So here is the second post that I promised from the previous blog post. This is an incident that happened with ODesk. So just after I finished university, I thought I might just set up an account in a freelancing site so I can do some work, at least it was good to start off with.
As any other freelancing site, it makes sense for these companies to verify the workers so they ask for identification. So quite a while back I applied for this job and they required my identification. At the time I only had my passport for verification but I was a bit iffy in providing that detail so I didn't go ahead with that. Only about recently I logged into my account to find that financial transactions were limited in my account. At this point I still haven't done any work in ODesk, but I was thinking about it as a part time thing. I contacted support to get some help. Here is the first point of contact:
Email list:
The reply I get from ODesk is quite friendly and supportive:
After getting this email from ODesk Support, I didn't get a reply for a bit over 4 days so just contacted them for some more information. I also get a reply saying that my account has been resumed and its all working. However on March 9th 2015 I received an email from ODesk saying that there has been some irregularities with my account and I have to resubmit my identification process. So I found the identification processing form and submitted my passport details. I also try to question them why my identification can be rejected and I mentioned that I can provide any documentation to prove my identify. The following list of emails sumarise what I just said:
The discriminating email from ODesk:
So the next email I get from ODesk is quite shocking. Bear in mind that at this point I submitted my passport details which is from Bangladesh:
So the guy just says in order to "maintain a safe and trusting platform for all user" they are going to have to let me go. As of today, I cannot have any financial transaction and my account is basically all blocked. Just by coincidence this happened to be just after I submitted my identification which happens to be a Bangladeshi passport. They even tell me not to contact them! Its just ridiculous. I then sent them an email linking them to my GitHub account, a research paper that I contributed to and my university degree as well with my results. I told them politely that if they don't think the application can go any further, then they should let me know and I will close the account. I really have no idea what I did wrong there. Anyways, all this was pretty darn insulting and I thought it will be good to share what they can do. Fortunately I am not dependent on ODesk to provide for myself on a daily basis but I am sure other people who wants to freelance could have faced this issue and had nowhere to turn to. I just want to take this opportunity to notify everyone else involved in freelancing about this incident so they can take precautions.
Anyways please feel free to leave your comments below for discussion and share this if you like it.
As any other freelancing site, it makes sense for these companies to verify the workers so they ask for identification. So quite a while back I applied for this job and they required my identification. At the time I only had my passport for verification but I was a bit iffy in providing that detail so I didn't go ahead with that. Only about recently I logged into my account to find that financial transactions were limited in my account. At this point I still haven't done any work in ODesk, but I was thinking about it as a part time thing. I contacted support to get some help. Here is the first point of contact:
Email list:
|
This email is a service from oDesk Help Center. Delivered by Zendesk.
The reply I get from ODesk is quite friendly and supportive:
|
|
|
|
|
|
So the next email I get from ODesk is quite shocking. Bear in mind that at this point I submitted my passport details which is from Bangladesh:
|
So the guy just says in order to "maintain a safe and trusting platform for all user" they are going to have to let me go. As of today, I cannot have any financial transaction and my account is basically all blocked. Just by coincidence this happened to be just after I submitted my identification which happens to be a Bangladeshi passport. They even tell me not to contact them! Its just ridiculous. I then sent them an email linking them to my GitHub account, a research paper that I contributed to and my university degree as well with my results. I told them politely that if they don't think the application can go any further, then they should let me know and I will close the account. I really have no idea what I did wrong there. Anyways, all this was pretty darn insulting and I thought it will be good to share what they can do. Fortunately I am not dependent on ODesk to provide for myself on a daily basis but I am sure other people who wants to freelance could have faced this issue and had nowhere to turn to. I just want to take this opportunity to notify everyone else involved in freelancing about this incident so they can take precautions.
Anyways please feel free to leave your comments below for discussion and share this if you like it.
Im done with oDesk.
ReplyDeleteDid you have a similar experience?
Delete