,Top Photo Retoucher ,Photo Editor and Graphic Designer .
-
Avi Kapoor, working on PPH for over 7 years with over $45K worth of business done on this platform till 2019. However, I consciously stopped using this platform since they increased the commission to 20% and then now that the waiting period is 14 days, i hardly use this platform.
Unless they revert back to good old days they gonna loose loyal freelancers every day.
-
Olawale, a Cert 5 Web Developer since 2012.
I logged in this morning to find about 1,900 jobs available.
Shocked because the last time I was super active, we used to complain on how small the 5,000 plus jobs are too small for the number of freelancers on board.
Wow.
What happened?
Well, I happened upon this thread and it became more apparent.
You guys have said it all...and I hope the management of PPH know this:
Running a successful marketplace is a chicken and egg problem.
You need to keep freelancers happy, inorder to keep buyers happy.
You cant have one without the order.
In fact, I make bold to say that the most important piece of this component are the freelancers.
Make their life harder, then they go somewhere else.
Your buyers meet a ghost town, and they go somewhere else too.
Domino Effect.
Therefore, your most important job is to make life easier for the freelancers.
Fight for them.
Be in their corner...with the government, banks, anyone or anything that might want to mess with them.
If you dont do that...this is what happens:
Freelancers wont just leave, they would also take their clients with them.
And more and more..this place would become empty and hollow.
I have trust in your ability to turn this around.
I have been here long enough to know that your leadership listens.
I was here when you introduced Hourlies because the community asked for it.
I was here when you tweaked the CertS algo because the community cried out.
And I believe you will do the right thing here as well.
Revert this ridiculous 2 weeks wait...and start to vigorously market the platform again.
Send mails to folks and watch this place kick-off again.
We are all counting and rooting for you.
Godspeed!
-
Dear Olawale
It's not just the two week payment processing which has pulled this site down. PPH have removed their instant chat function. You now have to email in an enquiry, question or issue, and it takes more than a week to receive a simple answer because they are bombarded. Don't seem to grasp they are cutting everyone's throats.
In addition, the calibre of new joiners is appalling. Most cannot put together a readable job brief. Then there is the question of low pay. £88 to build a working website, for instance. I was asked to do four hours typing for £2 total!
I'm hoping there's a temporary economic blip, but can't see much improving here, if I'm honest. Which sites are doing well at the moment?
-
Hello Nancy.
I went on some sort of sabbatical, working on personal projects so I havent been super active in the freelance scene lately.
Seriously, I hope they turn this around, because for me, this is the best place.
We've spent so much time building our profiles here...going somewhere else means starting over.
):
-
Hello all,
What is a shame is that this site is clearly losing decent Freelancers and not attracting decent employers. As a voice-over to record 1200 words for £20 for some batS88t stupid youtube channel that nobody is ever going to watch is the calibre of work here now.
Maybe the market will correct but with the changes PPH made a year ago they are part of the problem not part of any solution.
-
PPH should stop taking new freelancer applicants from abroad and vetting and reviewing the current batch of freelancers.
I am disappointed that hourlies are now plagiarised from TopCert sellers and the amount of fraudulent sellers on here is quite unbelievable. In my section (cv writing), I have to report weekly copies of my offers. The number of fake images, poor content and grammar/spelling is dreadful and they are clearly not checked. I have sent @community a list of sellers and yet they are still live on the site. I am all for a competitive marketplace but currently, we just seem to have a lowball amount of third-world sellers trying to make a quick buck which does not look good to buyers wanting a good freelance experience.
I myself have posted 3 jobs on the board in the past week and all that has occurred is just inappropriate spam messaging outside of the platform or proposals for roles with no portfolio, skills or experience. I have not accepted any.
Since people have the access to free software like Canva they believe they can do anything but freelancing/running a business in your niche is a skill.
-
I wouldn't dismiss all "freelancers from abroad" though, Adam. Some are highly qualified and have great reviews. But yes, there has been an influx of a new crop of freelancers with relatively lower rates (and perhaps quality). And yes, the sudden unexpected shift from 24 hours to 14 days (especially as there was no warning and no time to transition) threw me into a pit and it took me months to climb out, so I can imagine others had the same experience.
-
Oz Fenerci - Designer
I have already stopped sending proposals for over a year now, not worth wasting your time on this platform.
PPH lost the plot basically. waiting over 20 days for your paid invoice is not on!!! Customers pay right away, I asked my long-term client. A criminal search is a bullshit excuse my language!. They are getting their money straight away when the customer pays the invoice.
Bye-bye PPH, you had your time!
-
Yea, it's too bad. I'm not going to place a bid for a job, and ask for a deposit, to wait 14+ days AFTER I deliver. No. Seeing the jobs move from 5k down to 2k is a sign. But looking at the jobs being offered, it looks like it's the lowest, and unrealistic, offers.
When the quality of jobs are low ... there is no reason to wait 2 weeks for payment.
-
Oz F
Graphic Designer / Member since 2010 I guess :)
I invoiced one of my clients after he bought my hourlie, and the 14 days of misery started. One thing I noticed, PPH took their cut and the rest of the money still sits there for criminal search:)))) So PPH cut not included in the criminal search?
PPH you are desperate!!!!
By the way, I am not sending a single proposal since this 14-day BS started, and will not send it until this issue is solved. It was my existing client and they just came back for a few works.
Seems like it will be "cleared" on 18th Jan wed, and possibly will go into the weekend and all that stuff.
Absolute madness !!!
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
75 comments